She Survived Cancer but Not Her Father: Maddox Lawrence

The Lawrence family—Ryan, Morgan, and their 21-month-old daughter Maddox—lived on Valley Drive in Syracuse, New York. Ryan, originally from Baldwinsville, had a talent for art. As a student at C.W. Baker High School, he earned an honorable mention in the Scholastic Art Awards. Tragically, Ryan lost his mother, Mary Lawrence, to kidney cancer when he was just 17. Mary had worked as a victim advocate at the District Attorney’s Office.

After high school, Ryan held various low-wage jobs, including stints at the Real Food Co-Op, Pastabilities, and Teavana at Destiny USA Mall in Syracuse. It was at the mall where he met Morgan. A Liverpool High School graduate, Morgan also worked multiple retail jobs, including at Pastabilities, Teavana, and two clothing stores in the mall. While working together, Ryan and Morgan became close, and Morgan eventually became pregnant. The couple decided to marry and moved into a rented home on Valley Drive. Friends and family described them as inseparable.¹

In 2014, their daughter Maddox was born. A happy and spirited baby, Maddox had a unique personality, often making funny “little monster noises,” as her aunt Shaylyn Leonard fondly recalled. However, Maddox’s early months were challenging. Ryan and Morgan noticed her left eye changing colour, darkening over time. After medical evaluations, Maddox was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the retina.

During fetal development, retinal cells, called retinoblasts, grow rapidly before maturing into light-sensitive cells. In rare cases, these immature cells fail to develop properly, growing uncontrollably into cancer. This was Maddox’s reality.

The family’s weekends soon revolved around trips to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where Maddox underwent chemotherapy targeting the tumour and the blood vessels feeding it. Each treatment lasted six hours. Balancing the emotional and financial strain of caring for their daughter, Ryan and Morgan faced significant challenges. They both worked low-income jobs, making the costs of treatment overwhelming. Turning to GoFundMe, they raised over $9,000 from nearly 100 donors to support Maddox’s medical care.

As Maddox’s health improved, the family began to find some normalcy. Neighbours often remarked on the bond between Ryan and his daughter. Ryan, who delivered pastries for Freedom of Espresso stores around Syracuse, always brought Maddox along. He would carry her in one arm and pastries in the other, never leaving her behind in the car. Their closeness was evident to everyone who saw them together.

Around 10PM on February 20, 2016, Morgan finished her shift at work. Since the family only had one car, Ryan typically dropped her off and picked her up. That night, however, Morgan received a strange text from Ryan, informing her that he had left the car in the parking lot with the keys and that she should drive herself home.

When Morgan arrived home, she was met with an unsettling scene: Ryan and their daughter Maddox were gone. In their place, she found a disturbing note suggesting Ryan might harm himself or Maddox, along with an eight-minute video addressed to her. In the video, Ryan said, “I’m leaving, and I’m taking her with me.”

Panicked, Morgan called the police, and an AMBER Alert was issued.

Authorities launched a massive search, scouring areas near the family’s home and Destiny USA Mall. The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department deployed their Air One helicopter to assist, while local and state police extended the search to Onondaga Lake, the Creekwalk, and abandoned buildings in Syracuse and Baldwinsville.²

Two days later, a breakthrough came when a woman in Baldwinsville spotted Ryan on Downer Street, about ten miles from the Lawrence home. Despite being in disguise, the woman recognized him and alerted police. Upon his arrest, Ryan initially gave a false name before admitting his identity. His backpack contained camping gear and a book on evading capture, but Maddox was nowhere to be found.³

During his interrogation, Ryan first claimed he had given Maddox to a local couple who had fled to Bolivia.⁴ Sceptical, detectives pressed him until one bluntly asked, “How did she die?” Ryan finally confessed: “Blunt force trauma.”⁵

Ryan revealed that after dropping Morgan off at work, he had driven Maddox to Labrador Hollow, a secluded state recreation area in Cortland County. There, in a remote section of woodland, he placed her on the ground and struck her in the back of the head with a baseball bat. He then burned her body along with the bat.⁶

In chilling detail, Ryan described how he prayed for a sign before committing the act. “God, if I’m not meant to kill her, make her stumble,” he reportedly said. Afterward, he placed Maddox’s remains in a yellow bag, weighted it with a cinder block, and disposed of it in the water near Creekwalk at Bear and Van Rensselaer Street.⁷

While the confession was horrifying, Ryan’s motive was equally appalling. He admitted that he killed Maddox out of jealousy. He resented the attention she had received during her cancer treatments, particularly from Morgan, feeling overshadowed by his own daughter’s needs. After the confession, detectives began searching the waters of Syracuse’s Inner Harbour.⁸

Police divers were dispatched to the water near Creekwalk, where they recovered Maddox’s body. The scene was so harrowing that police chaplains were brought in to support the detectives, particularly those present when her remains were retrieved.

Ryan was charged with second-degree murder the same day but initially pleaded not guilty. As the grisly details of the crime emerged, the community was overwhelmed with shock and grief. Many had held onto hope that the situation was a misunderstanding or a temporary family dispute that would end with Ryan and Maddox returning home safely.

The murder devastated the close-knit Syracuse community. Makeshift memorials sprang up at the Inner Harbor near where Maddox’s body was found and along Onondaga Creek. Local resident Melody Wilkinson expressed the collective sorrow, saying: “This shook up the entire community. We’ve always been close-knit, and when something like this happens, we come together to support each other.”

