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

[GrannyA.]

I didn't comment earlier because I was deeply offended when a member was referring to ARS as Autistic. I have a five year old Autistic son and I can tell you this.. Autistic children and adults, see the world differently than we do. They see beauty when it is not apparent to others and they love harder and deeper than a "normal" human being. They do not have it in them to severely harm others. My son has shown me a whole new world through his eyes. along with the rest of the special children that I encounter often. Autism is not a disease. It is a gift IMHO. If only we as human beings could see things the way that Autism does... what a wonderful world it would be. Thank you.

Thank You D'sWifey!! I couldn't have said it any better than this!! My 3 yo grandson has Autisim, and he is the most loving child I have ever known. He has never spoken a word, but his eyes say it all. In every smile, hug, and kiss, the love shines through.

 

[mck16]

No problem .. I took out the .1 of a mile and made it point one of a mile in my post. Easy to miss the .

Especially if you have one eye on the t.v. (election returns).

 

[sayd]

There appear to be tall fences where I wrote "home", but that is also clearly visible from the houses on the other side of the street. Further down, just at the start of the park, there are also tall fences and there is nothing on the opposite side of the street.

I started this when I said I got chills when I saw the long fence right near her house before the park. I'm not basing it on anything else. This is sort of a pointless discussion anyway; LE probably knows exactly where it did happen.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

I lived 0.8 miles from my elementary school and 1.1 miles from my high school, and I had a bus every year. No cost, either. It surprises me to hear about areas where buses are rare, because they are everywhere here in the late afternoon M-F.

 

[nikb]

No, I saw it in person. There is a sidewalk right next to the fence. The fence is on the same side of the road as her house. The park is on the opposite side of the road. The fence I was referring to was before you get to the park, and I think you can see it in your picture, but before the area you have circled, about where you have home written. You can also see where the sidewalk next to the fence looks a lighter color than the street.

Thanks Say-D for the local perspective! Did you happen to see kids walking around there at all? I'm curious if they normally use the sidewalk, or if they tend to stay on whatever side of the street their house, or maybe park or school, is on.

I don't know if it's the same there, but in my neighborhood the street goes back and forth between sections with sidewalks and sections without sidewalks, sometimes very narrow sections, due to various times the houses were built. It scares the <ahem> out of me but I see kids run across the street all the time to walk on the sidewalk when there is one, when it probably would've been safer to walk across someone's lawn or stay close to the side of the road.

I guess it doesn't matter that much, but I was thinking it might make a difference in where he could've grabbed Jessica without being seen. I was also thinking that by some crazy chance, maybe a nearby house happened to have outdoor surveillance cameras, and maybe they captured what happened when he first grabbed her. Possibly homeowners with a camera didn't even realize they caught it, if the camera's pointed at a part of the street where they don't normally see much going on? I know it's kind of out there. I'd imagine anyone close to there has checked any cameras they have at this point. Just in case though, I wonder if it's possible someone might've gotten it by accident and not even realized it.

 

[nikb]

A mile is 5,280 feet. Don't know if that matters in your equation.

Wait, wait. Maybe I read your post wrong.

If it makes you feel any better I made the exact same mistake in my head, until I re-read both Enzeder's post and yours.

528 feet is SUCH a short distance it seems like. I mean I know it happened, but I can't believe she was snatched in such a short space from her home.

 

[enzeder]

If it makes you feel any better I made the exact same mistake in my head, until I re-read both Enzender's post and yours.

528 feet is SUCH a short distance it seems like. I mean I know it happened, but I can't believe she was snatched in such a short space from her home.

All my fault. I should have put '0'.1 of a mile.

You're right, such a short distance

 

[KaaBoom]

In JR's mothers interview she said that this year they had changed it to having to pay a fee. She asked JR if she wanted to ride the bus and JR told her she wanted to walk. Not verbatim but the jist of what she said.

Getting a little political here. I think this demonstrates the need for laws mandating free bus service for all students. Kids are required by law to attend school. Therefor transportation should be provided for them to get to school. It's a safety issue.

