 Ryan in 1990 | |
 Ryan in 2003 | |
| Ryan Bayes | |
| Portrayed by | Douglas Smith (1990) Jimmi Simpson (2003) |
| Episode | Churchgoing People |
| Status | Alive |
Ryan Bayes was the son of Mitchell and Charlotte Bayes and the older brother of Tina Bayes in "Churchgoing People". Ryan was Charlotte's "favorite child" and an unwilling accomplice to his father's murder.
One night in 1990, Ryan had a date to go to his high school dance, and Charlotte insisted on teaching him how to dance before driving him there. When Mitch drove Tina to a sleepover, Ryan answered the phone, only to be told in no uncertain terms by the caller, Mr. Enright, from their church, that Mitch was having an affair with his wife Judy, calling Ryan's father a "cheating sinner". Afterwards, Charlotte guilted Ryan into skipping his date to stay home with her, and proceeded to get drunk.
When Mitch returned home, his clothing wet from the rain, he chastised Charlotte for making Ryan miss his date. For once, Mitch stood up to Charlotte and offered to drive Ryan to the dance once he changed into dry clothes, stating that no teenage boy wants to stay at home on a Saturday night with his mother. This enraged Charlotte, who insisted that Ryan did want to be with her. As Mitch went upstairs to change, Charlotte followed him, hissing the entire time, ordering her husband not to walk away from her. She grabbed a fireplace poker. Ryan tried to stop her but Charlotte shoved him away as she went after Mitch. At the stairway, he watched in horror and fear as her mother stab his father multiple times in the bathroom. Soon after, Charlotte told Ryan to get the van and dipose his father's body.
Under Charlotte's orders, Ryan drove the van to Kensington Avenue, which he knew was frequented by hookers after driving by it to look at them with his friend Tom Walsh, and then staged the van to look like the crime scene with discarded crack vials found in the alley and some porno magazines stolen from Tom's dad. After Mitch's body was discovered, Detective Gil Sherman investigated the murder, but despite the scene of the murder was staged, he was unable to solve it due to his drinking problem.
At some point after, Ryan was estranged from Tina while Charlotte began to suffer from Alzheimer's many years later. Despite taking care of his mother, he saw Charlotte a burden and frequently let her wander away by having the front door unlocked.
In 2003, Charlotte was taken into custody for "disturbing the peace" after she wandered around in the cemetery, prompting the Cold case team to reopen Mitch's case. Ryan however didn't want homicide detectives investigate his father's murder. He would later become a prime suspect to the murder and was questioned by Detectives Lilly Rush and Chris Lassing. Rush was convinced that Charlotte covered Mitch's murder up for Ryan, but he denied killing his father. He finally revealed the truth behind the outward facade of his nice, churchgoing family and claimed that no one saw his mother in her prime. While explaining about his mother's domestic abuse, Ryan told the detectives what happened on that night his father was killed before his eyes and how he staged the murder scene under Charlotte's orders.
After Charlotte was arrested, Ryan reunited with Tina at their old home.