A year after a 2-year-old girl died in Fairview, Oregon authorities arrested 28-year-old Dison Ruda in Portland on June 10, saying a homicide investigation found her injuries did not fit the choking or playground-fall explanations.
For weeks after the first calls came in, the case began with the kind of moment no family ever expects to face: deputies with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office responded to Blue Lake Park in Fairview after reports of a 2-year-old child who was unresponsive.
When deputies arrived on March 28, 2025, they found the little girl unconscious and not breathing. The investigation later concluded that the child’s death was not an accident.
More than a year later, that conclusion helped drive an arrest. On June 10, 28-year-old Dison Ruda was arrested in Portland after detectives, prosecutors, and medical experts spent months piecing together what happened in the toddler’s final moments.
Court records describe how witnesses at the park said Ruda carried the child while attempting to blow air into her mouth. A park superintendent who responded to help later described what she saw in an affidavit reported in court materials: “He walked back over toward his parked vehicle. a blue Honda Odyssey … before laying the child on the grass.”.
After approaching the pair and trying to provide aid, the superintendent was allegedly told the child had choked on rice. The superintendent immediately began checking for an obstruction. Court records indicate she performed a mouth sweep and administered the Heimlich maneuver. “So [the superintendent] did mouth sweep and administered the Heimlich maneuver. She did not locate any obstruction.”.
What followed was a long investigation, built around questions that would not go away—particularly the explanations given for how the child was injured.
A sheriff’s office press release published earlier this month says medical investigators determined the documented injuries reportedly did not appear consistent with a choking incident. Court filings state that cops and medical personnel observed extensive bruising on multiple areas of the child’s body. and that hospital assessments reportedly noted signs medical professionals believed could indicate non-accidental trauma. Imaging also revealed a severe brain injury.
Authorities say Ruda later told investigators that the toddler had allegedly fallen from playground equipment and landed on her forehead from a significant height, becoming unresponsive afterward.
But in findings detailed in court documents. the medical examiner concluded the evidence did not support the theory that the fatal brain injury was caused by a simple playground fall. The medical examiner considered “literature on short falls in children. the impact-absorbing surface. the existence of blunt traumatic injuries on other body surfaces. including surfaces that are not commonly injured in innocent ways. and the lack of abrasions one would expect to see from fall on woodchips to conclude that the etiology of the brain injury in this case was abusive in nature.”.
The affidavit also reflects the medical examiner’s alarm at what the child’s presentation and injuries suggested: “He [the medical examiner] concluded that her presentation and injuries were highly concerning for child physical abuse.”
The shift that ultimately changed how investigators pursued the case came nearly a year after the child died. In March of this year, the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the case a homicide. That determination became a turning point in the investigation and led detectives to seek an arrest warrant for Ruda.
The case also included another layer of fear and urgency. The child’s mother reportedly voiced her own concerns after seeing her daughter at the hospital, allegedly telling police that she believed Ruda had harmed the little girl.
Ruda has since been charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, third-degree assault, and first-degree criminal mistreatment, and he has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
He is scheduled to return to court for arraignment on June 22.
An arrest is a milestone, but it doesn’t close every door. As the case heads into the next stage of court proceedings, unanswered questions remain around what happened to a 2-year-old child whose death authorities now say was homicide—not an accident.
Dison Ruda Portland arrest Oregon homicide investigation toddler death Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Blue Lake Park Fairview Oregon Oregon State Medical Examiner second-degree murder charges child physical abuse
This is so messed up.
Wait so they knew it wasn’t an accident after a year?? That seems like forever, and I’m not buying the whole “choked on rice” thing. How did nobody connect it sooner.
I mean if a guy is blowing into a toddler’s mouth like they said, that alone sounds weird. Also the article says Heimlich was done and no obstruction… so then what, it was just injuries from a playground fall but somehow not?? I’m confused.
Portland has these cases all the time, I swear. First they’re saying playground fall, then choking, then suddenly homicide… sounds like they just needed time to build a story. And the part about him carrying her and then “parked vehicle” like that matters, ok but still, why was a toddler even around all that to begin with.