On Facebook, Ryan Greenwood posted about faith and parenting before his infant daughter died from injuries linked to shaking.
LINCOLN, Neb. — A Nebraska father who posted online about “pro dad” tips and repentance has been sentenced to 65 to 80 years in prison in his infant daughter’s death.
Ryan Greenwood, 36, was sentenced May 8 after a Lancaster County jury found him guilty of intentional child abuse resulting in death. His 4-month-old daughter, Elizabeth Greenwood, died Aug. 14, 2025, after what medical experts described as a traumatic brain injury consistent with shaking. The case drew attention not only because of the fatal injury, but also because Greenwood had publicly presented himself online as a father offering advice to new parents.
The public image stood far from the evidence described in court records. Greenwood had posted videos and messages about Christianity, repentance and parenting. One reported June 2025 post told parents who handle night feedings to clean the bottle after the baby is done eating, then compared the cleaned bottle to a religious message about being made clean through Christ. After the sentencing, that post and similar online material became part of the story’s wider attention. Prosecutors did not need online preaching to prove the charge. The conviction rested on what happened to Elizabeth, what Greenwood told police and what doctors found after her death.
Police were called before dawn Aug. 14 to an apartment near South 27th Street and Woods Boulevard in Lincoln. Greenwood reported that his daughter was dead. He told investigators he found her cold and unresponsive after waking up, tried CPR, called his mother and then called 911. The emergency call became the start of a Special Victims Unit investigation. Officers interviewed Greenwood and his wife, Tanya Greenwood, reviewed evidence and examined the timeline of the baby’s last hours. The father’s first explanation included a phrase that later followed the case through news reports and court coverage: he said he had been “playing rough” with the child.
Greenwood told police the rough play happened the previous day and caused Elizabeth to cry uncontrollably. He said he later gave the baby a bottle around 11 p.m., put her to bed and believed she was fine. Tanya Greenwood, 28 at the time of her arrest, gave investigators a different account. She said she returned home from grocery shopping on Aug. 13 and heard the baby make “the worst cry I had ever heard.” She said she wanted to take Elizabeth for medical treatment, but her husband told her not to do that. Her statement placed an alarming cry and a debate over medical care before the baby was found dead the next morning.
The autopsy changed the case from a household tragedy into a criminal prosecution. Doctors found that Elizabeth died from a traumatic brain injury consistent with shaking. A child abuse specialist concluded that the injuries were nonaccidental and said faster medical attention could have improved the baby’s chance of survival. Investigators also reported other signs that concerned them, including prior questions from Tanya Greenwood to her husband about injuries on the baby. Court records described in reports said Tanya told police she had seen Ryan Greenwood shake the baby and had seen him squeeze the child’s leg tightly. Phone and search records also became part of the investigation.
Ryan Greenwood was arrested Aug. 26, 2025, and Tanya Greenwood was arrested Aug. 28. Both were charged in connection with child abuse resulting in death, and both were initially held on $1.5 million bond. The criminal cases later separated in pace. Ryan Greenwood’s case moved to trial, and a jury convicted him in March 2026 after a five-day proceeding. Tanya Greenwood was found not competent to stand trial, with prosecutors saying she could become competent later. Her review hearing was set for May 14, leaving her case unresolved while her husband’s case moved to sentencing.
The sentencing gave the father’s case a firm result. The 65-to-80-year prison term means Greenwood faces decades in custody for the death of his daughter. Reports said he received credit for time served. The jury’s verdict showed that prosecutors had overcome the defense on the central point: whether Greenwood’s conduct amounted to intentional child abuse resulting in death. Public summaries of the case do not include every trial argument or witness answer, but they show the main proof jurors weighed: the father’s statement, the baby’s cry, the lack of medical care, the autopsy and the specialist’s conclusion that the injuries were not accidental.
The online posts changed how the case was seen outside court. They offered a record of how Greenwood wanted to be viewed before the death: a man giving advice to new parents, linking daily care to faith and speaking about repentance. After the conviction, those same posts read differently to the public because the criminal record said his infant daughter died from abuse. The contrast was sharp, but it did not turn the case into a trial over religion or social media. The legal issue remained the fatal injury to a baby, the timeline inside the apartment and the evidence that medical care was delayed or denied.
Tanya Greenwood’s pending case keeps the court file active. A competency ruling means the court must decide whether she can understand the proceedings and help her defense before a trial can move forward. It does not decide the truth of the allegations against her. Prosecutors have pointed to her statements, texts and online searches as part of the case. Her defense has not been fully laid out in the public reports. If she is later found competent, the court will have to address the charge against her separately from the verdict already entered against Ryan Greenwood.
The case also shows how a public persona can become part of a crime story after the legal facts are established. Greenwood’s “pro dad” content may have drawn readers to the contradiction, but the prosecution’s foundation was not a contradiction. It was the death of a 4-month-old child, a father’s admission that he handled her roughly, a mother’s account of an extreme cry, and medical evidence of shaking. Those facts drove the arrest, the trial, the verdict and the sentence.
As of June 3, 2026, Ryan Greenwood is sentenced to 65 to 80 years in prison. Tanya Greenwood’s case remains pending through competency review, and no final trial outcome for her has been reported.
Author note: Last updated June 3, 2026.