Austin Sigg Pleads Not Guilty In Jessica Ridgeway’s Kidnapping, Murder


Denver, CO — Austin Sigg pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping and murder of Jessica Ridgeway. The 10-year-old girl was kidnapped, killed, and dismembered last fall.

Sigg, 18, allegedly confessed to the abduction and killing of Ridgeway. Along with kidnapping and murder, Sigg has also been charged with sexual assault and robbery.

The teenager’s plea took many by surprise since multiple media outlets expected him to plead guilty. Sigg allegedly confessed to the murder to police and 911 dispatchers. He was heard on the recording saying:

“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 Austin Sigg if he committed other crimes as well. He then confessed to an attempted kidnapping of a jogger at Ketner Lake. Jessica Ridgeway was just 10 years old when she disappeared on her way to meet a friend two blocks away on October 5. Hundreds of police and residents searched for her, to no avail.

Then, her torso was discovered in a secluded park on October 10. A neighbor contact police on October 19 to report Sigg, saying he had a fascination with death. Two FBI agents took a DNA sample from the teenager. Then, on October 23, Sigg’s mother called 911, saying he wanted to confess to murdering Jessica.

Detectives alleged that the teenager described how he abducted Jessica Ridgeway as she walked past his car. He then bound her arms and legs and drover around for a while before taking her to his house. He tried to strangle her, then used his hands to kill her. He allegedly confessed to dismembering the Colorado girl in his bathtub.

Sigg added that some of the 10-year-old’s remains were hidden in a crawl space under his mother’s home. He maintained that he never sexually assaulted Ridgeway. Austin Sigg cannot face the death penalty, even if he is convicted, because he was 17 at the time of the murder. Instead, should the teen be found guilty, he could face up to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.

Austin Sigg was initially supposed to enter a plea on March 12, but his defense attorney, Katherine Spengler, asked for more time to study the evidence and analyze her client’s mental state at the time of Jessica Ridgeway’s murder. Sigg’s trial has been set for September 20 and is expected to last three weeks.

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