January 19, 2012 Charisse Van Horn reporting- On January 19, 2012, the Georgia Department of Corrections confirmed that the 20-year-old maintenance worker who was judged guilty and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of seven-year-old Jorelys Rivera was found unresponsive in his prison cell, CNN reported. The death has been reported as suicide by hanging; however, what Brunn used to commit the deed has not been reported. Ryan Brunn’s suicide comes two days after admitting to kidnapping, sexually assaulting, killing the seven-year-old on December 2, 2011. Authorities say that Ryan Brunn was the suspect in additional child sexual assault cases as well. Ryan Brunn was found in his cell at 4:15 pm, and then transferred to a local hospital near the prison in Jackson, Georgia. He was pronounced dead at 5:37 pm.
On Tuesday, January 17, 2012, Ryan Brunn pleaded guilty to the murder of Jorelys Rivera and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Jorelys Rivera was abducted from her apartment complex in Canton, Georgia. Her body was found in a dumpster on Monday, December 5, 2011; three days after her abduction. An autopsy determined she died from blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds. The autopsy confirmed she had been sexually assaulted. Ryan Brunn revealed the gruesome details of the murder to a horrified courtroom on January 17, 2012. Brunn recounted the murder stating he lured Jorelys Rivera into a vacant apartment by showing her a photo of her missing roller skate. He then had the child remove her clothes, sexually assaulted her, stabbed her with a utility knife, and beat her to death with the roller skate.
In other news related to the case, a third party review showed that Canton Police Chief Jeff Lance failed to follow standard protocol regarding the case. During the initial investigation it was determined that the chain of command was violated therefore the proper authorities were not dispatched to the crime scene in the proper time frame. Due to these errors, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had not been notified of Jorelys Rivera’s abduction until December 4, 2011. Chief Lance resigned from the police department on January 19, 2012.
During the investigation, authorities found child pornography on Ryan Brunn’s computer. He admitted to making Internet searches to access the child porn.
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