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Thread: Austin Sigg: Confesses to murdering, dismembering 10-year-old girl

  1. #1
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Austin Sigg: Confesses to murdering, dismembering 10-year-old girl

    WESTMINSTER, Colo. - A teenager who won awards for student crime scene investigations is expected to learn this week how long he'll spend in prison.

    Austin Reed Sigg was described by friends as a shy, loner who was taking classes at Arapahoe Community College when he was arrested last year.

    Last month Sigg pleaded guilty to kidnapping, killing and dismembering 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway. He also pleaded guilty to trying to kidnap a jogger at Ketner Lake. She got away.

    -- Sigg's school history

    Sigg was enrolled at JeffCo Schools from fifth grade to 11th grade, attending Witt Elementary (the same school Jessica attended), Wayne Carle Middle School, Standley Lake High School and Warren Tech, a vocational school.

    He did not graduate from Jeffco Schools but obtained his GED, a JeffCo Schools spokeswoman said.

    At Warren Tech, he was involved in a student organization called HOSA, or Health Occupation Students of America, where he competed in state-wide competitions, placing as a finalist in forensic science and biotechnology categories.

    Some friends have told media outlets that he expressed interest in becoming a mortician and he was studying mortuary science at Arapahoe Community College.

    "He was very quiet, shy and to himself. I would say he was Gothic," said Brooke Olds, who knew Sigg for about nine years. "He never really talked about his family or his friends. Like, all he talked about was playing or spending time with us. He always wanted, just, to play capture the flag."

    On his arrest report, Sigg listed his occupation as a student at Arapahoe Community College.

    -- Fascination With CSI

    Sigg had an interest in crime scene investigations -- or CSI. In high school, Sigg was part of HOSA, Health Occupation Students of America. He took second place with a team competing in a CSI event in the group's 2012 competition. He was also a finalist in forensic science at that same competition.

    Sigg competed as a student from Warren Tech, described as "the premier Career and Technical Education center" for Jefferson County Public Schools on the district's website.

    Warren Tech, which has campuses in Arvada and Lakewood, offers specialized programs, including Criminal Justice and Forensic Science.

    -- Sigg's Internet Alter Ego -- Dohastvath

    Sigg had a Myspace page where he used the profile name "Dohastvath." A video-gamer website stated that Dohastvath is "Austin."

    Dohastvath had a YouTube account called "DNA." Both the YouTube and Myspace accounts used the same profile avatar -- a graphic image of a red-headed man in a long black coat and black pants.

    On his YouTube profile, Dohastvath commented on a song called "Stalking Your Mom," which is performed by Wax. He also has a video link to the execution of hanging of former Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein.

    -- Ridgeway case

    Jessica Ridgeway was abducted as she walked toward school on Oct. 5, triggering a massive search that ended with the discovery of her dismembered body five days later in an Arvada open space field.

    Sigg came onto investigators' radar on Oct. 19, when a neighbor woman called a tip line in response to police saying they had recovered a small wooden cross that might have been worn by the killer.

    The neighbor said she knew a kid named Austin Sigg who had worn a similar cross, according to Lopez.

    The woman said she was concerned about the teen because he had dropped out of high school and "he was obsessed with death and the decomposition of bodies," the detective recalled.

    Based on that tip, the FBI took a DNA sample from Sigg that day, Lopez said.

    Four days later, Sigg's mother, Mindy Sigg, called 911.

    "I need you to come to my house, my son wants to turn himself in for Jessica Ridgeway's murder," the mother told a dispatcher.

    Then Sigg is heard on the tape telling the dispatcher, "I murdered Jessica Ridgeway, I have proof that I did. I'm giving myself up completely, there will be no resistance whatsoever."

    The dispatcher asked the teen if he had a criminal history.

    "The only other (incident) was Ketner Lake, where a woman was attacked. That was me," Sigg said.

    Mindy Sigg also told the dispatcher that her son had hidden the girl's remains in the crawl space under the family's Westminster home.

    Officers interviewed Austin Sigg at his home that night and arrested him.

