Richard E. Gamache Jr. of House Springs has been sentenced to life plus 10 years in prison in the May 2017 death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter, Adelaide Cheney.
Gamache admitted to playing roughly with the victim, including using professional wrestling moves on her, according to the probable-cause statement in the case. Medical experts said the child displayed bruises of various sizes and colors covering her body, as well as significant head trauma.
Gamache pleaded guilty Oct. 22 to the class A felony of abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death and to the class B felony of abuse or neglect of a child causing serious emotional or physical injury.
On Dec. 27, Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Brenda Stacey sentenced Gamache to life in prison for the first count and 10 years on the second.
She ruled that the sentences are to run consecutively, meaning that if Gamache, now 26, gained parole for the life sentence, he would still face the 10-year-sentence.
“You tortured a little girl to death,” Stacey said after announcing the life sentence for the class A felony.
Gamache, in prison garb and shackled, showed little emotion throughout the roughly hour-and-a-half sentencing hearing in Stacey’s Div. 4 courtroom at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Hillsboro.
However, emotional victim-impact statements were read by Cheyenne Cook, Adelaide’s mother, and “Addie’s” grandparents, Sandra and Jim Boyce. Each spoke of their heartbreak over the loss and of their contempt for Gamache.
Sandra Boyce repeatedly called Gamache’s actions “cowardly” and said Adelaide’s brother has been deeply affected by her death, along with the rest of the family.
“Addie was a gift – a gift of life,” Sandra Boyce read. “When you took Addie from us, you took everyone’s normal life. Our grief is forever.”
During his statement, Jim Boyce said, “I just don’t understand how a man can beat a 2-year-old baby.”
Turning to Stacey, he said, “I hope you don’t show leniency to him.”
Cook, who read a shorter statement, also spoke of her heartache and said she has had to take medication to treat depression since her daughter’s death.
Cook also was charged in connection with the case. She pleaded guilty in December 2017 to the class A misdemeanor of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. She was given a suspended sentence of 365 days in jail and placed on probation, completing her probation on Dec. 14, 2019.
Assistant prosecuting attorney Travis Partney, who handled the case for the state, called two witnesses during the sentencing hearing.
The first, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Detective Micha Nelson, investigated the case after being contacted by staff at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, where Adelaide died May 19, 2017.
On May 16, emergency personnel were called to the couple’s House Springs home, in the 3800 block of Dorchester Court, because Adelaide was experiencing seizures. Cook at the time told authorities she and her daughter had begun living with Gamache six days before she was taken to the hospital.
Nelson said he searched messages on Gamache’s phone during the investigation and found text messages in the weeks prior to Adelaide’s death from Gamache to Cook, speaking of how he hates children.
Nelson said he also learned that Gamache had searched the internet for ways to cover up injuries, and had searched how to deal with rage.
Partney’s second witness, Sheriff’s Office Capt. Andy Sides, whose duties include overseeing the Jefferson County Jail, testified to Gamache’s misconduct since his incarceration in the jail in May 2017.
Sides referred to documented incidents of Gamache’s belligerent and disrespectful behavior toward Sheriff’s Office personnel at the jail, including physical confrontations with them, as well as Gamache’s bullying behavior against fellow inmates.
Partney urged Stacey to give Gamache maximum sentences of life for the class A felony and 15 years for the class B felony.
In referring to a letter Gamache wrote to the judge, Partney said Gamache’s suggestion that the baby’s grandfather could have stepped in on Adelaide’s behalf indicated Gamache was not taking full responsibility for her death.
“This was all on him (Gamache),” Partney said. “This is him paying for what he did to a 2-year-old girl.”
Daniel Diemer, Gamache’s attorney, also said the victim’s grandfather could have intervened, and, in comparing Gamache’s situation to a similar case in the county, said the convicted person in that case had received a sentence of 12 years in prison.
After hearing the victim-impact statements, Stacey called a short recess and then returned with her sentencing decision.
Stacey disputed Gamache’s assertion in his letter that his actions were a one-time occurrence, adding that he knew he had a problem with rage.
“This was not one time,” she said. “Your text messages showed that you knew you had a problem.”
Diemer said he did not wish to comment on the sentencing.
Partney said Stacey’s sentencing was justified.
“A brutal case deserves a brutal sentence,” he said. “That’s what this case dictates.”
Jim and Sandra Boyce, who live in Eureka, said they appreciated the sentence Stacey handed down.
“I’m pretty satisfied,” Jim Boyce said. “It’s never going to bring back my granddaughter, but (Gamache) is going to rot for 40 years and think about it.”
Gamache must serve 30 years on the life sentence before he is eligible for parole on that count, then will face the 10-year sentence.
Sandra Boyce said her family at least now has some closure.
“After two years, seven months and 27 days, Adelaide finally had her day in court and (Gamache) is going to be going away for a long time,” she said.