Boedecker Found Guilty in Deaths of Children

Jenna M. Boedecker of Kearney was found guilty on May 19, in the 2018 deaths of her children. The jury convicted her of two counts of second-degree murder and four counts of child endangerment, as well as one count of fourth-degree domestic assault and one count of first-degree property damage.

Boedecker’s children, 2-year-old Ireland Ribando and 7-week-old Goodknight Ribando, were found dead in a Jeep Patriot outside their rural Kearney home on Independence Day, 2018.

Court documents say that Boedecker put her children in the vehicle in the Jeep in the overnight hours of July 3. The documents stated that she fell asleep in the vehicle and when she woke up on July 4, she found the girls unresponsive.

Search warrants from 2018, stated child services received a hotline call around 11 pm. An investigator responded to Boedecker’s home the morning of July 4.

The child services worker said the call was classified as an “assessment,” which are typically addressed during business hours, so he put it off until the morning, according to the search warrant.

The investigator said he parked behind the SUV but did not see anyone inside. He knocked on the door of the home three times but didn’t get a response, so he went back to his car and left.

Through Clay County Deputies probable cause statements, it was determined that Boedecker fell asleep in the vehicle with her children. When she woke up and found the children unresponsive, she tried to revive them. Boedecker’s sentencing will occur at a future date.

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story