Police in Newfoundland issued a nationwide warning yesterday about a "sadistic predator" who recently escaped custody while visiting his dying mother.
Richard Ryan, a convicted sex offender who prosecutors want declared a dangerous offender, could strike again or even kill someone, investigators say. Police have alerted nine of Mr. Ryan's victims in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Alberta.
"Our goal is for every woman in the country to know this man's face," Sergeant Robert Garland of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said in an interview yesterday.
Trouble is, Mr. Ryan could fade into the background just about anywhere in Canada. He wears glasses, has an average build and thinning blond hair. At 40, he's charming and persuasive, having conned some victims for their money.
"We're into triple digits on the sightings, but none of them have been confirmed," Sgt. Garland said. "He looks like Joe Next Door. That's what makes it scary. People will befriend him."
But this fugitive has one distinguishing feature that could give him away: his nose. "It's prominent," Sgt. Garland said. "It has a bump midway down, and it has a hook to it. . . . Without surgery, it's the one thing he won't be able to change."
Mr. Ryan, who has maimed and terrorized his victims in the past and once described himself as "evil," escaped custody on Aug. 3 while on an escorted leave from Her Majesty's Penitentiary in the east end of St. John's.
A corrections officer had taken him to visit his mother's house in nearby Mount Pearl -- his seventh visit in two weeks -- when he apparently crawled through a washroom window to freedom. Since then, almost every utility pole and storefront in St. John's has been plastered with posters bearing Mr. Ryan's placid mug shot.
Meanwhile, the provincial Justice Department faces some tough questions about the high-profile escape. It's unclear why Mr. Ryan, who was considered at risk of escaping, was accompanied by only one guard and wasn't handcuffed or shackled at the ankles.
Mr. Ryan was the 14th inmate to escape from the penitentiary since 1991.
Kelvin Parsons, Newfoundland's Justice Minister, was expected to release the results of an internal investigation today. He admitted that mistakes were made, but he has denied accusations that provincial budget cuts are to blame for the embarrassing lapse in security.
Mr. Ryan was found guilty last year of confining, sexually assaulting and threatening a 26-year-old woman he had met at Memorial University in St. John's.
After the trial, the Crown filed a dangerous-offender application to have him held behind bars for an indefinite period.
In 1995, Mr. Ryan pleaded guilty to beating and raping a woman in a St. John's hotel room.