CO - Jessica Ridgeway, 10, Westminster, 5 Oct. 2012 - #23

[margarita25]

WARNING GRAPHIC

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but a neighbor who lives directly across the street from ARS quoted in the Denver Post something along the lines of their cat was found cut in half in the alley behind their house. I think last year?

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_21871553/police-strategy-may-have-spurred-mom-suspect-austin

 

[otto]

Just a quick question that has beem bothering me. Sigg will be 18 years old on Jan. 17th shouldn't that put him as an adult in CO. ? Then he has to face these charges as an Adult?

He was under the age of 18 at the time of the criminal acts, and the law states that anyone under the age of 18 is a youth, where a youth can challenge the decision to have charges transferred out of youth court.

He will face the charges as an adult, but there are conditions due to his youth. Capital punishment is not allowed, and he cannot be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. The charges add up to 40 years, so he could be given a sentence of 40 years before being eligible for parole ... and it will most likely never be granted ... so it is life.

 

[EmilyB]

This is a great depiction of the house. My sister lives in Colorado and has a house like this. When you walk in the front door, you walk into the "formal" living room. About 10 feet from the front door on the left are stairs that lead up to the bedrooms. When you get to the top of those stairs there is a small hallway. To the right is the Master bedroom which leads to the doors and deck at the back of the house. The master bedroom has a full bath. To the left and at the front of the house (with the two small windows) are two small bedrooms. There is also a full bath off of the hallway to the left. Back to the formal living room: As you walk forward there is the kitchen at the back of the house. A wall separates the kitchen and formal living room. There are windows in the picture where the kitchen is. To the left (right after the short stairs that lead upstairs) there is a short set of stairs that leads down to the family room with has the fireplace. There is a railing in the kitchen so that you can look down into the living room. The sliding glass door opens from the living room to the backyard. If you enter from the garage: When you pull in the garage, to get in the house there are three steps that lead up to the door. When you walk in this door you are in the living room. TO THE RIGHT is a door to the basement. There is a full set of stairs that lead down to the basement. In my sisters house there is ANOTHER door at the bottom of the stairs. The basement in my sister's house is unfinished except for her son's "man cave" which is a big bedroom with a door. Also in the basement is the furnace and the washer and dryer, which is walled off from the larger room that is the man cave. The basement is plumbed for a bathroom. My sister doesn't have a bathroom yet but plans on putting one in. Maybe Austin's house does?. Off of the side of the room that has the man cave there is a small door to the crawl space. It is about 4 ft tall. The entire basement area is UNDER the part of the house which would be the formal living room and kitchen. I've never been in the crawl space (creepy), but it is in the direction of where the living room with fireplace is. I don't think it is as big as that room though. When I did look in, it looked to go back about 10 ft. In the basement there is also a sump pump hole (basically a hole in the concrete about 14 inches across) that is to prevent flooding. They are common in Colorado. That all being said....My sister has no idea what her son is doing in the basement and CAN NOT hear him down there either. I have been thinking a lot about this since Jessica....and I am pretty sure my nephew could have someone in the basement and my sister (who is a single parent) would not even know.

This is a GREAT description. I typed something out earlier that was similar but didn't make as much sense as yours did We lived in a smaller split level like this but without the basement, but I can imagine how where the basement would be situated if we did have one. We had a crawl space under the kitchen/formal living room that was right off our family room (that had an entrance from the garage) and a sliding door that led to the back yard.

It's hard to imagine unless you've been in a house like that...but once again, GREAT description!

 

[otto]

You can put a pet door in just about any place. We've got one that goes through the very thick exterior wall and one (that my husband needs to install) to go through the screen porch door. There are ones designed for various thicknesses of walls and door and different kinds of construction.

As long as the pet door does not increase the thickness too much or interfere with the action of the garage door, it can be installed.

I can see how someone might want to allow cats access to a sheltered area like a garage without allowing them access to the house.

So a garage door (sheet metal?) would have a hole cut to install a cat door? Garage doors are expensive ... I don't know if I would mess with one for a cat. It makes so much more sense to me to put a cat door in the screen porch door.

 

[Salem]

In the formal charges is: Count Number 9 Sexual Assault of a Child - http://extras.mnginteractive.com/li...0_121657_People v. Sigg Charging Document.pdf

I infer that shows there was some sort of sexual motivation despite a possible self serving confession from AS.

Thank you for this. I was sure the charges included sexual assault so I was having a hard time understanding what all the bickering was about.