    Investigators said Sigg's DNA was linked to "touch" DNA found on Jessica's torso, underwear, water bottle, boots and gloves as well as the clothing of the jogger who was grabbed at Ketner Lake.

    During a search of Sigg's home, police seized computer equipment.

    Westminster Police Det. Chris Pyler, who specializes in crimes against children, testified during one of Sigg's hearing that child pornography images were recovered from a laptop and a computer tower seized at the home.

    http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...ssica-ridgeway

  2. #2
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Defense: Child killer should get chance for parole

    Lawyers for a Colorado teen who killed and dismembered a 10-year-old girl say state law requires the judge to give their client a sentence that makes him eligible for parole after 40 years because he was a juvenile at the time of the crime.

    Defense attorneys made the assertion Tuesday during a sentencing hearing for 18-year-old Austin Sigg. Sigg pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2012 death of Jessica Ridgeway in suburban Denver.

    She was abducted while walking to school.

    Prosecutors are asking for a combination of consecutive sentences that would keep Sigg in prison for life.

    District Judge Stephen Munsinger is expected to decide on a sentence later Tuesday.

    Family members and friends of the girl testified Monday, urging the judge to hand down the longest sentence possible. A slideshow set to music depicted her short life.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

    A teenager who killed and dismembered a 10-year-old girl in the suburbs west of Denver will learn if he will spend the rest of his life in prison Tuesday, a day after the girl's family and friends urged a judge to impose the maximum sentence.

    District Judge Stephen Munsinger is set to decide the fate of 18-year-old Austin Sigg, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the October 2012 death of Jessica Ridgeway. Sigg could be eligible for parole after serving 40 years in prison.

    Prosecutors want the judge to impose consecutive sentences on some of the other charges involving Jessica so that Sigg spends the rest of his life in prison. The teenager does not face the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of Jessica's death.

    On Monday, several of the girl's friends and family members urged the judge to impose the maximum sentence allowed.

    "A part of me died that cold October day in 2012," Scott Fischle, a close friend of Jessica's family, said in arguing for a lengthy sentence. "She was a kind, sweet, innocent child who was bound for greatness in this world. ... My life is richer for having known her."

    Jessica's mother, Sarah Ridgeway, told the judge the killer doesn't deserve to know how the girl's death affected her, and his name soon will be forgotten.

    "I don't think that the defendant has the right to hear how he affected me, my family or who Jessica was," she said. "Once we walk out of this courtroom we'll not remember his name and we'll only remember Jessica and the legacy she created.'"

    Jessica was walking to school Oct. 5, 2012, when she was abducted. Her death galvanized and terrified a community that spent days searching for her.

    Monday's hearing was at times emotional and included a slideshow of Jessica set to music. The fifth-grader was a member of a pee wee cheerleading squad who was looking forward to being a zombie lifeguard for Halloween.

    During the slideshow, Sigg's attorney comforted him by rubbing his back. Sigg wiped away tears with a tissue before being led out of court.

    Earlier in the day, a psychologist hired by prosecutors told the judge that Sigg was "sadistic" and that he planned his attack.

    "He certainly had no empathy for Jessica Ridgeway," said Anna Salter of Madison, Wis., who studies sex offenders. She reviewed and cited gruesome details from police interviews with Sigg but didn't speak to him herself.

    Salter also said Sigg did Internet searches for torture, rape and child pornography.

    Sigg's attorneys countered that his mother inhaled paint while she was pregnant with him, and that trauma he suffered before and during his birth left him with head and intestinal deformities.

    Defense attorney Katherine Spengler repeatedly objected to Salter's testimony, calling it "guesswork," and said the psychologist was unaware of some elements of Sigg's background.

    Salter said she was under the impression that Sigg's birth was uneventful. She also rejected Spengler's suggestion that bullying played a role in the crime.

    Sigg, dressed in a blue checkered shirt and khaki pants, sat with his back to the gallery during Salter's testimony. He was led into the courtroom in handcuffs, but the cuffs were removed before the hearing started.

    Five days after Jessica's abduction, human remains identified as hers were found in a park. More of her remains were later found in a crawl space at the home of Sigg's mother, where he lived.

