NOTE: I’ve covered corruption for years. I’ve seen lawfare, retaliation, and courts protect their own. But this case is different. Ryder Belisle did not die because of his illness. He died because judges ignored medicine, silenced a protective mother, and elevated custody paperwork over human life. A world-class neurologist warned them in writing that Ryder would die if removed. They did it anyway. That isn’t an error. That isn’t a tragedy. That is pride, immunity, and indifference working exactly as designed. Family court didn’t fail Ryder. It killed him. If this story makes you uncomfortable, good. It should. A system that can do this to a dying child will do it again—unless it is exposed, named, and confronted. This piece first appeared on TheFamilyCourtCircus.com.
By Richard Luthmann
(AKRON, OHIO) – In what advocates are calling a case of “judicial homicide,” a 12-year-old disabled boy is dead after two judges in two states ignored dire medical warnings and handed him to a negligent father. This preventable tragedy – involving a violent felon father, life-threatening court decisions, and shocking indifference to a child’s needs – reads like a horror story of justice gone wrong.
Doctors Warned: Removing Mom Was “Life-Threatening”
From the outset, doctors warned the court not to do what it ultimately did. On November 19, 2025—the same day an Ohio judge ordered Ryder Belisle removed from the hospital and from his mother’s custody and care—Ryder’s neurologist put the danger in writing.
Dr. S. Gregory Hipskind warned that any attempt to separate Ryder from his mother’s care “would be LIFE-THREATENING to the child and is to be avoided AT ALL COSTS.”
This was not a casual opinion. Dr. Hipskind, a world-renowned neurologist and certified brain-injury specialist, is the nation’s leading Daubert-qualifying expert in neuroscience and the admissibility of brain SPECT imaging.
He is also a member of the White House National Brain Health Initiative. Dr. Hipskind’s assessments are relied upon by federal agencies and policymakers. Cabinet Secretaries listen to him. Presidents listen to him. Courts across the country have relied on his findings to stop abusive reunifications and prevent catastrophic harm to children.
Judge Katarina Cook did not.
Dr. Hipskind’s letter was attached as an exhibit to the Emergency Motion filed before the Summit County, Ohio court. It laid out Ryder’s condition in blunt medical terms. Ryder suffered from Sanfilippo syndrome, a degenerative neurological disease often described as childhood dementia.
Ryder was deaf and blind. He was quadriplegic. He was terminally ill. G-tube dependent, Ryder suffered seizures and constant aspiration risk. His survival depended on precise, uninterrupted, round-the-clock care.
The filing stated it plainly: “Ryder’s dependence on his mother is a matter of medical necessity… Mother is trained and experienced in these matters. Father is not.”
Judge Cook ignored the warning.
Despite explicit medical evidence from one of the most respected brain doctors in the country, Judge Cook ordered Ryder discharged from Akron Children’s Hospital and transferred into his father’s custody. The court had no evidence that the father, Russell G. Belisle, possessed the training, experience, or equipment required to care for a medically fragile, terminal child.
Worse, the decision was made without hearing from the mother at all. Protective mother Taci Belisle did not appear at the November 19 hearing because Ryder was in an active seizure that morning and required urgent medical intervention. She notified the court.
Judge Cook proceeded anyway.
Doctors understood the stakes. Moving Ryder was a lethal gamble. Even a brief disruption in care could cause respiratory failure, aspiration, seizure escalation, or catastrophic neurological collapse. Those risks were spelled out in black and white by a physician whose work is trusted at the highest levels of government and medicine.
Judge Cook disregarded them all.
She authorized Ryder’s removal from the hospital and his cross-country transfer to Washington State.
This was not ignorance. It was judicial pride—the choice to elevate a robe over world-class medicine. When a court ignores a warning from a doctor whose evidence routinely saves children, the outcome is no longer an accident.
Judge Cook’s order did not merely change custody. It set the conditions for Ryder’s death.
Ohio Court Kills Kid: Father Demanded Custody, Provided No Care
Russell Belisle had fought ferociously for custody, but when he got it, he utterly failed to provide care. Protective mother Taci Belisile moved Ryder and his two sisters from Washington to Ohio because their new home in Summit County was only ten minutes from the required specialized care. In Washington State, where father Russell lived, it was over an hour away.