 

[beach]

Mod message

Thanks because this whole debate that has turned into bickering over Autism/Asperger's left me clueless.

Just let it go. I would say it is okay for discussion and speculation, but when the bickering starts and voiced by non-verified professionals, the discussion stops.

I'm sure many of you have personal experiences on which you base your opinions, but there seems to be no respect for those with different viewpoints.

So, unless we get confirmation that Sigg was indeed diagnosed with Autism/Asperger's that line of discussion needs to stop. Completely derailing the thread and causing problems between members.

:tyou:

:bump:

Mods are busy bees in the Political Pavilion tonight with election results rolling in.

Last warning about this discussion. The thread will be locked if it continues to be a problem.

Bump as needed. Alerts are appreciated. Thanks.

*This post lands at random*

 

[otto]

next question - were is their Home ?

Wouldn't that be sleuthing people unrelated to this case ... innocent bystanders.

 

[pearl]

Getting a little political here. I think this demonstrates the need for laws mandating free bus service for all students. Kids are required by law to attend school. Therefor transportation should be provided for them to get to school. It's a safety issue.

I'm not intending to be argumentative here. State departments of education and local boards of education nationwide have slashed budgets to the bare bones. Many things are mandated by law but are not adequately funded in education just as in other areas. To get more money for public education which is a state power under our US Constitution, state governments would have to raise taxes and fees which they are not willing to do in today's economy. A dollar only goes so far. Choices have to be made as to where that dollar is spent. Some districts may choose to spend that dollar providing busing for all students. Another district may choose to spend that dollar for a school nurse. Our school system is lucky in that when a real need is evident in schools, some individual or company will usually step up to the plate and provide it.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

I'm not intending to be argumentative here. State departments of education and local boards of education nationwide have slashed budgets to the bare bones. Many things are mandated by law but are not adequately funded in education just as in other areas. To get more money for public education which is a state power under our US Constitution, state governments would have to raise taxes and fees which they are not willing to do in today's economy. A dollar only goes so far. Choices have to be made as to where that dollar is spent. Some districts may choose to spend that dollar providing busing for all students. Another district may choose to spend that dollar for a school nurse. Our school system is lucky in that when a real need is evident in schools, some individual or company will usually step up to the plate and provide it.

How much do people pay in property taxes? Doesn't most of that go to the school districts?

 

[Kat]

That's correct otto---one of the fastest ways to break TOS is to sleuth an innocent bystander.

As for the mental illness debate. We do have vetted and professional posters here that work in the psychiatric field.

I do not. However, my two cents is this: We can speculate all day what diagnosis we think this young man may have all day. But at the end of the day it's speculation because we do not have access to his complete history and we do not have access to speak with him directly and unless we are qualified professionals then it's just a guessing game. (I am referring only to Personality disorders or schizophrenia subtypes which I am not suggesting he has but he is at the age when those symptoms first manifest...however, as I say I'm not stating he has that or a subtype).

Here's a point I would like to make this is just a personal observation and it is subjective to just me having the hobby of "crimes".

That point is: He does not have suffer from Antisocial Personality Disorder in order to have commited this murder or consequent dismemberment. He just doesn't.

Many of the Axis II personality disorders have symptoms that overlap and unless a psychiatrist eval's him completely (not just looking at the crime commited) it's impossible for us to know if he suffers from one or more or any at all.

I am by no means qualified as I said however, subjective experience (I am the daughter of a now deceased man that was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and have 2 family members on my Husband's side of the family that have official diagnosis of PD's).

We just can't say well if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...etc. and conclude that there is a mental illness and/or personality disorder in play. JMHO.

It's fine to speculate or give an opinion according to WS rules (except where a mod says it's not to do so such as Beach did on this thread about a specific illness)

But make sure you indicate that it is speculation or JMHO. It helps the threads move along without issues JMHO.

Just chatting. Not giving direction as to posting on the thread. I'm not a mod and I really really don't want to be one haha they work too hard!

 

[kkdj]

Getting a little political here. I think this demonstrates the need for laws mandating free bus service for all students. Kids are required by law to attend school. Therefor transportation should be provided for them to get to school. It's a safety issue.

