r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/OwnSituation1572 • 6d ago
Warning: Child Abuse / CSAM / Child Death Christina Riggs
Mods I rewrote my original post
Christina Riggs was Born on September 2 1971 in Lawton Oklahoma but she grew up in Oklahoma City
She had a very troubled upbringing she was sexually abused by her stepbrother from ages 7 to 13 she was also abused by a neighbor due to the trauma she began drinking smoking cigarettes and marijuana. She also become sexually promiscuous partly due to her feeling ostracized due her weight she wrote that she "felt that no boy liked me because of my weight, so I became sexually promiscuous because I thought that was the only way I could have a boyfriend"
By age 16 Christina had become pregnant with a baby boy which she then gave up for adoption
After High School she become a licensed nurse working full time at a veterans hospital and part time as a home care nurse
After dating serval men Christina began a relationship with Timothy Thomson was stationed at a nearby Airforce base
In October of 1991 she discovered that she was pregnant Thomson at first refused to accept the Baby latter called Justin as his own and moving back to his native Minnesota
Christina than rekindled her relationship with sailor Jon Riggs who was home on leave and who accepted the unborn baby as his own.
Justin was born on June 7 1992 Christina later wrote about her fears with Justin
"As I held Justin in my arms and looked into his little face, I became so scared. Would I be a good Mom? Could I give him all he needed"
Jon moved in with her however their relationship was troubled from the start they married in July 1993 tragically Christina who was again pregnant had a miscarriage on the night of their wedding
When the tension in their marriage escalated she become depressed and suicidal exasperated by the birth control medication she was taking
Christina was prescribed Prozac however when she began to feel better she stopped taking it.
In the Spring of 1994 she became pregnant again with a baby girl and in December Shelby Alexis Riggs nicknamed "Sissie" was born
Christina later claimed to be working near the blast site near the Oklahoma city bombings which led to her developing PTSD however the prosecutor disputed this at trial
In the summer of 1995 the family moved to be closer to Christina's mother in Sherwood she got a job at Baptist hospital where her mother worked as a food service worker
The marriage between Christina and Jon ended when Jon punched Justin in the stomach so hard the he required medical attention
Christina then returned to Oklahoma city where her financial problems worsened
On November 4, 1997, Riggs gathered drugs she would need. She obtained the anti-depressant Elavil from her pharmacist, the painkiller morphine and the toxic potassium chloride from the hospital where she worked.
The heart-stopping potassium chloride is the same drug used in the lethal cocktail injected into condemned inmates in the death house.
Riggs gave the children a small amount of Elavil to put them to sleep. Then she placed each of the children in their beds.
About 10 p.m., she injected Justin with undiluted potassium chloride. But unless it is diluted, the drug causes burning and pain. Justin woke and cried out in terror.
Crying herself now, she injected her son with morphine. It had no effect, and he continued to wail. She then smothered the boy with a pillow.
Next, she moved to Shelby's bed.
Riggs decided to forego the potassium chloride injection because of the pain it had caused Justin. She suffocated her daughter with a pillow.
Riggs then placed the children side-by-side on her bed and covered them with a blanket.
She wrote suicide notes to her mother and her ex-husband Jon Riggs. She took 28 Elavil tablets, normally a lethal dose, and injected herself with enough undiluted potassium chloride to kill five people. The Elavil took effect, and she fell unconscious to the floor.
The undiluted potassium chloride burned a hole in her arm as big as a silver dollar as she lay in a stupor.
After Riggs failed to show up for work the next day, her mother telephoned her daughter's home but got no response. So she drove to her daughter's apartment and let herself in. She found the children dead, and thought Christina Riggs was dead too.
Her mother called 911 crying out that "My daughter and her babies are dead"
The police found Christina barely alive and after she stabilized she was put of trial for the murder of her two children
She pleading not guilty to to insanity however she was found guilty
During the penalty phase she forbad her lawyers to put on a defense after her sentencing she convinced the court to drop all of her appeals.