The evidence now emerging about Ryder’s final month in his father’s home is horrifying. According to family sources, this medically fragile child was forced to sleep in a recliner instead of a hospital bed and lacked the basic equipment and environment needed to keep him safe.
Worse, Russell ignored critical medical instructions. Ryder had a severe milk allergy and required a specialized formula (EleCare Jr.) via his feeding tube. But once in Washington, the father or local providers started giving him Peptamen Jr., a formula containing milk products.
In a frantic message to hospital staff, Taci alerted them to this outrageous mistake: “He’s allergic to milk. It causes severe stomach upset and diarrhea… He was on EleCare Junior when in my care,” she wrote, begging them to stop the milk-based formula.
She also voiced a dire concern that her ex “has had Ryder in his care since 11/19/25 – I am worried he was not giving Ryder enough fluids.” Dehydration in a child like Ryder can be lethal, and Taci’s fears were tragically validated.
When Ryder was finally rushed to an emergency room in Mount Vernon, WA, on December 16, he was in respiratory arrest and asystole – essentially dead on arrival before being resuscitated. Medical records show he arrived clinically dehydrated, with lab values so off-the-charts that doctors “suspect dehydration” as a contributor to his collapse.
Ryder’s blood was literally turning to sludge (hematocrit 56.4%, indicating hemoconcentration). He also had “copious amounts” of blood-tinged vomit and stool, and scans revealed aspiration in both lungs.
In plain terms, Ryder likely choked on his own secretions or feed – a known risk of his condition that proper care (like suctioning and upright positioning in a hospital bed) was meant to prevent. The emergency report notes that he “went to bed ‘normal’” with his BiPAP breathing mask, but by morning was unresponsive and blue, with vomit in his airway.
It doesn’t take an expert to see the catastrophic negligence: a bedridden, special-needs child should never have been left in such a precarious setup.
All of this was avoidable.
Throughout those critical weeks, Taci Belisle was sounding alarms from afar – and being ignored. She had been Ryder’s sole caregiver and advocate all his life. She knew his medical needs intimately.
But after the court handed Ryder over, Russell ghosted her. He kept the boy’s location largely hidden (violating an Ohio order that Ryder remain at Akron Children’s), and Taci’s desperate pleas for information or intervention went unanswered until it was too late.
“Custody but not care” is how furious supporters now describe Russell’s attitude.
He wanted to win possession of his son in court, but he did not do the work to keep that child alive. This was a father who, court records show, is a convicted felon with a violent past – guilty of kidnapping a minor and assault with a deadly weapon – and had even been accused of physically harming his other children.
Yet he convinced two courts he was the fit parent. Once he had custody, he utterly failed to meet even the most basic standards of care, with lethal consequences for Ryder.
Ohio Court Kills Kid: Judicial Failures
How did this nightmare happen? The answer: two judges in two states made a series of astonishingly bad decisions that enabled it.
In Washington, Judge Haley W. Sebens of Skagit County effectively stripped Taci of custody in a one-sided proceeding that defied belief. According to Taci’s account, at a brief hearing earlier in the fall, Judge Sebens would not allow her to present any evidence about the father’s abuse or Ryder’s medical needs.
Appearing only via Zoom (while caring for her very ill son), Taci was told she could speak about “legal issues” only – not the facts or safety concerns about leaving a complex disabled child with a violent, untrained parent.
Sebens then issued a written order granting Russell custody of Ryder (and his two young sisters). Incredibly, the judge handed over a non-verbal, medically fragile boy to a man with no caregiving experience – without ever hearing the mother’s evidence that this move could kill the child.
As Taci later stated: “The Washington judge… issued a written order changing custody to the father even though I… was told I could not speak about the facts or safety concerns.”
This procedurally inappropriate, gagged court hearing set the stage for disaster.
Armed with that defective Washington order, Russell Belisle then ran to Ohio to get it re-baptized and enforced. Instead of recognizing the red flags, Ohio’s Judge Cook went along with this jurisdictional charade.