Indeed! I couldn't agree more!

 

[pearl]

How much do people pay in property taxes? Doesn't most of that go to the school districts?

In Georgia, local school systems have 3 soures of funding. Most funding does come from local property taxes. This funding is not equitable all over the state. Systems located in an area (Atlanta for example) where the property tax base is high get much more money from property taxes than systems located in places (rural southeast Georgia for example) where the property tax base is low. Thus, systems in wealthier area of the state have much more local dollars to spend. The state department of education provides funding to each system. This funding is the same amount per child enrolled in every system. However, the state only officially counts attendance twice a year. This attendance count determines how much money a system gets. My system has a large migrant population twice a year due to farm crops. Neither of these twice yearly influx of migrant students corresponds to an official date of attendance count. Therefore, my system educates these migrant students at local expensive exclusively No state money comes here for them. The money for these migrant students goes to whichever school system they lived in when the state took official attendance. Thirdly, the federal government partially funds mandated programs such as special education and remedial education. The cost of these mandated programs that is not paid for by the federal government comes from local funds.

 

[Curious Me]

http://www.people.com/people/articl...OPLE.com:+Top+Headlines)&utm_content=My+Yahoo

 

[tlcya]

But friends say they saw a change in Sigg about two years ago. "He became distant, more aggressive, more antisocial, and more dominative," says A, 17.

Snip

Austin Sigg's behavior seemed to change about a year ago, when the Colorado teen became more emotional and argumentative, showed an interest in crime scene investigation and bypassed his senior year of high school to study mortuary sciences in college, friends and classmates recall.

http://www.people.com/people/mobile/article/0,,20645578,00.html

Thanks curious

 

[Kat]

I'm still currently trying to locate the statutes concerning the affirmitive defense of insanity in CO.

Just out of curiosity. We won't know if that's what his defense plans until he is arraigned and formally charged. IMHO.

As I said I haven't found them yet, if someone has a link to them please feel free to throw them on the thread!

I don't think they will go this way and there are several reasons why but foremost it would be hard to demonstrate that he was impaired to such an extent that he did not know right from wrong. IMHO the crime not only fits the legal definition of premeditation but exceeds it in that I do think he, without any doubt, (at the very least) made a conscious choice to abduct her and sexually assault her. The subsequent murder and dismemberment, may or may not have been planned in advance, but shows an intent to conceal the first two crimes. (at the very least).

He is going to do hard time. JMHO

 

[scorekeeper]

But he stopped talking to Sigg roughly a year ago, when Sigg seemed to become even more of a hothead amid problems at school and at home.

Other students picked on Sigg over his dark choices in clothing, his voice and his sometimes-abrasive personality, says Caisse.

http://www.people.com/people/articl...OPLE.com:+Top+Headlines)&utm_content=My+Yahoo

BBM

Does anyone feel that possible alcohol/drug use could also have played a role in his change of personality???

A lot of teenagers use substances to escape (and adults too....) and to also possibly self-medicate???

 

[otto]

The distance from Jessica's home to Chelsea Park is point one of a mile (0.1 of 1 mile = 528 feet) so in which direction did she walk to meet up with her friend at his home?. "The walk to her friend's house is slightly more than 1,000 feet." so she had to walk another 500+ feet to meet her friend at his home. Did Jessica continue around Moore Street, past the park to W 107th Ave, or did she cut through the park to W 107th Ave.?. In the article below it says "The route through the modest neighborhood of single-tract homes leads past Chelsea Park." BBM

Jessica's flyer says "Missing from area of: 107th Ave/Moore Street, Westminster, CO"

Jessica's Flyer - Westminster PD's Photos on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...0151340877834305_101140992_n.jpg&size=960,720

Thank you for this. So Jessica was halfway there and the house was on the same side of the road, or the opposite?

She walked past the park, not through the park. There is a long tall fence opposite Chelsea park, closest to her house. I still don't understand how he came up behind her. I looked for a link to that (did a u-turn and came up behind her) today and no luck ... I wonder if that became part of the gag order.