A nonbinary 17-year-old named River Nevaeh Goddard was discovered dead earlier this month, and their boyfriend has been arrested in relation to the death. However, he is not facing murder charges.
Police were called to check on the well-being of River Nevaeh Goddard's boyfriend, Shane Curry, at their home in Stow, Massachusetts on April 3. When Curry prevented the police from entering for two hours, they eventually found Goddard's body inside.
The 20-year-old, Shane Curry, allegedly admitted to stabbing Goddard multiple times with a sword. as per Boston 25 News. He claimed that he and Goddard were arguing about the latter’s infidelity and addiction.
“Hitting her isn't working, so okay, I have to use a knife,” Curry supposedly told the police.
He has been arrested and is facing various charges, including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily harm, and assault and battery on a family or household member, in connection to Goddard’s death. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
He has not been charged with murder.
Kristen Goddard, River Goddard’s mother, said, “I want you to suffer in jail, in the general population. I want people to know what you did to my daughter, and whatever happens to you, it is what it is.”
“It was the smirk in the courtroom and laugh, like it took everything in me not to get up,” Kristen Goddard mentioned, referring to a hearing where Curry was present.
Curry had a previous encounter with the law related to a domestic violence incident in 2023 involving his mother, according to court documents.
GLAAD posted on Instagram that Goddard was nonbinary and pansexual and used they/she pronouns.
“We are absolutely heartbroken to hear of the death of another nonbinary teenager, River Nevaeh Goddard, who had been reported missing for years after reportedly surviving childhood abuse and time in foster care,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “River Nevaeh Goddard was failed in life, and it’s up to all of us to make sure we don’t fail them, or any other LGBTQ youth, now.”
Per Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, news of Goddard’s death was reported in a National Center for Missing & Exploited Children listing, where Goddard’s gender was left blank.
River Goddard spent their childhood in various homes after they were born while Kristen Goddard was incarcerated. They were first placed with their grandfather, but they called child protective services themself due to alleged abuse. They lived with their mother and her fiancee, Heather Coyne, for some time.
The couple said that River Goddard later ran away after they were told they needed treatment for behavioral issues. By April 2022, when they were 15, they were living with Curry, who was 17 or 18.
According to the medical examiner, Goddard weighed only 75 pounds when they were found dead.
“She had an amazing, outgoing personality,” Goddard’s obituary reads. “She was very creative and artistic, she loved to write her own music. Her cuddly nature was only matched by her quick wit, and goofiness.”
Goddard is the 12th transgender individual confirmed to have been murdered in 2024, as reported by Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, and the second nonbinary individual. They are the second potential target of intimate partner or domestic abuse on the record.
