Maddox Lawrence was only 21-months-old when she battled eye cancer and eventually beat it.
The bravery and resilience she showed throughout the ordeal earned the admiration of many.
But her father wasn’t one of them.
In fact, his father Ryan Lawrence was so jealous of the attention his daughter was getting that he decided to murder her for it.
The Mirror reported:
The sick killer kidnapped the girl and took her to a ‘remote, secluded location’ in Onondaga County, New York, ‘then placed her body and the baseball bat in a prepared fire pit’ before disposing of the remains, a judge said.
Desperate family members and police put out a missing persons appeal for the pair. Lawrence was found a day later, and his daughter's body recovered some 12 hours after that.
Maddox' mother became aware of what had transpired because her husband was supposed to pick her up. Instead, he left their car and its keys on a carpark. And when Mrs. Lawrence got home, she discovered a note alluding Ryan might hurt their baby.
She then called the police, triggering an amber alert. 36 hours later, officers found her body. Meanwhile, after a tip off, officers tracked Ryan 10 miles away from the scene.
This happened in February.
On September 16, Ryan Lawrence pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
During the hearing, judge Anthony Aloi outlined the crime Lawrence committed, and the members of Maddox’s family in the room gasped and sobbed at the gruesome details.
"Are all of those allegations true?" Aloi was said to have asked, according to a syracuse.com report.
"Yes, sir," Lawrence said.
"How do you plead, then, to the charge of murder in the first degree?" Aloi asked. "How do you plead?"
"Guilty, your honor," Lawrence replied.
Although it isn't clear the exact motives behind the killing, according to Bill Fitzpatrick, the county’s top lawyer, one of the motives behind the 22-month-old’s murder was jealousy over the attention she received after battling with eye cancer.
Furthermore, according to the Mirror report, a detective said that the father even asked for a sign from God not to kill her daughter.
“God, if I'm not meant to kill her, make her stumble,” he said to have thought before beating her daughter to death.
Meanwhile, a WJLA report said that Ryan Lawrence’s plea comes with an expected sentence of 25 years to life in prison. He also waives his right to an appeal as part of his plea.
Speaking to Syracuse.com, judge Anthony Aloi said that there was a sense of closure in Lawrence admitting his crime.
”I think there is a sense of closure in him doing this today and him being willing to come in and plead guilty," he said. "And I think it's certainly a benefit to begin to put this behind them and move on as much as anyone can."
READ: Angry father stabs son after failing to study for school exam
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