Transcript of Valerie Rider

In rural Ohio, a beautiful young mother goes missing.

In all the time that he's known Whitney, she doesn't go off the radar. She doesn't go dark. She doesn't ghost.

As a parent, you don't want to ever think that when your child is taken from you.

The evidence quickly points to foul play.

They're looking in the windows with flashlights, and they start to notice trash bags.

I dropped the tailgate, and I see large clumps of blonde hair.

As the investigation escalates, an inner circle is thrown into question.

Family members have witnessed them fighting with each other.

They would break up, get back together, break up, get back together.

But is this close-knit family hiding a killer?

You guys didn't kill her, did you? No. To our knowledge, they were the last ones that saw Whitney alive.

Dead body, bottom of the ravine. Oh, I'm serious.

Yeah, might be that missing girl.

Champaign County, Ohio, is a quiet farming community a few miles north of Springfield.

You would probably describe it mostly as blue collar. There's beautiful farming land, very green in the summer, and people think it's a great place to raise a family. There's not much crime here, and people feel mostly safe.

But just after midnight on October first, 2020, The sense of peace is disturbed by a mysterious 911 call.

I was dispatched to meet a male in the parking lot of the Sheriff's office. I was told by the dispatch center that the male would not give them any information about what he wanted to report. He just wanted to speak to someone in person. So I go out into the parking lot.

The young man who identifies himself as Randy Ryder gets out of the vehicle and tells the deputy why his friends brought him there.

Randy stated that an incident had occurred at the house where he lives with his girlfriend, Whitney Hostler, his father, Rodney Ryder senior, and his mother, Valerie Ryder. He advised that around 11: 00 AM on September 30th, there had been an argument between Whitney, his mother, Valerie, and him. They were screaming at each other, and the argument ended abruptly. Randy then left, and he stated to me that his mother, Valerie, continued to argue with Whitney.

Now It's midnight on October first, and over 12 hours have passed since he last heard from Whitney.

Randy said that he had been with his friends all day, and someone was supposed to come pick up Whitney. They were not able to get a hold of her. You can tell that he was genuinely worried about her well-being.

In all the time that he's known Whitney, which was many years, she doesn't go off the radar. She doesn't go dark. She doesn't ghost. And he hasn't heard from her in all this time.

They just told him to stand by at the Sheriff's office and that they would go out to the residence and try to make contact with Whitney.

We felt like maybe something had to her at that point.

Whitney Lynn Hossler was born on July 27, 1995, in Dayton, Ohio.

Whitney was the last baby. When she was first born, we lived in a trailer park. Whitney was a little terror. She really was. She liked to run around a lot. She would mess with her sister a lot. They I would argue, fight, like little kids do. But she loved her sister, though.

But when Whitney was two, her life was upended by her parents' divorce.

I just fell out of love with him. Since I was having some issues that I needed to work through, I decided to have Chuck take the girls. The girls really didn't understand first. I mean, they was two and three years old. I just told them that they had to go with Daddy until mommy got everything together and that I would get them back. That never happened.

Chuck moved around with the girls and basically raise them through the early years of their lives.

The next time she saw her mother, Whitney was a teenager.

She was having a lot of behavioral issues, so they thought it would be best if Whitney went and lived with her mother, see if maybe that's why she was acting out.

Whitney was something else. Whitney just had her own little personality. If she didn't like something, she would definitely let you know it. She was very blunt.

She was a little edgy. She had some facial piercings, blonde hair, She obviously cared about her appearance. She would do some cool tricks with her mascara and eyeliner.

She's really good at drawing and painting. She likes to do eyes and abstract pictures.

You would not even believe the creativity that girl had in her head. Sometimes I wondered, Where did you think of this from, Whitney?

Like many 15-year-olds, Whitney's academic goals were eclipsed by other interests.

It wasn't hard for Whitney to meet guys. Oh, my Lord. She had the most prettiest eyes, and that's what attracted a lot of boys to her.

But only one boy won her heart, classmate Randy Ryder.

She liked that he was kind and he'd go out of his way for her. To show her that he loved her. He said that she was just beautiful. He never sees someone so pretty in his life. Randy lived with his parents in Saint Paris, Valerie Ryder and Ronny Senior. Randy had an older sister and two older brothers, and he was the baby of the family.