    After Jessica disappeared, police guarded crosswalks and photographed cars in the area. Residents organized search parties, and parents throughout the region escorted their children to and from school.

    A resident contacted authorities Oct. 19, 2012, to alert them to Sigg because he reportedly had a fascination with death. FBI agents took a DNA sample from the teen, and days later, Sigg's mother called 911 saying her son wanted to confess.

    Investigators said Sigg told them he used his hands to kill the girl before he dismembered her body in a bathtub.

    "I can't imagine the damage that's been done to his mother," said Angie Moss, Jessica's grandmother, while Sigg's mother cried in court.

    Sigg also acknowledged attacking a 22-year-old jogger at a suburban park in May 2012. In that case, investigators said he used homemade chloroform to try to subdue the woman, who escaped.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...OL_GIRL_KILLED

  3. #3
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Jogger attacked at Ketner Lake by Austin Sigg says she is still afraid

    WESTMINSTER, Colo. - The jogger attacked by the same teen who kidnapped and killed Jessica Ridgeway said she has been afraid to run on the treadmill in her own basement since she was attacked in May 2012.

    On May 28, 2012, the then 22-year-old woman was jogging at Ketner Lake in Westminster when someone grabbed her from behind and tried put a chemical-laced rag over her mouth, police said.

    The woman escaped and called 911, police said. Officers searched the area with a police dog, but were unable to find the attacker.

    In October 2012 when Jessica Ridgeway was kidnapped and killed, police connected DNA found on the jogger with DNA found on Jessica Ridgeway. Within days of police making the connection, Austin Sigg confessed to killing Jessica and attacking the jogger.

    The jogger, whose name is not being released publicly, was not in court Monday for Sigg's sentencing hearing but she did answer some questions for the court. Those answers were read during the hearing.

    "I am much more reluctant to form new relationships," the woman said. "I do not trust newcomers. When passing people, I try to notice specific details about their appearance."

    The young woman said she is frightened to run on the treadmill in her own basement. She says when she looks at her crawl space, she thinks about Jessica and how she could have had the same outcome.

    "I often think of what would have happened," the jogger said.

    She also thinks about Jessica and the Ridgeway family.

    "I can’t imagine how much she suffered in her last days of life," the woman said. "I think about the life she was robbed of and all the experiences she won’t have."

    The jogger said she is afraid to go back to the lake where she was attacked.

    "The lake I played at as a child is no longer safe and it will take much more time before I can go back there alone," the jogger said. "It never occurred to me, prior to the crime, that there were vicious, malicious murderers among us."

    http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...s-still-afraid

  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JimKay's Avatar
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    Judge orders teen who killed, dismembered 10-year-old Colo. girl to spend life in prison



    A judge on Tuesday sentenced Austin Sigg to life in prison for kidnapping, killing and dismembering 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway.

    In a complicated sentence that covered 15 counts, Jefferson County District Court Chief Judge Stephen Munsinger imposed a sentence that ensures Sigg, 18, will never leave prison.

    "Evil is apparently real. It was present in our community on Oct. 5, 2012," Munsinger said.

    In addition to a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 40 years, Munsinger ordered Sigg to serve an additional 86 years consecutively.

    "This case cries out for a life sentence," Munsinger said.

    The judge rejected arguments from Sigg's attorneys that the law prevented him from sentencing Sigg to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Sigg pleaded guilty in October to 15 counts, including first-degree murder, sexual assault of a child and attempted kidnapping for Jessica's death and an attack on a female jogger in May 2012.

    Sigg's mother, Mindy Sigg, called police on Oct. 23, 2012, after her son confessed to her that he had kidnapped and killed Jessica. Sigg kept Jessica's skull and labeled the organs that he removed. Other parts of Jessica's body were found in an Arvada field, days after she was kidnapped on Oct. 5, 2012.

    http://www.denverpost.com/breakingne...lopment-expert
    Last edited by JimKay; 11-19-2013 at 02:11 PM.

  5. #5
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    What a sick, sick person. Glad the judge gave him the maximum sentence possible.

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