Main, left to right: Alicia Busey and Steven Duty (Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office). Inset: Ruger Jay Andrew Boude (Dignity Memorial).
An Oklahoma mother and her boyfriend are accused of killing her 9-year-old son by allegedly subjecting him to “extreme physical abuse” that ultimately left him with a brain bleed and BB pellets embedded in his internal organs.
Alicia R. Busey, 38, and Steven Duty, 43, were taken into custody last week and charged with one count of second-degree murder as well as three counts of felony child neglect in the slaying of Ruger Boude, court records show.
According to a news release from the Oklahoma City Police Department, officers initially responded to a local hospital on the night of April 8 regarding a child who appeared to have suffered injuries suggesting physical abuse. Investigators determined the victim was in the care of his parents immediately before being transported to the hospital for emergency medical treatment.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by The Oklahoman provided additional details, including a description of the harrowing scene when Ruger was at the hospital.
Busey brought the boy to St. Anthony’s Healthplex East at approximately 10:39 p.m., where medical staff found him unresponsive with dilated pupils and a collapsed left lung. He was rushed to the OU Medical Center for emergency surgery, where doctors identified a massive brain bleed.
Ruger was declared dead two days later.
While Busey allegedly told investigators the boy sustained the injuries while fighting with an older brother, medical findings suggested a different reality.
According to a report from The Norman Transcript, a subsequent autopsy revealed the victim suffered a fractured left wrist and multiple bruises in varying stages of healing across his body. Most notably, medical staff discovered several BB pellets “embedded” in the boy’s soft tissue, including one lodged in his right kidney.
The investigation into the household uncovered a broader pattern of alleged neglect involving Busey’s three other children: a 10-month-old daughter and two 11-year-old sons.
The older boys underwent medical screening at the OU Safe Clinic and forensic interviews, where doctors reportedly found they also had BBs embedded in their bodies and several healing fractures in their arms and legs, which is indicative of long-term abuse. One child required hospitalization to treat a major infection on his scalp after he was allegedly hit in the head with a toolbox by one of his siblings.
Authorities further documented extensive evidence of medical and educational neglect across the household. Police obtained records showing the two older boys were not currently enrolled in any school after being denied by a previous elementary school for excessive absences.
Ruger’s obituary described him as a “Mom’s little man,” who enjoyed working with tools and was “kind to everyone who came into his life.”
Both suspects are being held at the Cleveland County Jail on $5 million bond each, according to court records. They are scheduled to appear in court for preliminary hearings on May 26.
