Michael W Ryan

Criminal career

Ryan was the leader of a small, anti-government group that occupied a compound near Rulo, Nebraska, in the early 1980s. He and his group of followers had loose ties to Posse Comitatus and links to the Christian Identity movement. His teachings included the belief in the supremacy of the white race, the inherent evil of Jews, and a distrust of all established earthly authority, including governments. He and his followers carried out burglaries over a period of several months under the cover of night. Reselling the items obtained by theft supported the activities of the group financially and they also stockpiled weapons and supplies that they believed would be needed for the imminent battle of Armageddon, which they assumed would occur in the form of a race war.

Ryan was arrested in 1984 after reports and a criminal investigation indicated that he had abused and killed five-year-old Luke Stice and later killed fellow member James Thimm after he had tortured the latter for several days, beating him, forcing him to have sex with a goat, then skinning him alive and raping him with a shovel before finally beating him to death.

Ryan was tried, convicted and sentenced to death on September 12, 1985. Ryan had claimed to have been in direct contact with God and he vowed to spend his days in prison rewriting the Bible, but he later recanted on both. He died of natural causes at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution on death row on May 24, 2015.