Ruud, Peat in court recently


Rudd

Peat

Rebecca Ruud’s trial reset for Jan. 27, 2020

Theodosia resident Rebecca Ruud, charged with murdering her 16-year-old biological daughter Savannah Leckie and disposing of her corpse in 2017, appeared for a motion hearing before Judge Calvin Ray Holden May 24 in a Greene County courtroom in Springfield. 

Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant and Assistant Attorney General Steven Kretzer appeared on behalf of the state. Ruud, who is currently being held in the Greene County Jail, appeared with public defender Kate Welborn. 

The defense filed a motion for continuance of Ruud’s jury trial, which was previoiusly scheduled for Sept. 9, 2019. Garrabrant objected to the continuation of the trial. The judge sustained the motion, and Ruud’s jury trial was pushed to Jan. 27, 2020.

 A conference call was also set up between the judge, prosecution and defense for June 12. This is the third time Ruud’s jury trial date has been reset. Her original trial was scheduled for Aug. 27, 2018. During a pre-trial conference on May 18, 2018, Holden reset the jury trial for Jan. 28, 2019. During another pre-trial conference on Nov. 29, 2018, the defense’s motion for continuance was granted without objection, and Ruud’s jury trial was bumped to Sept. 9, 2019. 

Then, during last week’s hearing, Holden sustained another motion for continuation, allowing the case to be set for the new jury trial date, Jan. 27, 2020. 

 

Peat’s GPS device removed

Robert Peat Jr., Ruud’s husband who is also charged with murder in the case, appeared separately with his attorney, James Hayes, at a pre-trial conference on May 24 at the Greene County Courthouse. John Garrabrant and Assistant Attorney General Steven Kretzer appeared on behalf of the state.  

The court had released Peat on his own recognizance with GPS monitoring device in July 2018. By agreement, the court removed Peat’s GPS tracking device last week. Judge Holden ordered Peat to report twice weekly to Court Probationary Services. 

Another pre-trial conference in Peat’s case was set for Feb. 7, 2020. Peat will eventually face a Greene County jury, according to online court records, but a trial date is not yet set. 

 

The charges’ origin

Ruud and Peat were charged in the case after Ruud, who had given up her daughter for adoption shortly after birth in Minnesota, on July 20, 2017, reported Leckie missing from her Theodosia-area farm, where she’d been sent by her adoptive parents. Investigators found Leckie’s charred bone fragments in a burn pile on the farm on Aug. 4, 2017. 

Ozark County Times

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