Whitney and Randy dated for the next eight years.

She turned 22, and then she found out she was pregnant in the fall of 2017 when she took her pregnancy test. I was happy for her.

My mom told me that my sister was pregnant, and Wendy was excited, but scared. But we were all very happy and excited for her.

She wanted to move out to St. Paris with Randy to get a job out there, and that way they can save up and get their own place. That was the plan.

After their daughter was born in the summer of 2018, the couple realized they needed help taking care of her. So they moved into Randy's parents house, where his brother Rodney Jr. Was also living.

Randy's parents were really excited about the baby coming, and they wanted to help.

Rodney senior worked building tanks, and Valarie was into automotive building as well. So they both comfortably retired. And For them, they had this opportunity in retirement to create this bond with their grandchild.

From what I saw, Valarie was a very loving grandmother. She'd like to do things with them, take them to do things.

Over the next two years, Whitney and the Ryder family continued to grow closer. Until Whitney suddenly disappears And Randy is worried something has happened to her.

The Deputy Caller and I responded to do the welfare check on Whitney.

When the deputies arrived, this is after midnight, and they were trying to make contact with someone there to see if they could find out what what Whitney's status was.

As soon as deputies arrive, they sense something is wrong.

We began knocking on the door. No lights on in the residence. His brother, Rodney Jr, then came to the front door. Deputy Caller and I asked Rodney Jr. Where his parents were and where Whitney was. He stated that none of them were at the residence.

He stated They were going for a drive to look for hunting spots, and they were taking the two-year-old with them. But 6-7 hours later, they still weren't home.

At that point, we became more and more confident that something bad could have actually happened to Whitney and the riders and her child.

Coming up, a home search unearths new leads.

They found a near really empty roll of duct tape in Randy's room that he shared with Whitney.

And the truth begins to surface.

Grab me on my wrist. Hold me up. He said, You need to leave.

Champaign County Sheriff's deputies are at the home of Randy Ryder, looking for his missing girlfriend, Whitney Hossler. But as officers talk to Randy's brother Rodney, it seems their parents may have vanished as well.

Rodney Jr. Said he didn't have an idea where Whitney was. She had left earlier that day, and he had not seen her since he also explained that his parents had left that evening to drive around and try to find some new deer hunting locations, and that they had taken the granddaughter with them. The deputies asked if If that was something that they normally did, left that late at night, especially with the child, to go look for hunting areas, and Rodney Jr. Did say that that was somewhat unusual.

We asked what vehicle Rodney Jr. 'S parents would be driving, and he stated it would be a white Ford pickup. Deputy Collar and I asked that Rodney Jr. Have Valarie and Rodney Senior contact us when they arrived at the residence, then we observe the white Ford truck pulling to the front yard.

They see a truck pull up, and they notice, Wait, that's got to be Rodney Senior's truck.

We both approach the vehicle and made contact with Rodney Ryder, senior, who was driving, and Valarie Ryder, who was in the passenger seat. While looking in the vehicle, I observed a small female child sitting in the back middle seat. Deputy Collar asked about Whitney's whereabouts or when the last time they had seen Whitney, and Valarie stated that a maroon car had picked her up sometime in the afternoon. She said that the windows were tented and they couldn't see the driver.

According to Valerie, they had their granddaughter because Whitney and Randy had had a fight, and that wasn't unusual. They, unfortunately, Unfortunately, fought a lot. However, they usually go their separate ways. They'll cool down. They'll be back together tomorrow. It'll blow over.

The riders say they last heard from Whitney that afternoon.

Valerie Ryder stated that she had received a text from Whitney saying that she was going to be gone for a period of time and that she would contact her to let her know where she was at and when she would be coming back to pick up the child and that everything was okay.

Deputy Collar asked where Valarie and Rodney had been prior to arriving at the residence.

Valarie advised that Rodney Senior wanted to go out and scout out some new deer hunting stations. So they drove around for several hours trying to find new hunting sites. It was after that that they went down to a gas station in the city of New Carlyle to buy some cherry Coke, and then returned a short time later to find the deputies there at the residence.

