Clifton mother died amid family tensions with cops

811 Alpha Place, site of a total loss of a residence due to arson on Sept. 3

Meridian – The May 4 jailhouse death of April Troyn, 36, of 502 Avenue D, occurred after months of allegedly felonious family tensions with law enforcement.

As previously reported, she died under mysterious circumstances still under investigation by Texas Rangers following an arrest in the parking lot of a local supermarket where she and her best friend had gone shopping on May 2.

April Troyn Richardson

Authorities placed her in the Bosque County Jail, a facility not usually used to house female prisoners because they must be segregated by sight and sound from male inmates, according to the regulations of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. (click here for a previous report)

She was alone in a single cell after jailers released a fellow inmate at about 8 a.m., family and friends say they have learned. When jailers checked on her after lunch, she was “unresponsive,” according to official reports.

An official cause of death is as yet unannounced, according to Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Ray Ballman, who ordered a post-mortem exam at the Southwest Institute of Forensic Science at Dallas. “All of that is still under investigation,” he said.

Confidential sources say she allegedly hanged herself. “We don't believe that,” a close friend who has “known her all her life,” said.

The case unfolded over a period of 5 months following a December 16, 2012 incident when her five-year-old son reportedly asked employees of the Dairy Queen to feed him because he was hungry. He told Detective Darrin D. Glenn that his mother sent him there to eat after he told her was hungry.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed with Precinct 2 Justice Court in this city, when Ms. Troyn was summoned, she told the officer she did not know her son was at the fast food restaurant.

The Court issued an arrest warrant on Feb. 19, 2013, and her arrest came two and one-half months later, according to the return of service on the warrant for Child Endangerment.

According to close friends, that case hinged on a collision in which she was driving whenthe vehicle hit a tree, rolled, and threw a son and her husband, a man named Richardson, out of the van, which crippled him after it landed on him. His body shielded that of the child, who came through relatively unscathed. The vehicle had no car seats, and seat belts were reportedly not in use.

But the run-ins with law enforcement were not peculiar to Ms. Troyn's family alone.

Her sister Hope Lane and Ms. Lane's husband Michael Green involved Bosque County Sheriff's Deputy Joe Brooks in a bizarre episode on the night their rental house at 811 Alpha Place burned to a total loss at 11:30 p.m. on September 3.

Police arrested the couple for arson amid bizarre circumstances.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case, Deputy Brooks detained Mr. Green on suspicion of intoxication as he walked alone at the corner of Avenue J and 3^rd St. at 11:03 p.m.

Ms. Lane arrived in their car shortly, and the couple began to argue immediately, according to Deputy Brooks.

Mr. Green demanded to be taken to jail.

“In later interviews, Lane states Green likes to go to jail when he is drunk,” Clifton Police Detective Darrin D. Glenn stated in the laconic prose style of the affidavit.

From there, the story meanders along an extremely peculiar route.

One of two adjacent homes that have burned recently

According to Deputy Brooks, “The renters who live there...both of which were not home and did not arrive on the scene while emergency personnel were there...” had been fighting that night, and later gave conflicting statements about what they were doing before, during and after the time when first responders battled the blaze at their home.

Video records made at the police station at 11:38 p.m. show Mr. Green approaching the door and knocking. Receiving no answer, he got back in the car. Ms. Lane then drove away.

As the home burned, the couple paid a visit to Santa Fe #3 filling station. According to a witness, Elizabeth Ramirez of 818 Alpha Place, the fire was reported at 11:47 p.m.

“Lane states she went into the store to use the phone to call police because Green still wanted to go to jail.”

She was apparently very concerned about using her name in a conversation with dispatchers.

Another customer had no cell phone for her to use. She asked to use the phone that belongs to the store. She told Detective Glenn the clerk told her she could dial the phone and hang up, thus summoning the police to the station.

Watching the store's video shows that she never really dialed the entire number, only part of the numbers, and all the while, she was watching Mr. Green through the window for his reactions. Mr. Green eventually came inside, “using hand motions in what appeared to be trying to get Lane to hurry up and leave the store,” wrote Detective Glenn.

After they stood in the parking lot for about 25 minutes, they drove to Meridian to stay with Mr. Green's grandfather at 12:16 on September 4.

State Fire Marshals took two samples after a K9 unit alerted on them for accelerants. One tested positive for a grade of accelerant which includes charcoal lighter fluids and lamp oils.

“In the interviews with Lane and Green, they both state they did not know their house burned until they checked messages on Green's cellphone the next morning from Lane's mother, Tina Pierce, and sister, April Richardson, stating their house burned down.”

Problem.

“Lane states she received her mother's message about 2 am. on September 4 telling her their house burned down. Lane stated that her mother lies a lot and she did not believe her, so she went back to sleep.

“Phone records for Green's cell phone indicate only incoming phone calls that went to voice mail between 6 p.m. September 3 to 11 a.m. September 4. No phone calls were placed from his phone or answered, only voice mails were checked, according to Lane. According to Lane that is the only phone they had...”

Ms. Lane failed to show up for a follow-up interview, and did not return phone calls, the affidavit shows.

Johnson County authorities arrested her on December 23.

In a chilling side detail, two other houses adjacent to the home authorities have accused Mr. Green and Ms. Lane of setting afire by sprinkling it with petroleum distillates have burned. 

Both residences back up to the side yard of 811 Alpha Place and

front on Avenue J between Alpha Place and W. 9^th St.