Remembering Ryan Young

 

A Great Son, Brother and Friend

Ryan Young, age 16, was a beloved son, a caring brother and an inspiration to all those who knew him. Ryan was a sophomore at Bath High School in Lima, Ohio. He was full of life, made good grades, was popular with the girls and had recently bought his first car. Ryan was passionate about his family, friends and especially sports. His athletic abilities excelled far beyond his age. The high point of his life was starting on the varsity football team as a monster back his freshman year. He was very enthusiastic about everything. Ryan’s parents were extremely proud of their son. No one could have imagined that on a summer night in 1990 Ryan’s life would end at the age of 16.

A Search Ends Tragically

On June 26, 1990, Ryan called his parents from his girlfriend’s house to let them know he would be home as soon as the movie they were watching was finished. They agreed to let him stay and then retired for the evening. Around 2:00 a.m. Ryan’s dad awoke to get ready for work and noticed the lights were still on downstairs and Ryan’s car was not in the driveway. He went back upstairs to check his son’s bedroom and then immediately woke his Ryan’s mom when he could not locate Ryan. They called his girlfriend’s house and she said he had left around midnight. They dressed and went to search for their son. They found Ryan’s car a couple miles from their home but Ryan was nowhere to be found. After an extensive nine-day search by countless family, friends and the community, Ryan was found murdered and buried in a stone quarry.

A Senseless, Vicious Murder

Within a few day’s of Ryan’s murder police arrested Richard Joseph, age 18 and Jose Bulerin, age 34. Joseph went to the same school as Ryan and lived in a house with Bulerin. Joseph was very upset about a breakup with his girlfriend, whom Ryan was now dating.

On that night in June, Joseph & Bulerin decided to do something about this relationship. They went to Ryan’s girlfriend’s house, driving back and forth, watching to see if Ryan was still there. At one point Joseph exited the car and hid behind a dead tree stump across the road from the house. When Ryan left to go home, he backed out of the driveway and Joseph jumped into the car and threatened him with a knife. They met up with Bulerin, dumped Ryan’s car up the road and they drove back & forth in front of the girlfriend’s house, hoping to scare her.

Bulerin and Joseph then drove Ryan to a garbage dump. Although an exceptional athlete Ryan was no match for the 34 year old Bulerin, a martial arts expert, and Richard Joseph. Ryan likely fought for his life, which would explain the bruising on his body. At some point during the struggle Richard Joseph plunged a knife into the base of Ryan’s neck and skull. Ryan wanted to live and kept fighting for his life. Bulerin then took the knife and stabbed Ryan several times including a fatal stab wound to the kidney. According to Bulerin’s confession he stabbed Ryan “To speed up the process. Didn’t want him lingering around”. In regards to the superficial stab wounds Bulerin admits he inflicted those wounds. He states, “I thought he was still bleeding, so I was just going to help him bleed – get the blood out of his system so he would just hurry up and die”. Even after all that Bulerin admits Ryan continued to fight for his life for 15 minutes. We believe Ryan was likely alive when Bulerin and Joseph put Ryan in a shallow grave and covered him with dirt.

Two Killers Get Life

A few days later, Joseph and Bulerin were arrested and charged with Ryan’s murder. Bulerin agreed to testify against Joseph in exchange for a plea deal that would allow him to avoid the death penalty. Bulerin openly admitted that he taught Richard Joseph several ways to kill somebody “quick and efficiently”. Per Bulerin one of those was a “stab wound to the face or skull”. This was the exact wound Joseph inflicted on innocent Ryan Young. Joseph was convicted of aggravated murder by a jury and sentenced to death. Bulerin was convicted of aggravated murder and received a 20 year life sentence as part of a plea agreement.

In 2005 a federal judge overturned Richard Joseph’s death sentence based on a misplaced word in an indictment. Joseph immediately became eligible for parole.