Jessica Ridgeway Murder Trial: 18-Year-Old To Be Tried In 10-Year-Old’s Death

Eighteen-year-old Austin Reed Sigg will be facing trial on 18 of 20 counts related to the murder of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway, the Colorado girl who went missing on October 5, 2012. Sigg will also faces charges related to an attack on a jogger last year, a spokesman for Colorado’s courts said Friday.

Sigg’s arraignment is set for March 12, and the teen remains on no-bond hold. He appeared before Jefferson County Judge Stephen Munsinger in a preliminary hearing Friday.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Sigg was arrested on October 23, 2012 in connection with Ridgeway’s murder. Police had received a phone call that led them to Sigg’s house, although they initially declined to elaborate on the details of his arrest and who made the call. Sigg’s mother, Mindy, said she called police and handed her son the phone. He then confessed to murdering and dismembering Ridgeway, whose body parts were found in a crawlspace under Sigg’s home.

Police had tied Jessica Ridgeway’s abduction to the attempted kidnapping of a runner in a different park. The woman said a stranger grabbed her from behind and put a rag that smelled like chemicals over her mouth. She was able to fight the stranger off.

Sigg made his first court appearance two days after his arrest, and the prosecution quickly indicated that they planned to try the then-17-year-old as an adult.

According to the Denver Post, the Colorado Supreme Court reversed a previous order to close the preliminary hearing to the public Thursday. Munsinger had initially closed the hearing in an effort to ensure that Sigg would have a fair trial, as well as to protect the privacy of the victims’ families. However, several media organizations appealed to the Supreme Court to reverse the decision and succeeded.

Austin Reed Sigg is accused of two counts of second-degree kidnapping, sexual assault on a child, four counts of first-degree murder, robbery, and attempted abduction and sexual assault.