A suburban neighborhood in the city of Westminster, Colorado is where we find ourselves today. Home to Jessica Ridgeway, who lived with her mom, grandma, and aunt. Born to Sarah and Jeremiah, 10-year-old Jessica was in the fifth grade at Witt Elementary School. Her parents hadn’t been together for years, and her dad lived in Missouri.
And despite some issues with child support and custody, she had a great relationship with both of them. Her teachers described her as a joyous, smiley girl, always helpful and always kind. Someone that was the first to put her hand up or start a conversation to make a new friend. Genuinely a model student who loved learning.
She often made up her own dance routines and songs. She loved animals and watching TV shows like Victorious and Wizards of Waverly Place. She was full of enthusiasm, gave anything a go, and we and would keep trying until she picked things up. She was an exuberant child, and she was always cheerful, her grandma said.
On the snowy, cold morning of October the 5th, 2012, Jessica was up at 7:45 sharp. She had asked her mom for an alarm clock so she could start getting up on her own and being more independent. She watched TV, ate her granola bar, got changed, then peeled an orange with her mom to take to school.
Bundled up in her thick coat, she said goodbye and left her house on foot. She would be meeting her friends along the way in their usual spot at Chelsea Park, just a 5-minute walk away from her street, and then they would carry on to school. But she didn’t turn up, and her friends had to carry on before they missed the bell.
Jessica was never late and never took a day off. She loved school. So, when it got to 10:00 a.m. here and there was still no sign of her, the teachers called Sarah. But Sarah worked a 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift, and after seeing her daughter off, she had gone to sleep and didn’t hear her phone. The school left a voicemail, which at 4:30 p.m. Sarah finally heard.
There had to be a mistake, she thought. She drove past the park, went to the school, and a few of her friends’ houses, but no sign of Jessica anywhere, and no one had seen her. She called Westminster police. My daughter’s missing. My daughter is missing. I guess she never made it to school this morning.
How old is your daughter? She’s 10. Okay, what’s your daughter’s name? Jessica Ridgeway. And then you get a pit in your stomach you don’t want any parent to experience in their entire life, and you know your child has been taken, she said. By 9:15 p.m., the investigators believed they had enough information to suspect Jessica had been abducted, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert.
I want to show you this little girl’s picture, Jessica Ridgeway. She never made it to school and ran away. The school called the little girl’s mother. The mom works nights, so she didn’t get the message until much later in the day, and that’s what’s bringing us to where we are right now.
A massive search is taking place right now. Police, along with the CBI, have issued an Amber Alert, and the reason is this. It’s because of the amount of time that has passed since she was last seen. At least 50 police officers, including the FBI, are searching right now. When we start with a an 8-hour delay or a delay as substantial as this, the the distance that she could have wandered, even even on her own, just gets huge.
Police say Jessica’s father, who lives out of state, is in a custody battle with Jessica’s mother. They do not believe Jessica is with him, but are not ruling anyone out. We don’t have a person of interest, and we’re going to look at every angle. Nothing like this has really ever happened.
Like, it’s always surprising when something happens here. So, as you can hear from that interview, this is a very serious situation. Normally, Jessica meets some friends at a park, which is just about three blocks from her home. Then the entire group walks to Witt Elementary. The girls that she usually walks with have been interviewed.
They did not see her today, but at such a young age as of 10 years old, they they just did not think think much of it. Again, we do want to show the picture of Jessica Ridgeway, 10 years old, 4′ 10″ in height with shoulder blonde hair. She has blue eyes. She is wearing a winter jacket, I’m told, a black puffy jacket, but with weather like this, it’s still of concern.
Again, search is taking place across Westminster. In fact, if you are concerned you would like to help, you can come here to the Westview Recreation Center. We’re at the intersection of 108th and Oak again in Westminster. Teresa But it was now dark and freezing cold, so it would be a long night. Firefighters used thermal imaging equipment to see through the darkness and set up lights that illuminated Chelsea Park.
