Ryan Geary sat stone-faced in New Castle County courtroom 8B, his almost shoulder-length hair tucked behind his ears.
Clad in a white Delaware Department of Corrections jumpsuit, the 38-year-old remained expressionless as he listened to Anita Counterman speak about her only child – a man who “would have given you the shirt off his back if you had just asked.”
Almost two years earlier, Geary had strangled 42-year-old Eric Fallstick to death in the basement of an Elsmere home during a botched robbery. Geary then left Fallstick’s body to rot under a pile of clothes for several weeks in the August heat.
In April, Geary pleaded guilty to robbery and manslaughter in connection with Fallstick’s murder. This Friday afternoon, he was to be sentenced.
THE GUILTY PLEAWhy this mother has no hate for man who killed her son and left him in an Elsmere basement
First, Counterman wanted to address him.
“I do not understand why you left me with the image in my head of my son Eric rotting in that basement with bugs and flies feasting on him,” Counterman said, her voice steady as she stood at the courtroom podium.
“Is it not bad enough that I know and understand what happens to the human body when death sets in? Now you have left me with two terrible images to carry with (me) for the rest of my life.”
As Counterman continued, telling Geary she hopes “those images will haunt you for the rest of your days as they do me,” he stared blankly in her direction, blinking occasionally.
And while he gave a short statement before being sentenced to 29 years in prison – saying he was “truly, truly sorry” and that “it was totally out of my character” – he only reacted when Deputy Attorney General Matthew Frawley called him a “conman.”
“He was planning to commit this offense,” Frawley said, to which Geary shook his head. “(It) was not necessarily to kill, but absolutely to steal.”
‘I pray that image haunts you’
Both Counterman and prosecutors have said previously they don’t believe Geary set out to kill Fallstick the day of his murder. Instead, they said Geary, who has a long history of robbery convictions, was trying to rob Fallstick when they got into a scuffle.
The exact details of that hot August day will likely never be known, given Geary changed his story multiple times during police interviews. But witnesses told police that Geary believed that Fallstick had recently come into a large amount of money.
Still, that may not have been the only factor that led Geary to kill Fallstick, Counterman hinted at Friday. Her son’s sexuality also may have played a role.
“Eric was my son, who happened to be gay,” Counterman said. “My son died because of your ignorance and intolerance.”
INITIAL STORYHis body lay in a basement for weeks in the August heat. The suspect in his slaying is now indicted.
Witnesses told detectives that in the days leading up to Fallstick’s disappearance – he was last seen on Aug. 7, nearly three weeks before his body was found – Geary had told friends he “had issues” with Fallstick being gay and reportedly “making sexual advances towards Geary.”
In a warrant for Geary’s arrest, Elsmere Police Detective Scot Sowden, who attended Friday’s sentencing, wrote that a witness said “Geary had made comments in the past that he would rob Fallstick if he made any further advances towards him.”
Geary also told another friend “about some gay guy that had offered him money for sex.”
While it remains unclear if Geary admitted any of this during police interviews, Counterman said the motive behind the crime no longer matters. And though she does not hate Geary, she hopes he lives the rest of his life thinking about what he did to her son.
“You too will die one day,” she told him on Friday. “Hopefully it will be in prison with you remembering how you wrapped your hands around my son’s neck and watched the life leave his body.
“I pray that image haunts you every single day of your miserable life.”
Send story tips or ideas to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com or 302-324-2785. For all things breaking news, follow her on Twitter at @izzihughes_
