Convicted child killer Jolynn Ritchie up for parole

A Dayton woman who killed her 4-year-old daughter in 1995 has a parole hearing in April.

Jolynn Ritchie was sentenced to 22 years to life in 1996 for the death of her daughter Samantha and still resides in prison.

In April, a parole board will take a new look at her case before deciding whether she will be released.

“When you consider Samantha’s physical injuries and panic throughout the community, Jolynn Ritchie should never be released from prison,” Prosecutor Mat Heck said.

In July of 1995, Ritchie called 9-1-1 and reported her daughter missing.

Volunteers and investigators searched for days before search teams with dogs found the girl’s body in a water-filled pit at an abandoned foundry, just a block away from her home.

Ritchie confessed to killing Samantha two weeks later, Dayton police said.

At her early 1996 trial, Ritchie’s boyfriend testified the two were having sex in Ritchie’s basement when Samantha interrupted them.

Ritchie had a broken arm at the time and used her cast to hit her daughter on the head.

She proceeded to cave in the back of the girl’s skull with a wrench.

This hearing is Ritchie’s second chance at parole, her first in 2010 in which she was denied.