Ryan Greenwood received 65 to 80 years after a jury convicted him of intentional child abuse resulting in death.

LINCOLN, Neb. — A Lincoln father who told police he had been “playing rough” with his 4-month-old daughter before she died was sentenced May 8 to 65 to 80 years in prison.

Ryan Greenwood, 36, was convicted in March of intentional child abuse resulting in death after a five-day trial in Lancaster County. The sentence moves his case from trial court to prison intake, but it does not end the wider court file. His wife, Tanya Greenwood, was also charged in the baby’s death and was later found not competent to stand trial, leaving prosecutors and the court to decide when, or whether, her case can proceed.

The case began before sunrise on Aug. 14, 2025, when Ryan Greenwood called 911 from an apartment near South 27th Street and Woods Boulevard and reported that his daughter, Elizabeth Greenwood, was dead. Officers and emergency responders found the infant unresponsive and cold to the touch, according to police accounts described in court records. Greenwood told investigators he had checked on the child after waking up and found she was not breathing. He said he performed CPR, contacted his mother and then called 911. The account he gave police quickly became part of the case against him because he also said he had been playing roughly with the baby the previous day, causing her to cry uncontrollably.

Investigators said the medical findings did not support an accidental or unexplained death. An autopsy found that Elizabeth died from a traumatic brain injury consistent with shaking, according to reports based on court records. A child abuse specialist later found that the injuries were nonaccidental and that prompt medical care could have improved the child’s chance of survival. Those findings shaped the charge prosecutors pursued: intentional child abuse resulting in death, a Nebraska felony carrying a long prison term. By the time jurors heard the case in March, prosecutors had built the trial around the timeline of the final day, the father’s statements, the mother’s account and the medical conclusions.

Tanya Greenwood gave investigators a different account of the hours before the 911 call. She said she had gone grocery shopping on Aug. 13 and returned to hear the baby crying in a way she described as “the worst cry I had ever heard.” She told police she wanted to take Elizabeth for medical help, but Ryan Greenwood told her not to do that. Court records described by local reports said Tanya Greenwood had previously questioned him by text about injuries she noticed on the baby and told investigators she had seen him shake the child at least once. Police also said investigators reviewed phone data and internet searches as they examined what both parents knew before the child was found dead.

Ryan Greenwood was arrested Aug. 26, 2025, nearly two weeks after the baby died. Tanya Greenwood was arrested two days later. Both were initially booked on suspicion of child abuse resulting in death, and bond was set at $1.5 million for each parent. Lincoln police said Special Victims Unit investigators conducted interviews, gathered physical evidence and reviewed surveillance video after the death. At that stage, the case was still framed as an ongoing investigation, but police said the infant’s injuries were consistent with nonaccidental trauma. The arrests turned the death from an emergency call into a criminal prosecution that would split into separate paths for the two parents.

The father’s prosecution advanced first. A jury found Ryan Greenwood guilty in March, and the case returned to court for sentencing on May 8. The sentence of 65 to 80 years means he will spend decades in state custody. Local reports said he received credit for time already served after his arrest. The conviction also resolved the core allegation against him: that his actions caused the fatal injury. The trial record left several public details limited, including the full testimony of medical experts and the complete statements jurors heard. Still, the verdict showed that jurors accepted the state’s theory that the baby’s death resulted from intentional abuse, not rough handling that accidentally went too far.

Tanya Greenwood’s case remains separate. She was found not competent to stand trial, a ruling that does not decide guilt or innocence. In criminal court, competency concerns whether a defendant can understand the case and help with a defense. Prosecutors said she could become competent at a later point, and a review hearing was set for May 14. Her charge stems from the same death and from allegations that she failed to get help after signs of injury. Court records cited in reports said she searched online for information about shaken baby syndrome and had asked Ryan Greenwood about injuries before the fatal day. Her next steps depend on future competency findings.

The case drew wider attention because Ryan Greenwood had posted public videos and messages about Christianity and fatherhood before the baby’s death. Reports described posts in which he offered “pro dad” tips to new parents and tied household tasks to religious themes of cleansing and repentance. Those posts were not the charge against him, but they became part of the public portrait of the case after sentencing. The contrast between the online image and the criminal conviction sharpened the attention on the case, especially after the sentencing report noted that he preached about repentance while prosecutors said his infant daughter died from shaking.

For investigators, the central evidence stayed closer to the apartment: the 911 call, the child’s condition, the parents’ accounts, phone data and medical findings. Police said the case began when officers responded to a dead infant, then expanded as detectives interviewed the parents and reviewed records. Ryan Greenwood’s own statement about “playing rough” became one of the earliest details made public. Tanya Greenwood’s statement about hearing an extreme cry added a second time marker before the baby was put to bed. Medical specialists then placed the death in the category of nonaccidental trauma. Together, those facts became the structure of the prosecution.

Ryan Greenwood is now under a prison sentence of 65 to 80 years. Tanya Greenwood’s prosecution remains tied to competency review and any later finding that she can stand trial. As of June 3, 2026, the father’s conviction stands, and the court record still leaves the mother’s charge unresolved.

Author note: Last updated June 3, 2026.