Despite supporting Rodney Jr's account, deputies find the story odd, even under normal circumstances. Considering Whitney's disappearance, the rider's late night trip sounds even more suspicious.

They walk around the truck, and at this point, they're just checking it out. They're looking in the windows with flashlights, and they start to notice trash bags.

I looked in the bedcap, and I could see in the bed that there were wadded up trash bags with duct tape stuck to them. I dropped the tailgate, pull open those trash bags and I see large clumps of blonde hair stuck in the duct tape. We knew that Whitney was a blonde female. I noticed that the duct tape had formed almost like a semicircular shape It felt like it had been wrapped around something. When I saw the duct tape in the hair, I just had that feeling that this was not going to end well. Deputy Caller went to make a phone call to Chief Deputy Holmes, advised him of the situation. After he made that phone call, he asked Valarie if he would walk through the house and make sure that everything looked okay.

The writers said that they would be happy to consent to search, and the deputies went ahead and went through the residence.

During the search, deputies find more incriminating evidence.

Deputy Caller came back out of the residence, and he placed a nearly empty roll of duct tape on the tailgate and stated that he had found that next to the bed in Randy's room that he shared with Whitney. Also in the bed of the truck, I located a two-wheel dolly which the tires were covered in mud. It was wet still. And a single flip flop laying under the dolly. I also located a thick green rubber glove.

They're asking, What are these items for? And Valerie said, Well, today was a cleaning day. I clean often. I've got grandkids. They've got a lot of hair. That's just what this is. Trash bags, duct tape. Yep, there's some hair. That's normal in my household.

Rodney Jr. Confirms his mother's explanation.

He says, No, that actually does make sense because my daughter visits a lot, and she has some hair loss. In fact, we call her Rapunzel. So deputies say, Well, could you walk with us out to the truck and take a look at it? And the hair is a blondeish-brown color. He looks at it and says, Yeah, that's probably my daughter's hair.

Throughout the questioning, Valerie Ryder remains cooperative. Her husband, Rodney Senior, however, doesn't seem as calm.

Rodney Senior appeared to be very nervous And as time went on, he continued to become more nervous to the point where he started to begin to hyperventilate and actually had to go sit down because he was becoming so upset.

Based on what was found in the bed of the truck, Valarie and Rodney senior's actions, their demeanor, the nervousness, their story, we felt concerned enough that we needed to get detectives involved at that point. Something had happened to Whitney, and we needed to get to the bottom of that.

Just over 12 hours after Whitney Hussler was last reportedly seen, Sheriff's deputies find human hair in the rider's truck and call in homicide detectives.

We took everything from the search of the truck as evidence and submitted it to the crime lab to check for DNA. I spoke with the deputies that were out there, and they voiced their concerns. At that time, they led me into the residence, the deputies did, and showed me the general area. Then I came outside and I spoke with Valarie and Rodney senior on the porch. Mr. Ryder seemed hesitant and quiet. He really didn't say a whole lot. He was very vague in his answers. When I spoke with Valerie next, she started talking and she continued to talk and talk and talk. It was a nervous talk. Based on that, that made me think they're lying. I said, something's not right here. With what we found in the bed of the truck and the statements that you guys are making. And we need to talk a little further in a better setting.

Valerie, Rodney Senior, Rodney Junior, the little girl, they're all taken into the station for questioning.

We decided to interview Rodney Jr. First to establish a baseline of what had occurred that day. Hey there, young man. Rodney He had been at work on September 30th of 2020. Did mom have any more conversation with you about what happened with Randy or Whitney? No. He said Whitney had left earlier that day, and he had not seen her during the rest of that day. Come with me for a here. After completing the interview, Rodney Jr. Was released.

Randy Ryder continues to stand by at the station, while Rodney senior and Valarie tell detectives about the argument that led up to Whitney's disappearance. Parents.

Can you walk me through what happened that morning? I wish it good. All I know is all I've said. They were screaming and yelling, one another, cussing, fighting.

What were they fighting about?

Apparently, she found out that he's been sleeping with another girl, my dad or grandma. She was done. She was taking the baby, and we went to her mom's.

