For two full years Greenwich residents Gary Ryder and his estranged lover Frank Verkaik were the talk of the town. Two rich white gay guys with four adopted boys, two black and two white, and with the exception of the youngest boy, the three older ones were always getting into trouble.
When Ryder and Verkaik broke up they did it big. Just about every day one was calling the police on the other, neighbors became involved and friends took sides. The only sense of normalcy in their Round Hill home was the male nanny from Trinidad and Tobago who brought some calmness and peace in the chaotic household.
The last time Greenwich residents heard from Ryder and Verkaik was in 2004 when Verkaik, who had moved to Vermont with two of the couple’s adopted children, called police to say his 16-year-old son, who had taken the train to Greenwich for the weekend, had been missing.
Verkaik told police that his other son had told him that the missing teenager was at Ryder’s Backcountry mansion.
Greenwich police Officers Andrew Kelly and Robert Smurlo went to Ryder’s gated home to question him about the missing teenager. Ryder told the officers that his son was not with him and gave them an address, where he thought the teenager might be. The officers checked the address supplied by Ryder but the teenager was there.
Officers Kelly and Smurlo returned to Ryder’s home later that day and this time Ryder was not at home.
The officers later wrote in their report that when they returned to Ryder’s home they looked through a first floor window and found the home in disarray. Thinking that something was wrong, the officers entered the home and saw a dark figure behind a frosted bathtub shower door. Thinking it was the missing teenager; the officers opened the shower door and found a 7-foot crocodile staring at them.
Police arrested Ryder and charged him with misdemeanor possession of a reptile and felony risk of injury to a minor.
Ryder, who said he purchased the reptile online, pleaded no contest to the reptile possession charge in 2006 and paid a $35 fine. He however, retained his right to appeal the charges.
Prosecutors had dropped the risk of injury to a minor charge.
One night Ryder packed up his family and moved out of town, but that was not the last that Greenwich residents heard from Ryder.
For several years Ryder battled Greenwich Police in Court saying the officers illegally entered his home. He also tried to sue them for millions of dollars, but that lawsuit went nowhere. Meanwhile, back at his Backcountry mansion, Ryder placed a big “PRIVATE PROPERTY NO TREPESSING” signs of both gates of his million dollar mansion.
Finally, Ryder got his just due in court this week.
Wednesday, the state Supreme Court ruled that the officers illegally entered Ryder’s home in August 2004. The 4-2 decision ordered a lower court to judge to dismiss the criminal case, criticizing Justice Dennis G. Eveleigh for his decision on the officer’s actions.
Ryder told the media on Wednesday that he learned a lot about the law over the past seven years and if prosecutors should appeal, he is ready to take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hopefully this is the last we will hear from Ryder and Verkaik!