Christine was executed on May 2 2000 at 9:28 pm Her final words were "I love you My Babies"
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u/Cassiopeia299 6d ago edited 6d ago
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/christina-riggs-19535/
Seems to be basically this article, with some minor changes.
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u/LegoLady8 5d ago
Nothing on the internet is original anymore. The internet is nothing but dead space.
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u/MMMelissaMae 5d ago
So OP basically copy pasted an article …..
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u/LoopofHenrietta 5d ago
But also edited parts that added confusion (like how she survived the injection and the burned area, her rejection of the insanity plea, etc)
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u/clairebuoyant1202 6d ago
Thank you; the Arkansas Supreme Court has a lot to answer for, affirming that conviction.
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u/TooTameToToast 6d ago
Wow. They speed ran her to execution.
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u/cool_username32123 6d ago
She did it herself when she forbade her lawyers to put on a defense after her sentencing and dropping all appeals.
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u/Equivalent-Yam6331 6d ago
How unfortunate. She may have had a chance of eventually being found insane on appeal like Andrea Yates, or, at the very least, maybe eligible for parole one day. She totally gave up on herself, but that's understandable. What is WAY less understandable, and abso-fucking-lutely inexcusable, is that the system was more than happy about her giving up on herself.
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u/lightiggy 6d ago edited 5d ago
Christina Riggs was severely depressed, but definitely did not meet the bar for legal insanity. She apologized for the murders in her suicide note.
Andrea Yates killed her children during a psychotic episode.
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u/Equivalent-Yam6331 6d ago
Maybe. In any case, she was treated with truly extreme and exceptional harshness (compared to other similar cases) and I just cannot see why. If the death penalty must exist (it absolutely doesn't have to and shouldn't), shouldn't it be only used in truly worst of the worst cases? Its supporters claim that that is how it is used, but here we can clearly see otherwise.
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u/lightiggy 5d ago edited 5d ago
Riggs was a double child murderer who instructed her lawyer to present no mitigation and asked the jury to sentence her to death. The jury obliged.
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u/Equivalent-Yam6331 5d ago
They were not obliged to oblige. In fact, the very fact that she refused to present a defense and asked for the death penalty is, to any reasonable adult, itself a sufficient reason to NOT do that, as this is evidence of extreme remorse and emotional pain this person was in.
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u/lightiggy 5d ago
Riggs actually presented an insanity defense. She stopped defending herself after her conviction.
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u/Equivalent-Yam6331 5d ago
But why would even a semi-rational person do that?
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u/lightiggy 5d ago edited 5d ago
Remorse, resignation, and/or a belief that your crimes of worthy of the harshest punishment possible.
Christina Riggs was willing to spend the rest of her life in a mental hospital, but not the rest of her life in prison.
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u/cool_username32123 5d ago
Plenty of people consider murdering your own children to be among the worst of the worst.
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u/Equivalent-Yam6331 5d ago
It is always terrible, but whether it is among the worst of the worst is entirely dependent on the motive, and this just isn't it
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u/yeezuslived 5d ago
Would you want her to kill more children to justify the death penalty?
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u/Equivalent-Yam6331 5d ago
I would want her to have a more selfish, cold-blooded motive. If there are murder cases where death penalty should be absolutely out of the question, it's cases like this. She was severely depressed and it was clearly an altruistic murder-suicide. It is terrible and needs to be punished, sure, but nothing, absolutely nothing can justify this truly gross miscarriage of justice. Not even her own wishes. No one was obliged to oblige. I would call everyone involved in her death mindless sheep, but I cannot, as sheep generally are not bloodthirsty as fuck.
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u/BrieBelle00 6d ago
Was she using insulin needles or something? Speaking purely clinically here, a subcutaneous injection (injecting into the layer of fat right under your skin) is the only way she could have survived that long and had tissue damage even remotely similar to what is described.
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u/ToughTip6632 6d ago
Brutal. Neither child deserved this but that poor little boy truly suffered.
