The Richey case: Little girl, not Scot, is true victim, father says

But now that Richey is a free man, the father of 2-year-old Cynthia Collins, killed in a 1986 fire Richey was convicted of setting, said he is still waiting - for Richey to die.

"That'll be the only closure I'll ever get," an angry Mr. Collins told The Blade in his first interview with American media.

He said he waited for the chance to personally witness Richey's execution. Now that Richey has been freed and has returned to Scotland, Mr. Collins said he is waiting for something else to claim him.

"A car can drop on his head," he said. "It doesn't really matter as long as he goes out."

Reached at his mother's home in Scotland where he's preparing to move into his own place, Richey was just as bitter. "I'll have to make sure he goes first," the outspoken dual U.S.-British citizen said. "[Expletive] him! Why should I give a [expletive] where he's coming from? I've lost 21 and a half [expletive] years."

Cynthia was just shy of her third birthday when she died in a Columbus Grove apartment building fire that prosecutors contend was arson. A blue-eyed toddler with blondish-brown hair, the bubbly girl slept with her favorite Glo Worm stuffed toy that was popular at the time.

She loved pink and liked to dress up in girly clothes despite playing like a tomboy outside.

Separated from Cynthia's mother at the time and now long divorced from her, Mr. Collins and his family have largely remained quiet, despite the international media attention that Richey's case attracted both before and after his release.

But now Mr. Collins and his sister, Valerie Binkley, said they want to remind people who the real victim of this story was.

Cynthia spent a week and half with her father just days before her death. He remembers taking her shopping for new clothes that she helped to pick out - pink, of course.

"I wasn't going to let her go back," he said. "We were arguing over the phone. [Cynthia's mother, Hope] said she was going to call the cops. When I got Cynthia, she didn't look like she was being taken care of. That's why I went out and bought her new clothes, cause she didn't look like she had new clothes."

But he did take her back. A few days later he held Cynthia for the last time in the hospital where her body was taken after the fire.

"If I knew then what I know now," he said, choking back tears.

Over the last few weeks, he has read articles via the Internet from Scottish and English media, including reports from the horde of reporters and photographers that greeted the "Death Row Scot" at Edinburgh's airport.

Mr. Collins' family was frustrated to learn Richey had sold early exclusive rights to his story to a pair of newspapers and a television news station and said they have explored possible legal avenues to try to claim that money.

"Good luck," Richey said.

Mr. Collins said he is angered to see Richey portrayed as a victim. "Poor Kenny," he said. "But they always seem to forget Cynthia. They think he's innocent. They're thinking that he spent 21 years for only baby-sitting. That's not what he got 21 years for."

The prosecution's theory was that a jealous Richey set the early morning fire after a party to kill his ex-girlfriend and her new lover but inadvertently killed the child in the upstairs apartment instead. Cynthia's mother left the child in Richey's care while she went off to view fireworks, but he has insisted he never agreed to baby-sit. He was convicted of aggravated murder, becoming the world's only "Death Row Scot."

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati twice overturned his conviction, determining that his defense lawyer failed to adequately challenge questionable arson evidence used to convict him.

Faced with the choice of retrying or freeing Richey, the prosecution ultimately agreed to a deal in which Richey pleaded no contest to lesser felony charges of attempted involuntary manslaughter, child endangering, and breaking and entering.

The sentence was slightly less than the 21-plus years he had served for murder, leading to his immediate release. He caught a flight across the ocean the next day.

The Collins family said it was initially hopeful when the state seemed committed to retrying Richey. But in a later meeting with the county prosecutor, representatives of the Ohio Attorney General's Office, and others, the attitude had shifted.

"We should have known when we walked in because they were decidedly nervous," Mrs. Binkley said. "They wouldn't look you in the eye. They looked at each other. … They were joking about feeding Kenneth Richey Ho Hos and, if they couldn't get him in court, maybe they would send him some cigarettes, money for the commissary."

Richey suffered at least two heart attacks while in prison, including a scare the night before he was initially scheduled to appear in court to enter his plea. His hospitalization delayed his release for two more weeks.

Two decades earlier, Mr. Collins was barred from being in the courtroom while his daughter's accused killer was tried because his name had been placed on a list of potential witnesses. He was never called to the stand.

In January, he decided not to attend the hearing that led to Richey's release.

"They wouldn't let me in there when they found him guilty," he said. "Why would I want to be in there when they let him go?"

Richey said he continues to look for work, but, with the help of friends, has found a place of his own so that he can move out of his mother's small Edinburgh apartment.

He said he continues to have a hard time adjusting to life outside death row but that hasn't been a surprise. "I expected to be angry and bitter," he said.

Earlier this month, Richey made headlines again in his hometown.

The Edinburgh Evening News reported that Richey helped to save the life of a woman who suffered a heart attack in a city pub. When he learned she was taking the same heart medication he was, he gave her some of his.

Although Mr. Collins wasn't at Richey's plea hearing, Mrs. Binkley was. At one time Mrs. Binkley stood up and told him that he would "burn in hell" for his actions, words that made international news.

"It was almost like he got the last laugh out of the whole thing," she said.

Did he?

"That's the way it looks," Mr. Collins said. "He's home."

Contact Jim Provance at: "This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it!" or 614-221-0496.

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