Police wanted a helicopter that had night vision, but it was too cold to fly without the blades icing up. We’re using every resource we have. We’re trying to use air or helicopters that have equipment that can search in the dark. Unfortunately, the weather has grounded those, so we’re not able to use that tool.
We’ve brought our fire department in who has equipment that sees in the dark, thermal imaging equipment, so they’re out searching with that. Over 400 faculty and every parent that has a student attending Witt Elementary has received the notification that Jessica is missing. When the sun comes up, police say they will be bringing in even more people to help search for Jessica.
They’re also hoping for a break in the weather so they can get helicopters up to search from the sky. By 2:00 a.m., authorities told volunteers to go home and come back later in the morning. Westminster police set up their command center and asked for search volunteers to support. There was definitely no shortage of people.
Officers were searching homes and gardens, as well as huge open spaces like creeks and forest areas. They talked to a huge number of people, taking 700 DNA samples. They had guards stationed at crosswalks and photographed cars coming into and leaving the neighborhood. Most mailboxes and trees were wrapped in ribbons in Jessica’s favorite color, purple.
On her desk, they found Jessica’s notebook with some homework in there. On one page, she had written, “Do not play at the park alone, and watch out for strangers.” She was very wary and always careful. So, either she had been lured by someone that she knew and trusted, or she had been snatched without warning.
But approaching or engaging with someone she didn’t know did not seem likely. The police station soon needed more resources, and the FBI got involved, too, along with 12 different agencies. Soon, more than 1,000 people were following up on more than 4,000 tips. Four days after she went missing, her family left the house for the first time in order to make a statement to the media.
They hadn’t been able to face leaving home up until this point, but they had cooperated fully. And Mike, the FBI mobile evidence response team unit, they were inside this home much of the afternoon for about 2 hours. They’ve since left, but they first arrived not even 10 minutes after the Ridgeway family left the home.
This FBI evidence response team on standby soon putting on gloves, covering their shoes, and walking in the front door. Inside, outside, looking for any sign of Jessica. And this is the first time we are hearing from Jessica’s mother and father. Both deny any involvement in her disappearance.
Both are holding out hope. She’s my rock. She She’s I mean, she’s all of our rock. A mother. The bright voice of my little girl. She needs to come home. And a father. I try to stay positive about it, but uh yeah, it’s hard. I just want to find my daughter. [snorts] I watched her walk out the door, and I shut the door, and that’s the last time I saw her, and I want to come walking through back through that door.
After searches by ground and by air, still no sign of the 10-year-old, and the reality of all of this is now very real. That is not ever ever anything I want ever any parent to go through. Police ruled out Jessica’s parents as being involved in her disappearance. Um and their feelings were now that it had been a stranger abduction.
The next day, a man 6 and 1/2 miles away in the neighborhood of Superior found what he didn’t realize at the time was Jessica’s backpack, along with her glasses, a water bottle, and some clothes which smelled of urine. On the backpack was a keychain with the name Jessica, but making no connection to the search 6 miles away, he posted on the Westminster Town List server, “If this is yours, come and get it.
” Someone did make the connection and called 911. Sarah said she felt in this moment it was a glimmer of hope that they would find her only child safe. Over the weekend, a glimpse of optimism for the family when Jessica’s backpack and water bottle were found in another subdivision, 6 miles away.
I felt a sliver of hope. I figured, you know, if something really bad happened to her, they wouldn’t have got rid of the backpack just sitting there. But this hope would rapidly dissipate when the next day another discovery was made. It was far more disturbing and final. Late Wednesday night, police announced a body had been found near a park in the Denver suburb of Arvada.
At this point, they won’t officially confirm it is 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway, but multiple police sources tell ABC News they believe it is the girl’s body. Six miles out from Jessica’s home, maintenance workers found a heavy bag on the side of the road. They didn’t open it, instead calling over a police officer and his dog.
