An Iowa man, who tragically took the lives of six family members before turning the gun on himself, had a troubling past as a daycare operator where a baby once died under his care, court documents reveal.
Ryan Willis McFarland, alongside his wife Lesa McFarland—who was among the victims of the recent shooting—ran the Little People Daycare & Preschool from their home in Muscatine.
Faced with limited childcare options in the early 2000s for her children from a previous marriage, Lesa McFarland decided to start the daycare, as reported by the Quad-City Times and cited by the Daily Mail.
However, McFarland had a history of offenses and was held responsible for the death of eight-month-old Charles Negus. The infant was discovered unresponsive in a crib with his head on a pillow, according to RadioIowa.
Following the baby’s death in a hospital, McFarland, who once aspired to be a teacher, faced charges in 2011 for felony child endangerment resulting in death and neglect.
Despite the charges, pathologists faced challenges in determining whether the infant’s death was due to asphyxia or sudden unexplained infant death, as reported by the Muscatine Journal at the time.
McFarland pleaded guilty and the child endangerment felony was reduced to a misdemeanor as part of his plea deal, meaning he avoided a maximum sentence of 50 years imprisonment. The neglect charge was dropped.
“In the end, we chose the certain outcome of a negotiated plea over the uncertainty outcome of a jury trial,” Alan Ostergren, the Muscatine County Attorney at the time, said.
McFarland’s childcare license was revoked – and it emerged that he had never declared his past offenses on his application record.
McFarland was convicted of armed robbery in Illinois in 1994 and was sentenced to seven years in prison, WQAD reported.
In 1997, he also pled guilty to a theft charge and was slapped with an eight-year sentence.
McFarland was also convicted of fraud in 2019 after being busted for tinkering with the odometers of cars before selling them.
He tried to convey that the vehicles had a lower mileage than what they had recorded.
Investigators are still probing the motive behind McFarland’s rampage – but say the shootings “stemmed from a domestic dispute.”
He also killed Ryle McFarland, 20, Mark McFarland, 16, and Ryan McFarland Jr, 13, cops announced – and they previously described the spree as an “act of evil.”
Dakota Whitlow, 32, and Austin Harris, 29, were also killed in the rampage that saw bodies found in three locations.
Four people were found dead in McFarland’s home of more than 20 years – before he was found dead with a gunshot wound on a trail.
McFarland shouted about money outside his home just 10 minutes before the shootings, his neighbor Melissa Weggen told the Quad-City Times.
“I heard him walk by my house, saying, ‘Don’t worry about money. Everything goes away when you die.”
One man was found inside another home, and another was discovered in the Willits Metalworks business.
Whitlow’s fiancée Audrey Perdue spoke at a vigil Tuesday, telling mourners he was a talented metal worker and like the other victims has talents and potential they were unable to fulfill.
“My heart is broken as I grieve for the loss of my fiancé and the life that we had planned together,” she said.
“My heart breaks for everyone left behind to grieve these immeasurable losses.”
“It’s hard to even think that this is even real. I’m still in denial,” McFarland’s surviving son, Johnathan, told mourners.
“I just wanted to say that I will forever love and miss my mom Lesa, my sister Riley, My 4 brothers, Dakota, Austin, Mark and Ryan,” he said, breathing heavily, before turning to his dad.
“No matter what is being told to me, I will always love and miss my dad, Ryan,” Johnathan said.
“I will forever and always love and miss them dearly, and this will [not] be the last time that I ever speak to them or do anything in their honor.”
With Post wires.
