July 11, 2018 – The local woman whose two children died at their home outside of Kearney on July 4 said she fell asleep in the car with her two daughters the night before, and woke the next morning to find them both unresponsive.
Jenna Boedecker
The girls, Ireland and Goodknight Ribando, were ages 2 and 8 weeks, respectively.
Goodknight Ribando
According to KSHB 41, the girls’ mother, Jenna Boedecker, told detectives she argued with her husband on July 3. Her husband left the property following the incident, which turned violent and resulted in Boedecker being charged with domestic assault, armed criminal action and property damage. Boedecker claimed she did not have a key to the house, so she took the girls to her Jeep to sleep for the night. By 9 a.m., temperatures in the area rose to 83 degrees. When Boedecker woke the next morning, she found her young daughters unresponsive, and tried to revive them with water. She said she then went to a shed next to the house to find a gas can, as the Jeep didn’t have much fuel. She said she then ran to a neighbor’s house for help, where they tried to cool the girls down. The neighbors called the police shortly after noon.
Records show that when Clay County sheriff’s deputies got to the house on July 4, the front door of the house was slightly open, and the Jeep’s windows were rolled up. She later told the Clay County investigators she found the key to the house but didn’t go in. Boedecker’s husband told investigators when he left the house after the fight the night before, the kids were inside.
Boedecker has not been charged in the girls’ deaths.
Ireland Ribando