SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Family, friends and K-9 officers gathered to honor Don Ryce and say their final farewells during his funeral and subsequent burial next to his wife and son in the Kendall area of Southwest Miami-Dade.
Since the abduction and murder of Jimmy Ryce, his son, the fearless advocate for missing children made it his life goal to fight for legislation and the rights of victims.
“He was funny. He was strong,” family spokesperson Terri Lynn said. “He had strong shoulders. He carried the weight. He carried the burden, and we never heard him complain.”
Ryce went through the unimaginable in 1995 when 9-year-old Jimmy was abducted on the way to a school bus stop in the Redlands area of Miami-Dade County. Three months later, he was found dismembered, and the tragedy shook all of South Florida to its core.
Retired Miami-Dade Police detective Pat Diaz was the lead investigator on the Ryce case.
“Next to the day I brought him his book bag that we recovered from Juan Chavez’s trailer, this is the second hardest day, knowing he’s at peace now with his family,” Diaz said.
Through the immense pain and grief, Ryce and his late wife Claudine co-founded the Jimmy Ryce Center, donating hundreds of bloodhounds to law enforcement agencies around the world to help find missing children and adults.
“He and Claudine would always say, ‘Anytime a bloodhound would find a child, it’s as if Jimmy was giving them a hug,'” Lynn said.
Bloodhounds and K-9 officers from different agencies were at his funeral Wednesday in a show of support for the fearless advocate who also spent the past 24 years fighting for victims’ rights legislation.
It’s now through his son, Ted Ryce, and the Jimmy Ryce Center that the Ryce family’s mission and legacy will live on.
“He inspired me, most importantly, to give back, to help others and to make that part of what we do and part of our family’s legacy,” Ryce said. “He’s left an incredible legacy behind with the Jimmy Ryce Center, which is an incredible organization that gets results through bloodhounds helping to find missing people. Something that we believe that may have helped Jim that day.”
Ryce died of natural causes at the age of 76. To loved ones, they’re at peace knowing he’s with his family once again.
“You have to find solace in knowing, and if you believe in heaven, that, right now, Don is in heaven with Jimmy, Claudine and Martha, and he’s being hugged to death,” Lynn said.
In his honor, the family would like donations to go to the Jimmy Ryce Foundation.
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