Rodney senior says that his wife told him that she tried to calm Whitney down, but she was too angry.

Whitney was tired of putting up with him. She wants to think about it, having no time to think about everything. So he left.

According to Valerie, as soon as Randy left, Whitney packed up her belongings as well.

Valerie said that Whitney contacted a a friend of hers that was going to come and pick her up, and they were going to leave that night.

She had her stuff bag, and it was about 11: 30. The baby had laid down, finally, to take a nap. I was in the kitchen starting the dishes and stuff and vacuuming. And that's when I looked out and seeing her walk down. There was a car. And she went down, walked around, and got in the car.

The idea that Whitney left without her two-year-old child doesn't sit right with investigators.

Can you tell me what mom is Whitney? Whitney, in my opinion, loves that little girl as much as anybody. So in regard to Whitney, she's at your house, and now we can't find her. Did you do something to Whitney? You guys didn't kill her, did you? Okay.

Randy Ryder has been voluntarily waiting at the station after reporting Whitney missing. When detectives ask him to give a statement, officers are eager to hear his version of events.

I heard Whitney in my room saying, We won't ever see her. And then she was She's taking me to court for child support and all that, saying that she hates our family and that we're disgusting, knowing that my parents have done everything they can for her, and it's never been good enough.

You didn't see Whitney after that?

No.

According to Randy, Rodney, senior, and Valerie had the baby with them virtually all the time. They were the caretakers of that child. The child frequently would sleep in their with them. Everything in his parents' world revolved around that little girl.

To investigators, it doesn't sound like his mother was going to let her go that easily.

But all I could hear for about five minutes, at least, was the screaming and yelling in the room, like some crying and stuff. But I was like, What's going on?

And then It was just absolutely silent back there.

A few moments later, Randy says his father emerged from the bedroom.

Grabbed me on my wrist, pulled me up. He said literally word for word, told me, You need to leave for a few days and make sure everyone knows where you're at. In my head, I took it as I needed an alibi or something. He It was like he just walked in and seen something that he probably never thought he'd ever seen.

Okay, so did you ever go back to the bedroom or what did you do?

I didn't. They kept telling me that she didn't want to hear my voice. That's why I needed to leave.

Speaking with Randy, he seemed to be generally concerned for the welfare of Whitney. He seemed to be concerned for his daughter. He seemed to be very suspicious of the situation involving his parents. That, coupled with the physical evidence that we believe we had found in the truck and in the house, gave us great concern. But we, at that point, had nothing to support that a crime had actually been committed.

It's been almost 24 hours since Whitney was last seen. Investigators return the riders to their home but consider them to be persons of interest. Looking for more information, detectives turn to Whitney's family next.

The morning of October first, there was a cop outside that needed to talk to me. So I go outside and he asked me if I knew a girl named Whitney Hostler. And I said, Yes, I do. That is my daughter. What's going on? And he told me that she was being reported missing. That was not her. She would always let someone know where she was going, whether it be me or Randy.

Whitney's family did not know what her current location was.

However, they do know something about Whitney and Randy's volatile relationship.

They would break up, get back together, break up, get back together. She would get with someone, and he would get with someone, but then that wouldn't last long. But the last couple of years, it just got really rocky, especially after she had the baby.

But Whitney's loved ones say, Valerie Ryder was the one she had the biggest problem with.

Whitney suffered really bad from postpartum depression. It was hard on her. Whitney would sleep a lot, so it would make it hard to take care of her daughter.

Whitney had issues with Valerie on the point that she was trying to take over her daughter and keep her for herself. At one time, I guess, she wanted Randy and Whitney to sign her over to them so they can raise her because I guess they felt that Whitney and Randy wasn't capable enough of raising her, which was so false, so false.

According to her family, Whitney had been quietly making plans to leave for several weeks.

She was supposed to move out on October first. She was supposed to get her apartment that day and sign the papers at 10: 00 that morning.

Whitney never arrived.

I just knew something was wrong. She was going to take her daughter with her. It didn't make no sense to me that Whitney was missing because it's not like Whitney to be missing at all. At all. She would let someone know. She always called me and let me know.

Coming up, a local resident makes a gruesome discovery.

Just found a body laying down here at the bottom of the ravine.