Inside was a small torso. Testing confirmed that the remains belonged to Jessica. But they were still missing parts of her and a cause of death had yet to be determined. And then the police said that a wooden cross was found at the scene, but they did not publicly specify exactly where in relation to her remains.
Some sources have stated the cross was placed inside her. Others say it was near her. Nonetheless, investigators called it a pivotal piece of evidence. The Westminster Police Chief, Lee Berk, said, “Our focus has changed from the search for Jessica to a mission of justice for Jessica. We realize there is a predator at large in our community.
” We pray for the Ridgeway family that you would comfort them. Prayer, candlelight, and song Saturday night to remember a life taken far too soon. It amazes me that people can be that sick in this world. Hundreds took part in the vigil for Jessica Ridgeway in Westminster. Heather Fong and her family among them after her son said he wanted to light a candle for Jessica.
I feel like it kind of takes their childhood away because you teach them the world is a really good place, but then you have to train them now that you can’t talk to strangers. As the community mourns the loss of Jessica, police are stepping up efforts to find her killer. Saturday, investigators continue trying to develop leads. They’ve been going over sex offender lists and have even been reviewing data from cell phone towers around key locations in the case, hoping if a number registered at all of them, it could help lead to a suspect.
know if you can make sense of it. You know, we just need justice for Jessica, though, and so all the kids are safe in the neighborhood. They made a link to a previous case that had happened 4 months earlier on Memorial Day. A jogger had been out near Ketner Lake and had been attacked from behind by a man who shoved a chloroform soaked cloth in her face.
She was dragged into a bush but managed to escape. The only thing she could say that he was a white male and based on her height, he was between 5 ft 6 in and 5 ft 8 in with an average build. This had happened just a stone’s throw away from where Jessica was likely abducted. DNA found on her body matched the DNA found on Jessica’s.
So, it was the same attacker. We’re going to begin this half hour with the Colorado community on edge as police search for 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway’s killer. In Jessica Ridgeway’s community of Westminster, Colorado this morning, there is sadness, anger, and fear. This is a horrible. It’s absolutely horrible.
That a killer is on the loose. I want to stress that we recognize that there is a predator at large in our community. With state, local, and federal agents working Jessica’s murder, police have scoured her neighborhood and the community for clues. More than 1,500 tips have poured in. 500 homes searched.
A manhunt underway for a killer still on the street. Former FBI profiler, Clint Van Zandt. This is a whole ‘nother type of predator. Number one, to commit a horrible act to kidnap a child, but number two, to dispose of a body this way puts this guy in a breed almost by himself. We haven’t identified a an individual.
So, we’re talking and and conveying to our community the importance of looking at behavioral changes. Unfortunately, it’s somebody’s family member, a neighbor, a friend. Dozens of worried residents came to Tom Olbrick Saturday for crisis counseling. Our behavioral analysis unit wants to convey a message to the community and to the public as a whole.
They’re looking for abnormal behavior, changes in someone’s behavior from Jessica’s disappear- appearance last Friday until today. Uh it could be something as simple as shaving of their face. Could be uh changing of hair color, cutting of their hair their hair, uh changing their mood, their personality. Uh parking a vehicle in their uh garage and they’ve always parked it in their driveway.
So, we suspect that someone in the community knows this individual. And we’re asking for the community’s support once again. Uh the community has been very supportive in the efforts so far in this investigation. And we’re asking that they would do this one more time to help us gather new leads and new information uh to bring this to a a conclusion.
More than 3,000 people attended a memorial in Arvada to celebrate the life of Jessica Ridgeway. Her favorite songs played alongside a video of her. And it was just a sea of purple in the big crowd. Officers, volunteers, people that knew Jessica, and people that had only learned of her through the unfolding story.
Everyone was there. Those of us involved in this case unfortunately never had the privilege of knowing your wonderful daughter. But I can honestly tell you we feel like we did. We feel like she’s part of our family and we feel like we’ve lost part of our family. After detectives released a photo of the cross necklace, a neighbor had recognized it.