Normally, moving a child across state lines mid-custody dispute should trigger careful scrutiny (the UCCJEA law is supposed to prevent dueling state orders). But Judge Cook acted hastily, almost rubber-stamping the father’s request.
On Nov. 19, 2025, she signed an order for immediate enforcement – meaning Ohio authorities should seize the children and send them to Russell. No evidentiary hearing or investigation. No input from medical experts.
When Taci couldn’t appear due to Ryder’s seizure emergency, Cook simply proceeded without her. The result: Ryder was yanked out of his hospital bed in Akron that very day and flown to Washington, against all medical advice. Taci was even threatened with arrest for trying to protect her dying child.
Even as Ryder’s condition deteriorated under his father’s care, the courts refused to course-correct. Taci filed an emergency motion on Dec. 5 in Ohio, begging for her son to be returned to the hospital before it was too late. She attached Dr. Hipskind’s letter with the “LIFE-THREATENING… AT ALL COSTS” warning and outlined Russell’s inability to care for Ryder. She even noted that one of Ryder’s sisters had reported abuse by the father (he had allegedly kicked the 12-year-old girl, prompting a CPS report).
Judge Cook’s response? She dismissed Taci’s emergency pleas without even holding a hearing. The motion was left to languish as “moot” while Ryder inched closer to death.
In Washington, Taci tried to get protective orders as well – to no avail. The system slammed every door in her face, privileging the father’s “rights” over the child’s safety at every turn.
By the time anyone paid attention, Ryder was on life support.
Ohio Court Kills Kid: Timeline of a Preventable Tragedy
To grasp how egregious this failure was, consider the timeline of Ryder’s final weeks, as documented by court records and medical reports:
Early November 2025: Skagit County Judge Haley Sebens in Washington holds a perfunctory Zoom hearing and grants Russell Belisle custody of Ryder and his sisters – ignoring Taci’s warnings about Russell’s violence and Ryder’s medical fragility. Taci is barred from presenting evidence of abuse or care needs. Sebens’ order effectively invites Russell to retrieve the children from Ohio. The untimely application was presented by Attorney Richard M. Sybrandy (WSBA #25114), who has not responded to requests for comment.
November 19, 2025: In Summit County, Ohio, Judge Katarina Cook signs an order enforcing the Washington custody decision. Akron Children’s Hospital is forced to discharge Ryder into his father’s care that day. This, despite Dr. Hipskind’s written directive that separating Ryder from his mother’s care would be “life-threatening… to be avoided at all costs.” That same morning, Taci was tending to Ryder’s medical emergency (seizures) and could not attend the hearing – a fact the judge disregarded.
Late November – Early December 2025: Russell transports Ryder to Washington. Ryder’s exact whereabouts and condition are largely kept from Taci. On December 3, a Washington provider sees Ryder for a check-up; notes indicate Ryder had increased secretions, a cough, and signs of aspiration in his lungs. This suggests he was already suffering complications under the father’s care. Taci files appeals and an emergency motion in Ohio (Dec 5), urgently seeking to bring Ryder back to the hospital. No action is taken by the courts.
December 16, 2025 (Early AM): Catastrophe. Russell puts Ryder to bed (reportedly in a recliner, not a proper hospital bed) with his BiPAP breathing machine. In the morning, Russell finds Ryder unresponsive and “blue.” The child isn’t breathing. Medics arrive to find copious bloody vomit and the boy in cardiac arrest. They perform CPR and miraculously get a pulse back after multiple rounds of epinephrine. Ryder is rushed to Skagit Valley Hospital.
December 16, 2025 (Hospital): Doctors stabilize Ryder, then note the appalling context. Ryder is critical – on a ventilator, with pneumonia. Medical records cite possible aspiration and hypovolemia (low blood volume) as causes of his cardiac arrest. Ryder appears severely dehydrated, with extremely concentrated blood and urine, pointing to prolonged lack of fluids. Dark fluid and blood are suctioned from his feeding tube. He is also treated for aspiration pneumonia, confirming that he inhaled material into his lungs. In short, neglect and mismanagement likely triggered his collapse. Ryder is transferred to Seattle Children’s Hospital and placed on life support.