And investigators move in on their suspects.

I knew what had happened. I just wasn't clear on why it happened.

After questioning those closest to her, investigators fear Whitney Hostler might have been the victim of foul play. In a last-ditch effort to find her, they release details of the case to the media and open a tip line to the public. But their break comes from a 911 call.

The afternoon of October first, the Champaign County Communication Center received a call from an individual in the area of Kaiser Lake Road, near Kaiser Lake State Park. 911, where's the location of your emergency? I just found a body laying down here at the bottom of the ravine.

It looks like it's a female. She's laying face down. Okay, all right.

If you want to step out towards the road, I'm going to send someone out there. Do you think that she's alive and breathing? No.

I We don't make it all. Sheriff's deputies are immediately sent to the location.

Deputy Shil and I responded to the area. When we got there, St. Paris EMS was already on scene. They had pointed out to where the body was at. Dead body, bottom of the ravine. Oh, seriously?

Yeah, might be that missing, girl.

It was off the north side of the roadway, about 75 feet down into a ravine. The MT and I secured a rope to a tree, and we went down to the body.

When they rolled her over, you could see her face, and it was Whitney.

The deputies notify homicide detectives who secure the area and begin searching for clues.

There was a log that was laying across what appeared as the entrance to the hill where she was dumped down. And there was a red mark that was on a log right up by the entrance to that, and it looked like blood to me. You could see leaves and dirt had been moved from coming down the hill. To me, it didn't look like she had been killed there. It appeared that she had been dumped there. The medical examiner determined that Wendy had been strangled due to the evidence around her neck and the redness, choke marks, in addition to the petechial hemorrhaging in her eyes.

To our knowledge, the rioters were the last ones that had contact with Whitney and saw Whitney alive. So at that point, coupled with the evidence that had already been found at the residence, we felt that we really needed to focus our efforts on the rioters.

At that time, they were brought in for second interviews.

This time, detectives focus on Valerie Ryder's husband, Rodney Senior.

They really start to push him because they have picked up on this nervous demeanor, and they think of a tactic.

I actually showed him some autopsy photos. Rodney, I think I think in your heart, you're a good man, and I think you want to do the right thing. Jesus Christ. I don't think anybody meant for this to happen. Would I be right when I said that? Do you see those marks? Those are hand marks, Rodney. I said, Obviously, Whitney was killed. And I asked him if he knew who killed Whitney. I can't know who strangled Whitney? My wife. He stated he'd been asleep in his bed and woke up to the argument, and that when he came Out of the bedroom, he went into where Whitney's bedroom was and where Valerie was. And he found Whitney laying on the bed with a plastic bag over her head, and it appeared that it had been taped. And Valerie told you that she started with her?

Yes. Yes.

So then what did you and Valerie do with Whitney at that point? I put her in a trash bag. You put her in a trash bag? I put her in a trash Okay. I couldn't do it. Rodney senior stated that even though he knew he shouldn't help, he assisted Valarie in placing Whitney into the pickup truck outside the residence. And then later, they went out to try to find a location in order to dispose of Whitney's Bonnie. Where did you end up? My brother and my dad's house. Which was where?

What sticks out to me from the whole story at this time is her own daughter, the two-year-old child, is in the vehicle with them when they're trying to get rid of Whitney's body.

Arms with this information, investigators question Valarie again.

I confronted Valar with the fact that I had already spoken with Rodney senior, and that I knew what had happened. I knew where it happened. I knew how it happened. I just wasn't clear on why it happened. I said, Was it an accident? Did you accidentally kill Whitney?

I had put my arm around her and it went up because she had moved and she tried to get me off everything. And that was I mean, I must have squeezed too hard or something because I heard her. I don't know. It wasn't a gag or cough or whatever. And that's when I realized.

You realized what?

That she was not breathing.

Do you remember how the bag got over her head?

No.

Valerie claims she only meant to keep Whitney from leaving, But the thought of never seeing her granddaughter again sent her into a rage.

The writers seemed to have their whole world wrapped up in that granddaughter. I do believe that Valerie felt that she needed to control that situation.

And her way of control was to murder Whitney.

