(Warning: Potentially Triggering Content)
An Oregon man now faces extremely serious charges after police say a year-long investigation into the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter led detectives to conclude the little girl was the victim of a homicide.
According to officials, 28-year-old Disson Ruda was arrested in Portland on June 10, more than a year after the child died in March 2025. The arrest came after investigators, prosecutors and medical experts spent months piecing together what happened in the toddler’s HORRIBLE final moments…
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The case began on 28 March last year, when deputies with Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office responded to Blue Lake Park in the town of Fairview after receiving reports of an unresponsive child. When first responders arrived, they found the little girl unconscious and not breathing.
Witnesses at the park allegedly saw Ruda carrying the child while trying to blow air into her mouth. A park ranger who responded to help later described what she witnessed at that moment, according to a statement reported by several Portland-area media outlets:
“He walked back over towards his parked vehicle, a blue one Honda Odyssey … before you put the child on the grass.”
After approaching the couple and trying to render aid, the superintendent was allegedly told that the child had choked on rice.
Court records show she immediately checked for an obstruction and tried to save lives:
“So (the inspector) swept the mouth and administered the Heimlich maneuver. She found no obstruction.”
What followed was a lengthy investigation that eventually raised serious questions about the explanations Ruda had allegedly offered for his injuries.
First, according to a sheriff’s office press release released earlier this month, medical examiners later determined her documented injuries reportedly did not appear to be consistent with a strangulation incident. According to court documents, both police and medical personnel observed extensive bruising on multiple areas of the child’s body. And hospital assessments reportedly noted signs that doctors believed could indicate non-accidental trauma. Imaging also revealed severe brain damage.
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Authorities say Ruda later told investigators that the toddler had allegedly fallen from playground equipment and landed on her forehead from a significant height, and became unresponsive afterward. However, medical experts reportedly found significant problems with this explanation.
In findings detailed in court documents, the medical examiner concluded that the evidence did not support the theory that the child’s fatal injuries were caused by a simple fall on a playground:
“(The cleaner) considered the literature on short falls in children, the shock-absorbing surface, the existence of blunt traumatic injuries to other body surfaces, including surfaces not commonly injured in innocuous ways, and the lack of abrasions one would expect to see from falls on wood chips, to conclude that the etiology of the brain injury in this case was abuse.”
The conclusions became even more alarming at that point, according to the statement:
“He (the doctor) concluded that her presentation and injuries were very concerning for physical child abuse.”
Almost a year after the toddler’s death, in March this year, it remained Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office officially ruled the case a homicide. That determination became a major turning point in the investigation and ultimately led detectives to seek an arrest warrant for Ruda.
To add another devastating layer to the case, the child’s mother reportedly voiced her own fears after seeing her daughter in the hospital, reportedly telling police she believed Ruda had harmed the little girl. And yet it took a whole year to get to this point…
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Ruda has since been charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, third-degree assault and first-degree criminal mischief per more businesses. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Here’s more on this tragic case (below):
Ruda is scheduled to return to court for arraignment on June 22.
And now, as this case moves through the court system, many questions remain unanswered. But for investigators, the arrest marks the culmination of more than a year of work dedicated to uncovering what happened to a 2-year-old child whose death authorities now believe was anything but accidental.
If you have good reason to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
(Image created for PerezHilton.com.)
