
South Floridians may recall the Ryce family and their son’s heinous murder, which gripped the region and the country. Twenty four years ago, Jimmy Ryce, a fifth-grader who loved baseball and reading, disappeared after a school bus dropped him off near his home in south Miami-Dade. A three-month search for the boy ensued. A tip to police led to the Dec. 9, 1995 arrest of 28-year-old ranch hand Juan Carlos Chavez, who told police that he became aroused by a group of young boys playing near a canal.