December 21, 2025: After five days in a coma, Ryder’s body can take no more. He has massive brain damage (diffuse anoxic injury) and no neurologic reflexes. Russell – now finally face-to-face with the consequences of his actions – agrees to let doctors pull the plug. At around 12:00 PM, Ryder is compassionately extubated (removed from the ventilator) and dies in hospice care at 1:19 PM. Seattle Children’s staff documented the official cause as cardiac arrest of uncertain origin, likely due to aspiration (choking) and dehydration. They note that mom Taci will be called after the extubation – a cruel footnote that underscores how she was kept away until her son was gone.
Fury and Calls for Accountability
Ryder Belisle’s death was not inevitable – it was manufactured by reckless court decisions and a parent’s indifference. This child had beaten the odds for years under his mother’s devoted care, only to perish weeks after judges uprooted him. Outraged observers are unequivocal about where the blame lies.
“This wasn’t an accident; it was a death sentence signed in a courthouse,” wrote Jill Jones Soderman, Executive Director of the Foundation for the Child Victims of the Family Courts (fcvfc.org). “When a judge ignores a ‘life-threatening’ medical warning, the robe becomes a weapon.”
Judge Cook and Judge Sebens have received universal condemnation for ignoring all the red flags.
“Judge Katarina Cook didn’t just make a mistake. She made a choice. Ryder paid the ultimate price,” said watchdog David Weigel, founder of the Family Court Fraud Warrior Project (familycourtfraudwarrior.com). “If this had happened in a parking lot, it would be homicide. In a courtroom, it’s called an order.”
On social media, supporters have branded it “judicial homicide” – arguing that Judge Cook and Judge Sebens might as well have signed a death sentence for Ryder when they handed him to Russell against explicit medical advice.
Indeed, the public records and posts now circulating paint Judge Cook and Judge Sebens as brazenly negligent: Cook for enforcing a dubious order without a hearing (and refusing to halt it despite emergency motions), and Sebens for rubber-stamping a violent felon’s custody grab without considering the children’s safety. These government actors were supposed to protect a vulnerable child; instead, their actions directly placed him in harm’s way.
For Taci Belisle, there is unimaginable grief – and anger. She was, by every account, the only competent caregiver for her son, the one person keeping him alive and comfortable. She fought desperately through legal channels to save him, only to be silenced and vilified. Now she is left to mourn Ryder’s loss and rage at a system that ignored her until it was too late. “The father wanted custody, but not care, and the courts let it happen,” she wrote in one post, calling out the travesty.
As this scandal comes to light, the question is unavoidable: Who will be held accountable? A child is dead after judges and authorities were repeatedly warned, in plain language, that this exact outcome would happen. There is no ambiguity here: they knew, and they chose to gamble with Ryder’s life anyway. The price of that hubris was a boy’s life.
In the court of public opinion, Judge Cook and Judge Sebens are already convicted of arrogance, incompetence, and a gross dereliction of duty. Russell Belisle, the father, stands condemned as well, for fighting to take his disabled son only to neglect him to death.
Ryder’s blood is on all of their hands.
This tragic case starkly exposes how family courts can get it disastrously wrong, with literally fatal consequences. It’s a wake-up call that will resonate far beyond one family: If a high-profile, social-media-savvy mother like Taci can’t get the system to listen to life-and-death warnings, what chance do ordinary parents have?
For now, a grieving mother and two traumatized sisters are left with a gaping hole in their family – and the bitter knowledge that Ryder should still be alive. This wasn’t fate or the progression of his illness; it was human folly and cruelty that killed him. And unless those responsible are brought to justice and reform follows, the outrage says, Ryder’s case won’t be the last.
The disability community and child advocates are demanding investigations, firings, maybe even criminal charges. Anything less, they argue, would be an injustice on top of injustice.
A disabled boy is dead because no one in power would heed the warnings. It’s a verdict on a broken system: Preventable. Unconscionable. And absolutely heartbreaking.
Ryder Belisle’s short life ended in needless suffering, but his story will not be buried quietly. It will be held up as evidence of a systemic failure – one that must be remedied so that no child is ever again lost to such callous misjudgment.
In Ryder’s name, the cry rings out: this was judicial killing, and we must learn its lessons – or more innocent lives will pay the price.