Okay - csziggy has linked us up. Let's move on!

Thanks!

Salem

 

[enzeder]

What about Clear Creek? Is that within a safe distance from his comfor zone ... for perhaps a first offense - which is usually farther from home. As comfort (getting away with it) settles in, the crimes are committed closer and closer to home. He is so bold that I wonder how that happened if it didn't happen during another ciminal act.

The location of where the body was found at Clear Creek is about 3.3 miles from Warren Tech North where AS was a student.

A = AS home
B = Approx. location of body found in Clear Creek, Wheat Ridge
C = Warren Tech North
http://goo.gl/maps/SgTU8

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8526570&postcount=212"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Found Deceased CO - *ARREST!* Jessica Ridgeway, 10, Westminster, 5 Oct. 2012 - #23[/ame]

 

[otto]

Has it ever been published that they had cats?. I shudder to think what may have happened to them if they did have any.

SUSPECT HAD INTEREST IN MORTUARY SCIENCE

Excerpt: "Meaghan Barker said Sigg did a project exploring how bodies decompose. He used skinned rats and placed them in several different environments, including freezing temperatures, covered in dirt and out in the open."

http://www.9news.com/rss/story.aspx?storyid=295910

By the creek, in the trees, in the crawl space, near the culvert ?

The autopsy toxicology report was pending at the time. I wonder whether the results were as expected ... maybe that's the suspicious part ... maybe nothing to do with it.

Where did he get the rats? Do they sell them at the college ... lab rats?

 

[EmilyB]

So a garage door (sheet metal?) would have a hole cut to install a cat door? Garage doors are expensive ... I don't know if I would mess with one for a cat. It makes so much more sense to me to put a cat door in the screen porch door.

Garage doors could be wood? I'll have to go back and look, but it looks like they are older wooden doors.

 

[EmilyB]

As to why there would be a cat door on the garage door. Someone mentioned that they may want to provide shelter but not allow access into the house and I agree with that. I know some people leave their garage door cracked but it would make more sense to leave it closed and install a small door if possible, for security reasons.

It could have been there already when they moved in.

 

[Ransom]

Someone posted earlier about this: IF you go to the source (Wheatridge PD) they have a release that body was ID, family asked that her name not be made public, pending toxic screen, etc.

ME. Over and over again. Is there an echo in here?

Here it is again:

Wheat Ridge PD ... always to to the SOURCE.

http://www.ci.wheatridge.co.us/Search.aspx?SearchString=body

Scroll down to ARCHIVES and read.

 

[csziggy]

So a garage door (sheet metal?) would have a hole cut to install a cat door? Garage doors are expensive ... I don't know if I would mess with one for a cat. It makes so much more sense to me to put a cat door in the screen porch door.

Garage doors can be made out of various materials - and some have replaceable panels. But cat lovers will damage all kinds of things to give their cats what they want - or let the cats damage all kinds of things. :crazy:

I can see in a harsh climate like Colorado in the winter giving cats an option to get into a sheltered area even if the family does not want to let them into the house. A screened porch would not give that kind of shelter. I have friends that shelter feral cats and they would do something like put a cat door in a garage door to give the cats a place to stay safe.

For myself, the next cats I have will be indoor only and only have access to the screened porch. But my current cat is semi-feral and if he did not have access to the outside he would rip a hole in the screens - which he has done anyway before he learned how to use the cat door!

 

[GrainneDhu]

Like to know everyone's opinions of why there was a gag order directed by the Judge in this case...

In the hope of preventing a change of venue, I would imagine. Change of venue is a big pain in the neck and the basis for many appeals.

Plus, judges generally like to feel like the situation is under control. A gag order makes it clear to everyone involved that this is not going to be a circus, which just makes everyone look bad.

 

[otto]

The location of where the body was found at Clear Creek is about 6.5 miles from Warren Tech where AS was a student.

A = AS home
B = Approx. location of body found in Clear Creek, Wheat Ridge
C = Warren Tech
http://goo.gl/maps/b186b

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Found Deceased CO - *ARREST!* Jessica Ridgeway, 10, Westminster, 5 Oct. 2012 - #23

That looks to be very much inside his comfort zone. If you add 82nd and Leyden, towards highway 93, and Superior, where the backpack was found, I think there might be a circle from his home outward?

That probably sounds a bit nuts ... but could you add those points to the map? I only know how to add pins in google earth ... I'm curious about what this looks like on an aerial map.

