Tate Laurel died on December 22, 2023, at just two and a half months old. His father, Ryan Laurel, believes the investigation into his son's death was incomplete, and has spent the years since pushing for a more thorough review of what happened.
Tate died at two and a half months old. His father has said publicly that he believes the initial police investigation into Tate's death left out evidence and did not accurately reflect what was said during interviews, and that a conflict of interest between an investigating detective and the family involved compromised the case.
Since Tate's death, Ryan has filed Freedom of Information Act requests with four different agencies across three Michigan counties, seeking investigation reports, recordings, death certificates, and autopsy records — not only for Tate's case, but for a related case involving Tate's half-brother, who died in 2015 under similar circumstances. Ryan has used what he's found in those records to identify inconsistencies and press for accountability from the agencies involved.
Ryan wants other families to know that public records requests are available to anyone, not just investigators or attorneys — and that reviewing what an agency actually did, in writing, is one of the few tools a grieving family has to hold a case accountable when they believe something was missed. He has said that thorough FOIA requests, across every agency that touched a case, can surface errors and gaps that would otherwise go unquestioned.
Ryan continues to advocate for Tate and for stronger accountability in how child death investigations are handled. Families with concerns about how a loved one's case was investigated can start by requesting the public records connected to it.