The Elk County couple who at one point were facing the death penalty for the 2016 death of their 5-year-old nephew were instead sentenced last week to 8 to 20 years in prison.
Scott Murphy, 30, and Kristy Murphy, 40, were both sentenced Friday in Elk County Court. He had entered a guilty plea, she entered a no contest plea, both to third-degree murder.
In return for the pleas, the remainder of the charges in both cases were dismissed by the prosecution. Those included homicide, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child in the Feb. 3, 2016, death of O’Ryan Murphy.
Each was given credit for about five years of time served, and will be eligible for parole in three more years, according to online court dockets.
District Attorney Thomas Coppolo did not return calls seeking comment.
According to court records at the time of the couple’s arrest, O’Ryan and his brother went to live temporarily with their aunt and uncle on Dec. 3, 2015, when Scott Murphy’s brother, Daniel Murphy, dropped the boys off at their Ridgway apartment.
Daniel Murphy and the boy’s mother, Ashlee Druhot, were initially charged for allegations that they put the children in danger by leaving them with a couple, who they knew had a violent past. Senior Judge Richard Masson dismissed the charges against the parents in response to writs of habeas corpus.
At 8:20 a.m. Feb. 3, 2016, Ridgway Borough Police were dispatched to the Main Street apartment, along with Ridgway Ambulance, for a report of a 5-year-old child not breathing. Arriving within six minutes, emergency responders found the child lying motionless on the floor of the presumed living room, which was also the exclusive living quarters for all the occupants within the apartment, which had little to no heat despite external freezing winter temperatures, according to court records.
The emergency officials tried to revive the child, but their efforts failed. The boy was unresponsive and cold to the touch, and officials felt he had been dead for several hours. His body was covered with injuries, including bruising on his arm and on his torso near his belly button, two bite marks, as well as a scratch on his face, court records read.
At 8:42 a.m., Elk County Coroner Michelle Muccio pronounced O’Ryan dead at the scene, and agreed that he had been dead for several hours.
Police said the living conditions in the apartment were deplorable, as the children were exposed to animal feces on the floor, decomposing garbage throughout the residence, general filth and very little to no internal heat despite the winter season and external freezing temperatures, the court records read.
The apartment was deemed unfit for human occupation by the Ridgway health inspector and was condemned, court records read.
An autopsy was conducted on the child’s body, and the cause of death was ruled as blunt force trauma to the head. Police allege that either Scott or Kristy Murphy, who both allegedly have physically violent tendencies and were drug offenders, bludgeoned O’Ryan over the head multiple times.
Testimony at the preliminary hearing in the case indicated that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the child’s head, and 20 impact marks were found on the interior of the boy’s skull.
Investigators allege that the injuries the boy suffered were not accidental, and that no one but Scott and Kristy Murphy would have had the opportunity to hurt him.
Court records list Punxsutawney attorney John Ingros as Scott Murphy’s lawyer and DuBois attorney Gary Knaresboro as Kristy Murphy’s lawyer.
