Grace Ryan was 16 years old. She was sick, scared, and reaching out to the one person who was supposed to protect her — her mother. Instead of calling a doctor, investigators say Gretchen Ryan kept the alcohol coming.
On the morning of March 9, police arrived at a home in Arvada, Colorado — about 12 miles north of Denver — after a report of an unresponsive teenage girl. They found Grace dead on the bathroom floor. Her iPad was lying near her body, still open to a conversation with her mother.
What investigators allegedly found in that chat history is the kind of thing that is difficult to read. In the months before her death, Grace had reportedly been vomiting blood, struggling to walk, and wearing diapers due to the physical toll of severe alcohol consumption. According to prosecutors, she repeatedly told her mother she was afraid she was going to die. Her mother, police say, knew — and kept supplying the drinks.
“I can’t anymore. I’m killing you. We have to do something — and I am going to jail.”
“Tried to be the cool mom and f—ed up.”
“It’s child abuse and [redacted] is going to put me in jail where I should be.”
— Messages Gretchen Ryan allegedly sent to Grace, per arrest affidavit
Tucked under Grace’s bed and stuffed in her closet, officers found 173 empty alcohol bottles — various brands of vodka and hard liquor. Prosecutors say Gretchen had been arranging regular alcohol deliveries to the home and actively hiding Grace’s drinking from her father, who lived in the basement of the same house.
Grace’s last message was sent at 10:07 p.m. on March 8. It went unanswered. 911 was not called until 8:15 the following morning.
An autopsy determined Grace died of aspiration pneumonia tied to chronic alcohol use. Medical examiners noted her liver was abnormally fatty for a teenager — a sign, doctors said, of prolonged and heavy drinking. She had been pulled out of public high school by her mother and switched to online classes, where she had completed only one semester of ninth grade. In the final months of her life, she had not left the house for any activities at all.
When police asked Gretchen Ryan whether she had allowed her daughter to drink, her response was chilling: “If I was drunk, I probably might have let her.”
Gretchen Ryan, 55, has been charged with second-degree murder by knowingly causing death. She is currently held in Jefferson County Jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 17.
Grace Ryan wanted her mother to save her. The last thing she ever did was send a message asking for help. The answer never came.
