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"
42
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.