The Van Wert County Courthouse

Friday, Mar. 29, 2024

Ridinger boy’s mother enters guilty pleas

Van Wert independent

The mother of 15-month-old Hayden Ivan Ridinger, who was beaten to death by her former live-in boyfriend, Christopher Peters, changed her plea to guilty on Wednesday to two felony offenses related to the boy’s death.

Valarie Dean, 25, of Delphos, changed her plea to guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a felony of the first degree, and child endangering, a third-degree felony offense.

Judge Martin D. Burchfield accepted the guilty pleas and ordered a presentence investigation in the case. He also scheduled sentencing for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, January 24, 2018.

Dean was to stand trial on the felony offenses in December after a grand jury also indicted her in connection with her son’s death.

Peters was sentenced October 24 to life in prison without parole on a charge of aggravated murder, an unspecified felony, as well as two additional eight-year prison terms for felonious assault and child endangering, both felonies of the second degree, in connection with the Ridinger boy’s death.

POSTED: 11/29/17 at 4:10 pm. FILED UNDER: News