2/06/2007 MOM AND DAD KILLED GIRL, 4
Hull pair charged with giving daughter deliberate overdose of
prescription pills.

In a case that defies comprehension, a husband and wife from Hull
appeared in court today on charges of killing their 4-year-old
daughter with a deliberate drug overdose.

Police said Michael Riley, 34, who was awaiting trial for attempted
child rape, and Carolyn Riley, 32, gave their daughter, Rebecca
Jeanne, a fatal dose of prescription pills on Dec. 13.

In an affidavit filed with the court, State Police Trooper Anna
Brookes said there was evidence of a ‘‘slow and painful killing of
Rebecca Riley over a period of days.’’

Brookes said the Rileys refused to accept help from agencies that had
identified problems with the way Rebecca was being given medicine.

The affidavit said the couple was indifferent to her ‘‘obvious pain
and suffering,’’ and failed ‘‘to provide any medical care to their own
daughter as she lay visibly suffering, drowning in her own bodily
fluids on the floor beside their bed.’’

The state medical examiner’s office said the girl died from the
combined effects of three drugs used to treat bipolar disorder,
including Clonidine, and two over-the-counter cold medicines.

‘‘This occurred as a result of the intentional overdose of Rebecca
with Clonidine,’’ the Plymouth County District Attorney's office said
in a statement announcing the charges.

The Clonidine was prescribed by Dr. Kayoko Kifuji, Tufts New England
Medical Center psychiatrist, to treat the young girl for hyperactivity
and bipolar disorder. The other two drugs were Depakote and Seroquel,
which are also used to treat bipolar disorder.

Authorities said the girl was diagnosed with both disorders when she
was 28 months old.

James McGonnell, Carolyn Riley’s half brother, and his fiancee, Kelly
Williams, who lived with the family, told police they had repeatedly
asked the Rileys to take Rebecca to the hospital or to a pediatrician.

They said the Rileys told them they has made an appointment, but only
offered excuses for not going. They said Michael Riley told his wife
to medicate the children when he determined that they were acting up.

The state Department of Social Services placed the Rileys’ two other
children, Gerard, 11, and Kaitlynne, 6, in foster care about 10 hours
after Rebecca’s death.

‘‘There were mitigating circumstances,’’ department spokesman Denise
Monteiro said yesterday. ‘‘We had to take custody of the children. I
can’t say any more.’’

Carolyn Riley obtained a restraining order against her husband in
October, but allowed it to lapse after a few weeks.

McGonnell and Williams told police they saw Michael Riley grab his son
by the neck and bang his head against the back window of a pickup
truck ‘‘in an apparent uncontrollable rage,’’ the affidavit said.

McGonnell said Riley was not allowed to live with his family in
Weymouth public housing because of a court order issued after he was
arrested on sex charges in 2005.

Police were called to the Rileys’ home at 70 Lynn Ave. in Hull’s
Kenberma neighborhood, opposite Nantasket Beach, at 6:30 a.m. on Dec.
13. They found found Rebecca dead on the floor of her parents’
bedroom.

An obituary prepared by the couple and published in The Patriot Ledger
said the little girl had died in her sleep.

The Rileys will be arraigned today in Hingham District Court on
charges of first-degree murder.

The couple was arrested yesterday at Michael Riley’s mother’s home on
Fallgren Lane in Weymouth. He was held overnight at the Plymouth
County jail and Carolyn Riley was held at the Marshfield police
lockup.

Michael Riley was indicted in September 2005 on charges of attempted
rape of a girl under 14, four counts of indecent assault and battery
on a child and giving pornography to a child.

Weymouth Police Lt. George Greenwood said Riley was arrested in June
2005 after police searched his apartment at 43 Memorial Drive in
Weymouth and confiscated a computer, diaries and notebooks.

He was scheduled for trial on May 29 in Norfolk Superior Court.

He was free on $2,500 bail posted by his wife.

Court records show Riley has a bullet hole and the letters ‘‘RRR’’
tattooed on his back.

Michael Riley graduated from Weymouth High School in 1991 and his
wife, the former Carolyn DiSalvo, graduated in 1992.

On Dec. 30, two weeks after their daughter’s death, they attended his
15th high school reunion at the Weymouth Elks Club. Michael Riley told
a friend he and his wife needed to get out so they would stop thinking
about Rebecca.

Hull Police Chief Richard Billings praised State Police Sgt. Scott
Warmington, State Police Detective Anna Brookes and Hull Police
Detective John Coggins for their investigation that led to the
arrests.

A neighbor, Phyllis Lipton, said Carolyn Riley, her three children,
Carolyn’s stepbrother, his girlfriend and their son, moved into a home
at 70 Lynn Ave. in mid-November.

Lipton, 51, said the family told her Carolyn’s husband, Michael,
wouldn’t be living with them although he appeared to be there all the
time.

‘‘They moved in during the middle of the night,’’ Lipton said. ‘‘All I
could hear was foul language coming from the house.’’

Lipton said either Carolyn’s stepbrother or his girlfriend told her
that Rebecca had a twin who died at age of 2 weeks.

Lipton rarely saw the children, she said, but added Gerard Riley once
returned hedge clippers he had taken without asking.

‘‘He had obviously gone into my shed to get them,’’ she said. ‘‘He
said his cousin was the one who got them from the shed.’’

Lipton said when she heard someone had died in the Riley home her
first thought was that Michael Riley had killed his wife.

‘‘No one knew there was a child sick in the house,’’ she said. ‘‘We
thought they had moved out.’’

Lipton said the Rileys left about two weeks after their daughter’s
death. Carolyn Riley’s stepbrother and his family followed a few weeks
later.

Lipton said all three Riley children had special needs.

Rebecca attended the Elden H. Johnson Early Childhood Center in North
Weymouth. The school provides full- and part-day classes for children
ages 3 to 5. The center’s principal, Victoria Silberstein, declined to
comment.

Michael Riley’s mother, Kathleen Riley, would not comment on the case
when a reporter arrived at her home last night.