A Logan County man told a psychologist last month that he blew up the Paris home where he caused the death of a toddler because he had no other means of killing himself, according to the man's mental evaluation.
Ricky Carter, 28, made the statement during a mental evaluation done last month as he awaits trial in Logan County Circuit Court on charges of first-degree murder and arson. A trial date has not been set.
"In light of the available information, I do not believe Mr. Carter's mental state was substantially impaired by a mental disease or defect at the time of the alleged offenses," clinical psychologist Melissa Dannacher wrote in her report dated Oct. 15.
Dannacher also concluded in the report that Carter had the ability to appreciate the criminality of his behavior, had the capacity to act lawfully and had "the capacity to form the culpable mental state required to establish an element of the offenses charged."
Carter is accused in the Dec. 21 death of 2-year-old Ryatt Reese, the son of Carter's girlfriend Julie Haney. Carter was watching the child while Haney worked a night job. Carter told police that Ryatt had become sick and threw up twice and that he cleaned up the child each time.
At one point, he told Dannacher in his Sept. 18 interview that he was going to change Ryatt's diaper. Ryatt usually would lie down by himself to be changed, but that night he was giving Carter trouble, so Carter yanked Ryatt by the ankles and the child fell back, hitting his head on the floor.
The Arkansas Medical Examiner's office concluded that Ryatt died from traumatic head and abdomen injuries.
Ryatt lost consciousness and Carter's attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation -- which he didn't know how to do properly -- were unsuccessful, according to reports.
Carter reportedly said that he held the dead baby for a long time. Dannacher asked Carter during the examination what he was thinking at the time.
"'Once I come to terms with, you know, he's dead, just wanted to kill myself. Didn't have a pistol or a gun, you know. Didn't have anything to hang myself with. I don't know. It just popped in my head, blow yourself up,'" he said in the report.
The report said Carter turned on the gas. He told police the gas was on for about 45 minutes, but Carter told Dannacher that he really didn't know how long the gas had been on. When he smelled gas he lit his lighter, Carter said, and the force of the explosion slammed him to the floor.
Carter said in the report that it seemed like police showed up almost immediately.
Police reports said officer Thomas Hobbs responded to the call of a blast at 1704 S. Elm St. Hobbs could see flames coming from the back of the house as he approached, and he helped Carter move Ryatt and his three siblings out of the burning house.
Afterward, Carter told police the explosion was an accident and occurred when he went to light a cigarette. When police told him his story was improbable, he said he caused the explosion in an attempt to cover up Ryatt's death, even though he maintained that the child's death was an accident.
Carter used methamphetamine heavily for months, according to the report, but Dannacher wrote that Carter said he stopped using the drug nine to 10 months before his arrest. Given the difficulty of turning away from chronic drug use, she wrote, it was possible Carter was using drugs at the time Ryatt died.
Carter's drug use and his history of problems with relationships made Dannacher suspicious that Carter suffered from a personality disorder, which she noted in her report is not a mental disease.
NW News on 10/24/2018