 

[otto]

Garage doors could be wood? I'll have to go back and look, but it looks like they are older wooden doors.

The house was built in 1971 ... I don't think that wooden garage doors (is that the one with the pulley?) were still being used.

 

[otto]

ME. Over and over again. Is there an echo in here?

Here it is again:

Wheat Ridge PD ... always to to the SOURCE.

http://www.ci.wheatridge.co.us/Search.aspx?SearchString=body

Scroll down to ARCHIVES and read.

I looked everywhere for your post ... thanks for reposting the link.

 

[SapphireSteel]

I really don't think the world has seen anything quite like this before.

It really feels like a new low.

 

[Foxfire]

In the hope of preventing a change of venue, I would imagine. Change of venue is a big pain in the neck and the basis for many appeals.

Plus, judges generally like to feel like the situation is under control. A gag order makes it clear to everyone involved that this is not going to be a circus, which just makes everyone look bad.

RE: A gag order makes it clear to everyone involved that this is not going to be a circus, which just makes everyone look bad.

Don't know about you GrainneDhu, but the circus atmosphere is created due to sealed evidence & gag orders. This is a catalyst for rumors, conjecture, speculation.. Imo, this is due to CYA for an impotent justice system and less than competent investigations in prior abductions/attempts by Austin Reed Sigg...

Due to budgetary constraints, most jurors are brought in from other areas of the state rather than moving the trial, if a change of venue is granted. Changes of venues are seldom granted. There has been only 3 changes of venue in Florida's history; ted bundy, murderer of a FL state trooper, and casey anthony. Casey anthony's jurors were brought in from another FL County...

 

[SapphireSteel]

He did not say that "no joy" led to the dismemberment, he said he took it further. We don't know what that means.

The part about driving past her, turning around and grabbing her doesn't work for me. He would have been in the driver's seat and she would have been on the sidewalk. The only way this could have worked is if he was not driving ... at least I can't figure it out with him driving. Given what happened with the jogger, where he grabbed her from behind and still he failed, I suspect that Austin was not going to let anything go wrong this time ... so I don't believe he called her over to his vehicle. He is only 7 years older than Jessica and we heard from her mother that she wanted to be a teenager ... and he spent time playing Capture the Flag with girls her age ... did he know exactly the right thing to say to lure her in, or did he sneak up behind her, and use a toxic chemical to subdue her?

Does this seem to be a random kidnapping, crime of opportunity or does anybody think he stalked her? She was a child that walked a certain distance alone and at the same time every morning.

Absolutely he stalked her, even if it was just for one day.

I do wonder if he saw her one afternoon walking alone and followed her home.

Went and did a drive by one morning...or maybe every morning for a week.

There is also a good chance that she was not the only one he was watching, in my opinion.

:sick:

 

[georgiagirl]

In regards to the addiction counseling I am wondering if this could have been in a church setting. Several years ago I had a neighbor whom I'd grown very close to who went to our mega church and she confided in me her husband was in counseling through a church program for addiction. She stated that everything on their home computer was closely monitored by his counselor.

I can tell you this man was predatory because he started to sexually harass me to the point I felt afraid he was capable of sexually assaulting me. Thankfully after I threatened to tell his wife he went and confessed everything to his counselor and even admitted he had thoughts of attacking me. It was an awful time for me as this affected my marriage and friendship with his wife obviously but wanted to bring it up as some churches do recognize it as an addiction.

 

[GrainneDhu]

What about Clear Creek? Is that within a safe distance from his comfor zone ... for perhaps a first offense - which is usually farther from home. As comfort (getting away with it) settles in, the crimes are committed closer and closer to home. He is so bold that I wonder how that happened if it didn't happen during another ciminal act.

It has been my understanding from reading about several suspected serial murder cold cases that the opposite is usually true: perps usually start out close to home and then move further away as they get more experienced. So in suspected serial murders, LE tries to figure out which victim was the first to give them a general vicinity for where the perp was likely to live.

To give one example, in the DC Sniper case, the first assault committed by Lee Malvo under John Allen Muhammad's direction was in Louisiana, where Muhammad had grown up. It wasn't until after the pair were arrested that investigators learned that was where it had all started.

In many serial murderer cases, a map of the victim locations will follow a roughly spiral pattern outwards as the perp gains confidence. For instance, no matter which victim is considered the first for Ted Bundy, the subsequent ones spiral out from Bundy's home base at the time of the crime.

As I understand it, this principle is the basis for geographical profiling.