She lived near the Sigg family and called the FBI to express her concerns about Austin Sigg, a 17-year-old who lived with his mom, Mindy, as well as the cross. She knew that he had a fascination with death and decaying human and animal bodies. After this, Austin was spoken to and provided FBI agents with a DNA sample.
He told them he was home sleeping when Jessica went missing. They had noticed he was wearing a similar-looking cross. However, they left with the sample seemingly satisfied with his answers and carried on canvassing the area. So many swabs and samples were being collected and tested, and protocol was to send back envelopes labeled with the names of those who had submitted the sample.
If the envelope was empty, it meant the DNA did not match the samples from Jessica. Austin’s envelope came back empty, so they moved on. But on October 22nd, the media started running the story about the DNA link between Jessica and the attack on the jogger. And that very day, Austin told his classmates that he felt wobbly and tremendously sick.
He even slept in his mom’s bed that night. The following morning, Austin told his mom he had something to tell her. Straightaway, she asked if it was about Jessica. “I just knew. I don’t know why, but I just knew,” she said. When he confirmed her fears, Mindy fell to the floor crying. Horror, disbelief, like, “This can’t be happening.
This cannot be happening,” she said. “I’m going to jail,” Austin said. “I know,” she replied. “You’ve got to call the police.” “Can you do it for me?” he asked. Mindy picked up the phone and called 911. The entire call itself is almost 18 minutes long, so it has been cut down. Hi, this is Molly at Westminster Police.
Can I help you? Hi, um I need you to come to my house. Um My son wants to turn himself in for the Jessica Ridgeway murder. Can you tell me exactly what he said? That he did it and he gave me details and her remains are in my house. Did you see them? No. Is he there with you? Yes. Is he cooperative? Yes. What is your son’s name? Austin Sigg.
Okay, I I understand that you’re probably, you know, feeling pretty crappy right now, but I want you to know that you did the right thing He He did it. He just wanted me to call. He He is turning himself in. Okay. Do you think that he’s going to be cooperative with the officers? Absolutely. Okay. Do you think that Austin would talk to me? Will you talk to him? Yeah, hold on. Okay.
Hello. Is this Austin? Yes, it is. Hi Austin, this is Molly at the Westminster Police Department. Hi. Can you tell me a little bit about what’s going on right now or how you’re feeling or or how did this come about? Uh I I I don’t exactly get why you’re asking these questions. I murdered Jessica Ridgeway. Okay.
There is I have proof that I did it. I There is no other question. You just have to send a squad car or something down here and I will answer all the questions that you want to ask or anyone wants to ask of me as soon as you just You got to get down here. Okay. Have you committed any crimes like this before? This before? I mean, I Do do have a criminal history of any sort? The only other thing that I have done that before this was the Ketner Lake incident where the woman got attacked. That was me.
Ma’am, I understand you want to call your I understand you want to call your husband and I’m sorry, but I would like to keep you guys on the phone just until the officers get a little bit closer. Well, how far are they? They’re going to be there in just a few minutes. Is Austin still there with you? Mhm.
Yeah, I won’t let him out of my sight. Okay. Has Austin been diagnosed with any mental health issues? Does he see a counselor? Take any medication? He’s had a counselor um years ago over porn. Okay. I can’t breathe. Take some deep breaths for me. Do you want me to send you an ambulance? No. Are you sure? Yes, I’m sure. Okay, what just happened? I opened the window.
What’s that? I just opened the window. Okay. I need air. Okay. Mindy, take a couple of deep breaths for me, okay? You tell me when the officers get there. They’re coming to your front door. Okay? I don’t see them. I don’t see them. You don’t see them? No. Is Austin okay with you right now? Yeah, he’s just getting really anxious and so am I. Okay. They’re here.
They’re coming up. They’re coming up to the door? Yeah. Okay. Do you see it Do you see the plainclothes officers and their badges? Yeah, they’re here. Okay, I’ll let you go speak with them, okay? Okay. Okay, thank you. Okay, bye. Goodbye. And 19 days after Jessica Ridgeway went missing, Austin Sigg was in the police station.
