Lake County man charged in death of girlfriend's 19-month-old son

CONCORD TOWNSHIP, Ohio - Joshua Ricket, 24, of Concord, is being held on $1 million bond following his arraignment Monday in Painesville Municipal Court. Ricket is charged with reckless homicide in the death of 19-month-old Jordan Pizzi.

Investigators said Ricket was watching the toddler and his 3-year-old brother while the children's mother, who Ricket has been dating, was at work.

Paramedics were called Friday to the apartment on Johnnycake Ridge Road in Concord Township for reports of an unresponsive 19-month-old. He was taken to Tri Point Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

"They interviewed Joshua Ricket," said Lake County Sheriff Dan Dunlap. "He admitted to some of the abusive behavior, which I'm not in a position to discuss."

Dunlap said the autopsy showed visible signs of injury to the child, as well as internal injuries.

The maternal grandmother of the victim said her daughter is beside herself with grief.

"That's all she had in her life was her kids and anybody who knows her knows that she wouldn't let nobody hurt her babies," said Diane Reynolds. "Nobody would baby-sit but me or somebody that she really trusted and we both trusted this guy."

Ricket and Reynolds' daughter only met a month or two ago. The sheriff said Ricket served two years in prison for a burglary conviction in Ashtabula County. That conviction his mother said is prompting investigators to jump to conclusions.

"Because he's got a prior felony conviction," said Debbie Hunt, "you're going to pawn it off on him."

Hunt alleges that there were signs of abuse prior to paramedics being called Friday.

"Thursday was the last time I saw him, he was over with his girlfriend's and the babies and we even took pictures of the kids," said Hunt. "The kids were OK except for some bruising on the child already at that time."

The sheriff said their investigation is only just beginning, and they will be conducting more interviews with family and going over the coroner's report.

"What we're doing is checking with the coroner to make sure what those injuries are, where they show up, are they previous," said Dunlap.

"We want to get all of this information in a good solid state so we can present it to the prosecutor," he said.