Charges will not be reinstated against the parents of a 5-year-old boy who died in 2016 at his aunt and uncle’s 149 ½ Main St., Ridgway, apartment.

Daniel J. Murphy, 28, and Ashlee D. Druhot, 25, were accused of putting their two sons, ages 4 and 5, in danger by leaving them in the care of a couple whom they knew had a violent past. On Feb. 3, 2016, the 5-year-old, O’Ryan Murphy, was found dead in the apartment due to blunt force trauma to the head.

The aunt and uncle — Daniel Murphy’s brother and sister-in-law Scott and Kristy Murphy — face charges including criminal homicide in the boy’s death.

Daniel Murphy and Druhot were each charged with involuntary manslaughter, two counts of endangering the welfare of children and two counts of recklessly endangering another person.

A preliminary hearing was held June 8, 2016, when District Judge James Martin ruled that McMahon presented prima facie cases against all four. All charges against them were bound to Elk County Court.

In June 2017, Elk County President Judge Richard Masson dismissed charges against Daniel Murphy and Druhot in response to writs of habeas corpus filed by the attorneys who represented them at the time, Michael Marshall and Tabia Cole. Joseph Ryan has since taken over as Druhot’s counsel after Cole left her position as public defender earlier this year.

Charges against Scott and Kristy Murphy remain in place, and trials are pending.

In July 2017, District Attorney Shawn McMahon filed appeals in the Pennsylvania Superior Court asking the dismissed charges against the parents be reinstated.

The appeals court denied McMahon’s request.

In the appeal, the Superior Court was asked to judge whether Masson erred by dismissing all five counts after the commonwealth presented a prima facie case for them, or by determining that a 2009 assault conviction against Scott Murphy was “‘too remote in time and far too attenuated circumstantially’ to evidence a propensity for violence by Scott Murphy.”

The Superior Court affirmed Masson’s order to dismiss last month with an opinion from President Judge Susan Gantman, Judge Jack Panella and Judge Paula Ott.

According to Masson, no evidence was presented to show that Druhot and Daniel Murphy were aware of the dangerous living conditions in the Ridgway apartment.

Masson outlined in his opinion how the children came to live with their aunt and uncle.

On Dec. 3, 2015, Daniel Murphy brought his sons to live in his brother’s home temporarily. The reason for this was because their father, who is a registered sex offender, was moving in with Daniel Murphy and it could have been a violation for the father under Megan’s Law to live with the children.

At the time, Daniel Murphy was unable to move, so he arranged for his sons to live temporarily with Scott and Kristy Murphy until he could find different housing for them.

The couple had previously lived with Daniel Murphy, Ashlee Druhot and their sons.

“According to Ashlee Druhot, ‘They had always loved their nephews just like anybody else would,’” Masson stated in court records.

The day Daniel Murphy dropped the boys off, he met Scott Murphy in the entryway of the apartment to talk for a few minutes, but he did not go inside and was unaware of the living conditions, the order further stated.

According to court records filed at the time of the Murphys’ arrest stated, the apartment had little to no heat — despite frigid winter temperatures outside — and there was animals feces on the floor and decomposing garbage throughout the apartment. Multiple prescription and over-the-counter medications, alcohol and several weapons were readily accessible to the children throughout the apartment.

The Ridgway health inspector deemed the apartment unfit for human occupation, court records stated.

However, “Without some evidence that Daniel Murphy knew or should have known about the intolerable conditions that existed when law enforcement officials viewed the apartment on February 3, 2016, he cannot be held to be omniscient,” Masson stated in court records.

Daniel Murphy, Druhot and Druhot’s mother all called the apartment multiple times over the course of the boys’ stay there and received reports each time that the boys were in good health, Masson reported.

McMahon also presented a criminal conviction against Scott Murphy as evidence that Daniel Murphy and Druhot were aware of Scott Murphy’s violent tendencies.

Scott Murphy was convicted of attacking Daniel Murphy with a knife while he was intoxicated in 2009. Masson noted in court records that no children were harmed or even present during this assault, and the assault took place seven years before O’Ryan’s death.

“The attempt to expand one episode of an inebriated assault on an adult brother that occurred before the birth of (O’Ryan) is inadequate as even prima facie evidence of the requisite elements of involuntary manslaughter,” Masson wrote.

While Daniel Murphy and Druhot are no longer facing any criminal charges in their son’s death, a trial is still pending for Scott and Kristy Murphy. No date has been set.

McMahon has previously indicated that he is seeking the death penalty for both.

They are incarcerated — Scott Murphy in Elk County Jail and Kristy Murphy in Centre County Jail — without the possibility of posting bail.