He admitted that he had tried to kidnap the jogger with his own homemade chloroform. Weighing when the woman was able to escape, this did not deter him. Far from it. He said this only made him rethink his next moves. He needed someone smaller and someone he could easily overpower. When asked by police what he would have done if his attack on the jogger had been successful, he said, “Probably do the same to her that I did to Jessica.
” So, you were you were out for a better word, hunting? Yeah, I guess that’s the only word I can think of. And did you know Jessica? No. Had you ever seen her before? No. In her final moments, Jessica was playing in the park and Austin watched her as she made snowballs. He parked up his Jeep where he knew no one could spot him and watched Jessica as she walked with a snowball in her hands.
Like he waited until she had to cross the street and slightly slumped down in the back so she couldn’t see him. As she walked past the Jeep, he jumped out and grabbed her, pulling her inside. Jessica screamed, but there was no one around. He bound her feet and hands with zip ties.
He said, “Random place, random time, random everything. I think the second I pulled her into my car, I knew she was dead.” Jessica asked him who he was and if he knew her mom. He said, “She kept asking me questions. I would answer them and I would lie to her. I would tell her that everything was going to be okay.” He drove her to his house and what happened there is really only known to him.
He claimed he carried Jessica up to his room and said he cut the zip ties off her wrists and started playing some cartoons for her. He told her over and over that she would go home to her mom soon. She had wet herself, so he made her change out of her clothes and gave her his white shirt and a pair of black shorts. He also allegedly cut her hair.
He told her to turn and face away from him. He then strangled her. Austin admitted he was consumed by a sexual drive when he grabbed Jessica, but maintained he did not sexually assault her. He admitted to dismembering her in the bath, placing her torso in two bags and hiding them in the pool house for a while before driving to dump them.
He removed and identified each one of her organs. He said the dismemberment was from a forensic science class. Serial killers and the successful ones were the ones who could always make the body disappear. Austin’s treatment of Jessica’s body was callous in a way not often seen. The 17-year-old told them where they could find the other parts of her body in a crawl space under his house, which they recovered.
As well as the crawl space, Austin described trying to flush bits of her down the toilet, but this didn’t work. Investigators also later recovered human tissue in the plumbing of the home, confirming that part of his disposal attempt involved the toilet. Jessica was dead before the police had even started looking for her.
Hours into his interview, investigators learned that his DNA sample had actually been lost and not yet tested. The empty envelope with his name on it had clearly been a mistake. They ordered an immediate test and there it was. His DNA matched the sample found on the jogger
and even though he admitted it. Well, this could very well be a placeholder plea. Even though Austin Sigg pled not guilty on all counts, he has the option to modify that later, including guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. His dad, Robert, said in a statement, “There are no words to express the sorrow that I and my family feel for the pain they are suffering.
We are devastated by the knowledge that my son, Austin Sigg, has been arrested. This horrible event is a tragedy for both families as well as the community. I ask also for your prayers and support for Austin’s mother, whose courageous act, unimaginably painful for any parent, has put this tragedy on the path to resolution.
” Mindy, who turned her son in, later said that she had a horrible sense of guilt. “Not because I had anything to do with it, but because I brought this child into the world.” Sarah, Jessica’s mom, said there’s nothing she did that caused this. “I don’t think how she raised him had anything to do with what he did.
” Mindy said he had been such a beautiful baby and a smart, kind kid. It was just unfathomable that this was who he was now. “Nobody else existed. I don’t know what music was popular. I don’t know what TV shows were popular. He was everything I could have possibly wanted.” A classmate who had attended school with Austin since middle school said, “There was always something wrong with him.
He was always one of the kids in the class who was really smart, but he would be by himself. He talked to himself and just acted really awkward around people.” Although he was very clever, then he started to fall behind and Mindy learned he was being bullied because of his voice. He soon dropped out of high school and got a graduate equivalency diploma.