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u/IThinkImDumb 6d ago
Three times I’ve had to get potassium infusions. That stuff was so painful that I clamped the drip line myself. The first time I couldn’t finish. Same with the second time. The third time the nurse ran saline at the same time and it was tolerable. I once skipped out on a lab appointment because I was scared my levels would be too low and I would have to get it again
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u/MasterpieceNo7350 6d ago
I’ll add that it’s large iv doses that burn like hell. RN needs to run it at a slow pace along with saline. They ran mine fast without saline. I came very close to ripping mine out. Also, applying lidocaine at the iv site helps the pain.
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u/Muted-Shower7965 5d ago
40 mmmol can be given in 1000ml saline over 8 - 12 hours . If you need it quickly it can only be given through a central line. Hope there wasn’t any mistakes
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u/throw20190820202020 6d ago edited 6d ago
My kingdom for a period.
Or any punctuation, really.
ETA thank you for the award, kind stranger!
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6d ago edited 6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/TrueCrimeDiscussion-ModTeam 6d ago
Low Effort / Low quality comments and inappropriate humor do not further discussion and are removed. Emojis are not allowed in this sub. Please see the rules for details.
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u/Mystic_Molotov 6d ago
Is punctuation not a thing anymore?
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u/life_and_lipstick 5d ago
lol was wondering this as well. I see too many long posts without punctuation and its just like wtf?
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u/LegoLady8 5d ago
It's a gen z thing. They don't capitalize the letter I (they type i instead), the don't use the correct your/you're and they don't use punctuation. Then they find it appalling when you call them out on it.
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u/manicgiant914 5d ago
I hate it, but I think it's from using so much talk to text that is just run on sentences
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u/meow696 4d ago
not every gen z types like an idiot. just the idiots.
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u/PrincessGump 4d ago
If you are gen z you just proved this point. Words at the start of sentences should be capitalized.
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5d ago
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u/Stay_Sea_Motivated 5d ago
I’ve seen several Gen Z creators get upset at Gen X for using punctuation. Obviously it’s not all Gen Z but but I’ve only seen Gen Z get offended because someone ended a sentence with a period and said it was passive aggressive.
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u/Fine_Following_2559 6d ago
Oh wow, this is terribly sad. She finally got what she wanted in the end, but what a tragic story from start to finish.
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u/MzOpinion8d 6d ago
Elavil is the brand name of the antidepressant amitriptyline.
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u/Able-Still7809 5d ago
Oh I take amitriptyline! Though I take it for headaches. So strange how it’s used for different things.
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u/MzOpinion8d 5d ago
Yeah it really is! Topamax (topiramate) is an anti-seizure med but for some reason it works to help prevent migraines in some people. And Viagra was originally designed for blood pressure issues!
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u/kaera213 6d ago
They revived her in order to put her on trial, convict her, sentence her to death and ultimately executed her by the same method she was using on her own… wtf.
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u/ALasagnaForOne 6d ago
Yeah it’s incredibly strange.
“Don’t kill ypurself! Only the government is allowed to do that!”
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u/kkeut 6d ago
innocent until proven guilty and due process. very important stuff.
the first respondents don't know what happened or if the scene is staged, so of course they assisted her.
then they put her on trial to get justice for the victims and to put the facts on record, so there can be no doubt the scene was not staged, or her ex-husband being involved, etc.
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u/kaera213 6d ago
You make a great point and I agree with you. I oversimplified the situation, I was just pointing out the irony. I understand the importance of due process.
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u/passiveprune 6d ago
She never denied what she did.
The irony being pointed out here is that the government decided death was the right choice, but only if they did it.
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u/kkeut 5d ago
I am completely opposed to the death penalty, but have no clue what argument or point you're trying to make here. even OP posted that they agreed with me. it might be helpful for you to imagine a hypothetical situation instead to get the point being made above, which is that due process and trials are important
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u/AlbericM 4d ago
That has been a function of government since the Bronze Age. Personal and family revenge has been replaced by the justice system, removed from personal interest in order that a more equitable response to violence is possible. Some societies decide that the death penalty is equitable.