As Ryan awaited trial, those who knew him struggled to reconcile the loving father they thought they knew with the man who had confessed to such a horrific act. Many questioned whether there had been any warning signs.

Ryan’s family grappled with the tragedy, finding it impossible to comprehend his actions. “What we saw of Ryan was that he loved Maddox immensely,” the family said in a statement. “We are struggling to make sense of this tragedy and know that we never will.”⁹

His brother, Rich Lawrence, spoke openly to The Post Standard, saying there had been no indication Maddox was ever in danger while in Ryan’s care. Rich described his brother as a “slacker” and “selfish” but emphasized that Ryan had never exhibited violent tendencies. Rich also admitted that Ryan was prone to fanciful ideas, like spontaneously deciding to move to Florida or dreaming of becoming an Olympic skier, but these were harmless fantasies.

Reflecting on the unimaginable crime, Rich said, “Maddox is the victim, and my brother is to blame. What Ryan did is unforgivable. He does not deserve my support. We are on Maddox’s side, the side of the victim.”

Initially charged with second-degree murder, Ryan’s charges were later upgraded to first-degree murder. As his trial date approached, Ryan pleaded guilty to Maddox’s murder as part of a plea agreement. In exchange for his guilty plea, he received a sentence of 25 years to life, avoiding the possibility of life without parole had he been convicted at trial. Under the terms of his sentence, Ryan would serve a minimum of 25 years with no chance for early release, as his conviction was for a violent felony.¹⁰

In court, Prosecutor Jeremy Cali explained that Maddox’s family had agreed to the plea deal to avoid the emotional toll of a trial. The judge emphasized that he would not have accepted the agreement without the family’s consent. Motivation often influences sentencing in murder cases—a cold, calculated killing is judged differently than one committed in the heat of passion. Despite Ryan’s earlier claim that jealousy drove him to kill Maddox, the question of why remained unanswered.¹¹

Prosecutors argued that Ryan’s actions after the murder—burning Maddox’s body, disposing of her remains, and fleeing—demonstrated a premeditated and deliberate crime. In contrast, Ryan’s defence attorney, Michael Vavonese, maintained that Ryan had been a devoted father and that something must have caused him to snap. “I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to comprehend exactly why he got to this emotional state,” Vavonese said. Prosecutor Cali responded bluntly: “All I know is, he killed his daughter.”

The defence claimed Ryan felt profound remorse and pointed to a psychiatrist’s diagnosis of extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the murder. However, the prosecution’s expert strongly disagreed with this assessment.

The sentencing phase began on November 15, giving Maddox’s family the opportunity to share their grief. Her grandmother, Robin Forster, delivered a powerful statement, revealing a telling detail about Ryan’s actions after his arrest: he had divorced Morgan and, instead of requesting keepsakes of Maddox, asked for a fish tank, a photo of his dog, and a bike without wheels. “These are the things of value and importance to him,” Robin said, glaring at Ryan. “Was Maddox ever important to you?” She described how the family’s lives had been shattered, with memories of Maddox now their only comfort. Even speaking her granddaughter’s name caused her voice to shake, and staying in the home where they had cared for Maddox was excruciating.

Morgan, Maddox’s mother, addressed the court for the first time. Through tears, she described the crippling anxiety she had suffered since her daughter’s death, which made it nearly impossible to hold down a job. She shared how isolating it was to be alone, yet even harder to be surrounded by people, as conversations often turned to Ryan and the murder. Turning directly to Ryan, she asked, “I would give anything to hug her again. I just think it’s so cowardly, what you did. What was the point?”

Ryan Lawrence was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years.

For months, Ryan and Morgan had fought tirelessly to save their daughter’s life, supporting her through grueling cancer treatments. By her first birthday, Maddox had overcome retinoblastoma—a battle many feared she might lose. Yet, before she could enjoy the carefree childhood she had earned, her life was cruelly taken from her. Even more tragic was the betrayal of trust by the one person she should have been able to rely on unconditionally—her father.

1. The Post-Standard, 23 February, 2016 – “For Maddox and Her Father, a Fight for Life Turns to Inexplicable Violence”
2. The Post-Standard, 21 February, 2016 – “Police, Family Baffled by Disappearance of Missing CNY Girl”
3. Associated Press, 23 February, 2016 – “Father Charged with Killing Missing Toddler Found in Harbor”
4. The Post-Standard, 6 June, 2016 – “Baby Maddox’s Dad First Claimed Fictitious Couple Took Her to Bolivia”
5. The Post-Standard, 23 February, 2016 – “Baby Maddox Was Killed, Burned and Hidden Before Search Began”
6. The Post-Standard, 24 February, 2016 – “Ryan Lawrence Admitted to Killing Daughter”
7. The Post-Standard, 6 July, 2016 – “Baby Maddox’s Dad Said He Prayed Before Hitting Her With Bat”
8. The Post-Standard, 22 March, 2016 – “Murder of a Child Should be First-Degree Murder”
9. The Post-Standard, 15 September, 2016 – “From Caring and Loving Dad to Baby Maddox Murderer”
10. Associated Press, 16 November, 2016 – “Upstate NY Man Who Killed Daughter, Burned Body Sentenced”
11. CNY Central, 16 November, 2016 – “Judge to Lawrence: You Deserve to Spend the Rest of your Life in Prison”