People had become so unsettled by him over the years. One neighbor called Emily, said her 11-year-old daughter came right up to her when she learned that Jessica had been kidnapped. She said she knew exactly who it would be. I feel bad bad that uh I dismissed it. When Emily Alexander’s 11-year-old daughter said she knew who kidnapped Jessica, no one believed her.
She goes, “Mom, oh my god, I know who did it.” And I go, “Who?” And she goes, “The goth teenager from the park.” At this park, just down the road, she says a teenage boy had been acting strangely, staring at her daughter, walking by their home. And she pointed him out right across the street from our house.
Emily Alexander says her daughter’s friends may have been what saved her. If she had been at the park alone, there’s no telling, you know, what could have happened. I should have let her know that in the moment she feels uncomfortable, that she should trust that. And that you know, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Austin pleaded not guilty to all of the charges in both Jessica’s case and the jogger’s case. Considering his detailed confession and the discovery of Jessica’s remains in his home, this not guilty plea was a shock. And the thought of going to trial to hear all of the grizzly details play out was a lot for people to handle.
Because he was 17 at the time of the murder, he could not face the death penalty. But if convicted, he would face life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. His lawyer said that his actions were impulsive and that he was struggling to understand why he had done what he’d done himself.
They claimed that Austin’s mother had inhaled paint fumes and fallen down the stairs when she was pregnant with him, and that Austin had been born with a head problem due to the use of a vacuum extractor. They said he had serious intestinal issues and that he underwent surgery three times. It was mentioned that Austin had come from a home of divorce and many run-ins with the police.
His father, Robert Sieg, had a long arrest history which included mortgage fraud, DUIs, assault, domestic violence, and drug dealing. The court would be presumptuous and speculative to assume at this early age because of an act by a child that that child would never be appropriate for parole. But Anna Salter, a psychologist who reviewed police records about the case, said she noted he had not been abused as a child and added that despite his parents’ divorce, everything had seemed well at home and he did have a supportive family.
He certainly had no empathy for Jessica Ridgeway. “This was not an impulse he had and then felt horrible about later,” she said. Prosecutors said that his actions showed a premeditation. He had searched for homemade chloroform, typed in the top 10 places people get abducted. The founding fathers of this country did not set forth an amendment that says when a young man kidnaps, robs, sexually assaults, and murders it and dismembers a 10-year-old girl, that everything other than the murder should
be excused. What we do know is that this young man is dangerous. The only way to protect the community from him is to keep him confined forever. They have never seen an offense like this committed by someone under 18. Ever. Not in this county, not in this state, not in this country. Austin was kept in the special housing units at the Jefferson County Detention Center, away from adult population.
But almost a year to date after Jessica set off from school and 2 days before his trial was due to start, Austin pleaded guilty to 15 charges, including first-degree murder, sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, and sexual exploitation of a minor. Justice for Jessica delivered today.
It’s been just over a year since 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway disappeared. Well, today her teenage killer, Austin Sieg, learning he will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He got life in prison for the murder charge, plus 86 consecutive years on top of that for the kidnapping, sexual assault, and robbery charges.
One of Sieg’s attorneys mouths, “Are you okay?” Sieg replies, “Yeah, I’m fine.” He was expressionless most of the day. It was truly a reflection of pure evil and it and Austin Sieg deserves everything he got. He was given a sentence of 40 years for the murder of Jessica, but the judge sentenced him to another 86 years extra for his other crimes.
Although he would have been eligible for parole because he was a juvenile at the time of the killing, the extra years totally eliminate that possibility, ensuring he will be inside for the rest of his life. Then District Attorney Peter Weir said there was no plea bargain in this case. There were no concessions.
We are not going to make any concessions for Austin. The judge agreed and added, “This case cries out for a life sentence.” Austin chose not to address the judge and showed no emotion as the decision was read. So, I’m actually not going to say anything today because I don’t think that the defendant has the right to hear how he affected my me, my family, or who Jessica was.