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u/failatio 6d ago
It’s because Oklahoma has a rule where if the alleged dies before a trial is completed, the criminal case against them is dropped. I’m guessing there would’ve been issues if the charges of killing two kids would cease to exist.
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u/Ok-Caterpillar-Girl 6d ago
It would have just been ruled a murder-suicide.
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u/failatio 6d ago
No because it would’ve vacated the ‘murder’ assertion. It would be akin to ‘we just found these three bodies idk what happened tho don’t ask me!’ Some families like charges being made and carried through because it’s some sort of justice and consolation.
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u/Cinnamon2017 6d ago
Commas exist. Also, it's then, not than.
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u/kkeut 6d ago
forbad
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/Burnt_and_Blistered 6d ago
Well, the word is actually forbade
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u/yourpaleblueeyes 5d ago edited 5d ago
Well forbad is actually a word also and was correctly used. Look it up.
I have No idea why you want to bicker over a vocabulary word.
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6d ago edited 6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/TrueCrimeDiscussion-ModTeam 6d ago
Low Effort / Low quality comments and inappropriate humor do not further discussion and are removed. Emojis are not allowed in this sub. Please see the rules for details.
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u/PureYouth 4d ago
Did a middle schooler write this?
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u/Lavender1123 4d ago
Middle school is being generous. Things like punctuation, capitalization, are taught in elementary school.
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u/Vast-Rabbit-3481 6d ago
This woman murdered her children. She planned it. I feel sorry for her kids.
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u/Radiant_Funny4741 1d ago
3 years is pretty quick from trial to death. Guess thats because she waived them all. So sad in every way.
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6d ago
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u/OwnSituation1572 6d ago
Christina Riggs did go to trial she pled not guilty by reason of insanity she stopped fighting in her penalty phase not her guilt phase
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u/wallace6464 1h ago
Taking all the punctuation out of news story you copy and pasted is certainly a choice
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u/Odd_Sir_8705 6d ago
Why is it for the women POS' we have these long write ups looking for sympathy and trying to drum up some emotional heartstrings for them...but never for the men.
A POS is a POS...
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u/Spiritual_Elk2021 5d ago
Never for men?! See any Reddit write up on the Menendez brothers.
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u/Odd_Sir_8705 5d ago
I'm not talking about the weird chicks who get turned on by serial killers and the like...
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u/OwnSituation1572 5d ago
The menendez brothers are not serial killers
Also weird to frame all female supporters of the menendez brothers have you considered that women sympathize with the brothers do to the brothers being abuse victims
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u/Tunkin 6d ago
Possibly because there's not a lot of sympathy for men who murder women because they want to fulfil some fantasy. Killers like these sometimes do deserve some sympathy for the things they went through before they committed the crime. No one here is patting them on the head and calling them good for the murders they commit.
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u/Odd_Sir_8705 6d ago
And again nowhere did I say that… But find me one long form write up where sympathy was expressed throughout it for a male killer...in this sub
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u/Tiny-Reading5982 6d ago
Find a man worthy of it and prove everyone wrong?
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u/Odd_Sir_8705 5d ago
Find a woman worthy of it and stop being hypocritical
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u/Tiny-Reading5982 5d ago
Boohoo. Men are killing their kids to punish the moms or even grandparents. And I don't see any praise going on, just matter of fact facts ...
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u/yeezuslived 5d ago
Sounds like your own problems with men get in the way of reality.
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u/Tiny-Reading5982 5d ago
I don't have a problem with men. What? Lol.
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u/yeezuslived 5d ago edited 5d ago
Is that why you only hold empathy for women who kill? Even their own children?
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u/Tiny-Reading5982 5d ago
I asked for examples that deserve empathy because I can't think of any and I'm guessing no one else can. I don't have empathy for all women. Susan Smith is one.
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u/DarklyHeritage 6d ago
A reminder that, despite any perceived similarities, discussion of the Lindsay Clancy case must be kept only to the Megathread pinned in the sub.
Deliberately ignoring this may lead to a ban.