After we completed the interview with Valerie, the writers were charged with felony murder, and I believe tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.

When Whitney's loved ones learn of the arrests, they are devastated.

I tried to keep it together because my mom was crying. She lost it. So I felt like I had to be the strong one.

As a parent, you don't want to never, ever think that one of your child is taken from you like that. But it happened to me and my family, and it didn't need to. It was so senseless. Senseless.

Now it's up to prosecutors to get justice for Whitney's family.

To sit in that courtroom looking at her was the hardest thing I think I've ever had to do. I wanted them to get the most sentence, most years that they could get, which was hopefully forever. And I'm going to make sure that happens.

Days after Whitney Hostler's body was found, Valarie and Rodney Ryder senior are both in jail awaiting trial for her murder. But some question whether they are truly the ones responsible for her death.

After the arrest of both Rodney senior and Valarie, we obviously were continuing to receive information or calls indicating that they believe that Randy probably killed Whitney himself, and that Valarie and Rodney senior were simply claiming responsibility so they could protect their son.

So there's history there between Whitney and Randy. We know that family members have witnessed them fighting with each other, and they started thinking about, Well, what really happened?

We continued to look into Randy's possible involvement in it just to make sure that nothing come up down the road.

To investigate her surprise, Randy is happy to cooperate. Rates.

We interviewed Randy and we said, Well, would you be willing to take a polygraph? And he said, Absolutely. A Detective Kemp and I drove Randy over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation in London, Ohio, where he was subjected to a polygraph exam by one of the BCI polygraph investigators.

All right. Are you ready to get started then, Randy? Did you kill Whitney? No. Did you help kill Whitney?

No.

Did you help dump Whitney's body?

No. Upon completing the polygraph exam, it was very clear that Randy was not trying to lie. He was not trying to cover up any truth that he did not commit the crime.

Two months later, in December 2020, Rodney Ryder senior enters a plea deal.

Rodney senior was convicted of possession of criminal tools, obstructing justice, and tampering with evidence, and was sentenced to 36 months in prison.

That leaves the confessed killer, Valerie Ryder, to stand trial alone. When her trial begins in February 2021, both her son and her husband are witnesses for the prosecution.

Here's what they had. Hair and the duct tape. That was the same color as Whitney's. They had statements from Rodney saying, Look, my wife did it. Then they have Valerie breaking down and admitting things that proved or at least pointed to her involvement in Whitney's death. Not only that, this big piece of evidence happened to be one green glove that was found in the truck. And this is the golden part for prosecutors. Valerie's DNA was inside the glove, while Whitney's DNA was on the outside of the glove.

While the case against Valerie seems straightforward, her lawyers insist she didn't do it. Despite the results of Randy's polygraph test, they maintain he was the one who actually killed Whitney.

The defense said, not a chance. Valerie is innocent. In fact, she's taking the fall for her son, Randy. And in that defense, they called Randy's siblings, Valerie and Rodney Senior's children. And they came to the stand and they argued that their mother was kind and caring. And in fact, rather than being an instigator, she tried to always calm people down.

Brandy's many things, but Brandy's not a murderer, okay? Wanting to put her own son under the bus to save her own skin. Yeah, what mother does that? That's no mother to me. She acted like she had no care in the world and denied it. Denied it all the way. To the end, all the way to the end.

All the way to the end. She didn't show any type of remorse. She just acted like she would never hurt my sister, but she did.

The jury agrees. On February 25th, 2021, they find Valarie guilty.

Valarie Ryder was convicted of murder murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence, and gross abusable corpse. She received 21 years in prison to life.

I was happy that my sister got justice, not that her serving 21 years of life is ever going to bring my sister back. She was a mother. She was a daughter. She was a granddaughter. She was a great friend. And her daughter has to live the rest of her life without her mother.

My daughter didn't have to die. No, she didn't. But there's nothing that can be done now about that, except for we love her. We miss her every day. Every day.

Randy Ryder has never been charged in connection with Whitney's murder.

Whitney's sister, Chelsea Hossler, was given custody of Whitney and Randy's two-year-old daughter. Rodney Ryder senior was released from prison on March 28, 2023. Valerie Ryder will be eligible for parole in 2041.