Once we walk out of this courtroom, we’ll not remember his name and we’ll all only remember Jessica and the legacy created legacy she created as well as the Lassie project in which she inspired. Thank you. Thank you. Mindy said she has never once second-guessed her choice to call the police and turn her son in.
Mindy, she threw herself into therapy and although she obviously thinks about Austin and misses the son she once knew, she said, “I haven’t talked to him since. I can’t.” He has not reached out to her, either. “Part of the reason why I don’t talk to him is because I don’t feel like I’m going to hear the truth about anything.
I can’t be lied to by him and I’ve never gotten an answer as to why and I need something.” And when asked if she had a message for the Ridgeway family, Mindy said, “I would literally give my life to change what happened. I would trade my life for Jessica’s. Even now that I’m feeling better, I would do that if I could.” Jessica’s grandma said every single one of their family felt compassion for Mindy.
She said, “We understand that she has lost a son, too. It’s a different loss, but she still lost a son. My heart goes out to her. If we could have hugged her in court and they would have let us, we probably would have, but we couldn’t. I want her to know that we think about her a lot.” And this park has just been transformed here.
Everywhere you look, there are hints of Jessica from the purple that is speckled throughout the park to this dragonfly teeter-totter, which we’re told represents a school project she was particularly fond of that she was working on at the time of her disappearance. The way Jessica’s community still remembers and celebrates her young life is truly special, with something going on all the time, it seems.
A memorial playground was built, which included a 40-ft custom track ride, imprinted knock-knock jokes from her classmates, a custom-designed ribbon swing set, and everything in purple, of course. There was also work done with the Lassie project. It’s a free service that gives parents and guardians the ability to notify an entire local community about their child being missing within seconds.
The Jessica Ridgeway cheer camp was also set up as this was the thing she was most excited to be when she was old enough. She said to her mom that she promised to be a cheerleader who will be kind to everyone. Five years after she lost her daughter, Sarah welcomed a baby girl, Anna. The reminders of her are everywhere. Lots of purple.
Her sweet 10-year-old smile. Her picture’s everywhere. Her favorite color. We all still wear purple. Purple’s everywhere in our house. I think she’s makes her presence known. That’s how Sarah Pendell Ridgeway and her family remember Jessica. Just we still talk about her. You know, it’s you know, she still exists for us.
Yes, it’s hard and it’s the hardest thing that anybody could possibly do is to move forward. I need to remember who she was and who I would have hoped she would have become and know that I need to keep moving forward. Here you go. She was born October 15th, Anna Christine Pendell Ridgeway. Her and her sister share the same middle name and then Her eyes are blue, different blue than Jessica’s, but they’re blue.
She loves her hands. They’re her favorite thing in the whole wide world. I think Jessica would be enamored. She’s very much ever present. We talk to Jessica and I think she kind of turns her head. It looks like she’s talking to somebody over in the distance, so I think her sister definitely comes and visits and leaves her little sparkly way around.
Mom and grandma say they’ll tell Anna all about Jessica’s sparkle as soon as she’s old enough. I’m mostly going to say that, you know, she has a big sister that left before she was born. They want to raise her without fear. I’m going to try not to let what happened overshadow uh overshadow how I raise Anna cuz I don’t want her to be smothered a little bit.
I want her to be able to have her own little life. And never she’s not replaced. She’s just expanded. No, she definitely has a extra special angel watching over her. She said she knew Jessica would have been the best big sister, but she looks over her now in a different way. Jessica’s story is as heartbreaking as they come.
The thought of her last moments of childlike wonderment, doing what every 10-year-old should be able to do, play in the snow, meet her friends, have another good day at school, and come back ready to tell everyone all about her day. In a split second, everything had changed, and that purity and innocence would be snatched away.
The Ridgeway is much the same as anyone else in their position, take it day by day. Sarah described Jessica’s murder as like a plate shattering, and that one piece that gets lost somewhere. You can glue it as best you can, but the cracks still show, and it’s just not ever the same again. She said, “You can’t quite put it back together correctly and completely.”
