Matthew Ryan Rademacher, and Colton Sceviour
The Michigan man accused of murdering his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son was convicted Friday. Jurors determined Matthew Ryan Rademacher, 28, killed young Colton Sceviour. He will face sentencing in about four weeks, Judge Ronald Schafer said, according to The Ionia Sentinel-Standard.
“Today, Matthew Rademacher was found GUILTY of 1st Degree Murder and GUILTY of 1st Degree Child Abuse in the 8th Circuit Court for the murder of 2 year old Colton Sceviour on September 18, 2020 in the Village of Clarksville,” the Ionia County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. “The Ionia County Sheriff’s Office sends thoughts and prayers to the victim’s entire family.”
Rademacher was arrested in September 2020, after authorities found Sceviour dead at home. Rademacher insisted that Colton choked on food, but first responders did not find food in his airway, prosecutors said. Instead of signs of choking, medical staff said they discovered bruising all over the boy’s body, as well as evidence of blood spots outside of his skull.
Colton’s father Daniel Sceviour said he had noticed bruising on the child, but after bring it up to the mother, he was told it was because the 2-year-old fell playing.
“I knew there was something else going on, I just didn’t know what,” he told WOOD-TV in a Sept. 21, 2020 report. “When I heard what really happened and who was behind it, my emotions just flooded with anger, frustration, sadness. The constant bruises on my son’s neck, on his face, on his arms. Every time I received him for my custodial visits, there always seemed to be some kind of new bruise.”
Sceviour said he wished he had gone to the police at the time.
“It’s like someone just snatched your heart out and you’re still somehow living but you don’t want to be,” he said. “Just knowing what happened is a lot harder to swallow because no kid deserves to die like that. It’s not fair.”
Sceviour shared a heartbreaking message for his son.
“I just want you to know how proud I am of you, and how much your dad loves you, and I’m so proud I was able to spend these precious moments with you and watch you grow up,” he said. “And I just want you to know that I am going to do everything to seek justice for you, and that one day I will see you again.”
[Booking photo via Ionia County Sheriff’s Office; screenshot of Colton Sceviour via WOOD-TV]
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