Ozark County Woman Is Free After Being Sentenced for Abandoning Her Daughter’s Corpse

A woman from Ozark County has walked out of the Greene County Jail a free woman after being found guilty of abandoning her daughter’s corpse.

Rebecca Ruud was sentenced to four years for abandoning the corpse of Savannah Leckie, 16, whose remains were found at a burn pile on Ruud’s property in Theodosia in 2017.

However, despite the four year sentence, Greene County Judge Calvin Holden credited Ruud with nearly 1,800 days served.

The defense argued Ruud placed Leckie’s body in the burn pile, but did not kill her, saying Leckie committed suicide.

Holden decided there was reasonable doubt Ruud committed the crime because of a lack of evidence.