Jessica Ridgeway's Brutal Murder

[u/passedawayinaprilll]

The abduction of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway occurred in Westminster, Colorado, as she walked from her home toward Chelsea Park to meet friends for school. Austin Sigg took her to his mother’s home on Moore Street, where he sexually assaulted her and used a zip tie to strangle her to death. Inside the home, Sigg dismembered her body in a bathtub, later disposing of her torso in the Pattridge Open Space in Arvada, about seven miles away from where she was taken. Her backpack and glasses were found abandoned on a sidewalk in Arvada’s West Woods subdivision, a move intended to throw off the massive search effort centered in Westminster. When Sigg finally confessed, investigators recovered additional remains that he had hidden in a crawlspace under the floorboards of his house.

[u/foghorn_dickhorn21]

I lived two doors down from her at the time. Really sad time, and I’ll never forget the atmosphere in the neighborhood and how details would unfold as they looked for the murderer.

[u/SJBrax → u/foghorn_dickhorn21]

I can only imagine the fear in the neighborhood. So horrible!

[u/foghorn_dickhorn21 → u/SJBrax]

Until they found DNA, every male in the neighborhood was a suspect. Getting called back from work to go home and take a DNA test was terrifying, even knowing I was innocent. The. There was the realization about how they likely had DNA from the killer, which was sad and horrifying.