A Young Girl Vanished on the Way to School. The Horrific Truth Came to Light in a Mother's Chilling 911 Call

On the morning of Oct. 5, 2012, a 10-year-old girl from Westminster, Colo., vanished while walking to her elementary school, which was about a mile away from her home. Jessica Ridgeway normally met her friends at a park on her way to Witt Elementary School, but she didn’t make it to the park or school that Friday, according to CBS News.

Once school officials were made aware of Jessica’s absence, they called her mother around 10 a.m. and left a voicemail, the outlet reported. But the girl’s mother, who was asleep, didn’t get the message until later that afternoon. She then called the police.

An Amber Alert was issued for Jessica and extensive searches took place. Authorities also collected hundreds of DNA samples from people in the neighborhood, The Denver Post reported.

Two days after she vanished, Jessica’s urine-soaked backpack, along with her glasses, were found. Less than a week after Jessica’s disappearance, police located her dismembered remains, which were in black bags, in a field in the nearby town of Arvada.

As the search for Jessica turned into a hunt for her killer, the FBI became involved and even released a behavioral profile of the suspect, according to ABC News. 

A break in the case was made on Oct. 23, 2012, when 17-year-old Austin Siggs’ mother made a 911 call claiming her son admitted to her that he’d killed Jessica and that he wanted to turn himself in to police.

“Hi, um, I need you to come to my house … um, my son wants to turn himself in for the Jessica Ridgeway murder,” Mindy Sigg said in the call, which was obtained by CBS4. When the dispatcher asked her to clarify, the mother said her son told her “that he did it and gave me details and her remains are in my house.”

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Mindy then handed the phone to Austin, who said, “I don’t exactly get why you’re asking me these questions. I murdered Jessica Ridgeway.”

Austin also admitted to attacking a jogger and to having weapons in the home.

“I have knives in my room, um, and we own a few guns, but … I’m giving myself up completely, there will be no resistance whatsoever,” Austin said, per CBS4. Mindy, who can be heard crying, spoke with the dispatcher one more time before the call ended. 

Austin admitted to police that he grabbed Jessica, whom he had never seen before, as she walked by his Jeep, The Denver Post reported. He claimed he pulled the girl into the back seat and tied her wrists and ankles with zip ties. 

“I would lie to her,” Austin told interrogating officers, per CNN. “I would tell her that everything was going to be OK. I would just lie to her.”

Austin then took Jessica to his mother’s home — located about a mile away — where he strangled her and dismembered her body, according to The Denver Post. He later admitted to sexually assaulting the girl after initially denying it. Authorities recovered the rest of Jessica’s remains in a crawl space of Austin’s mother’s home.

Police said Austin’s DNA sample, which was among many that had been collected by police amid the search for Jessica, linked him to DNA evidence taken from the girl’s remains and water bottle, The Denver Post reported. That sample also connected him to DNA taken from the jogger who escaped after being attacked at Ketner Lake.

In late October 2012, Austin was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, sexual assault, kidnapping and other counts in connection with Jessica’s death, NBC News reported. 

According to USA Today, investigators found child sex abuse material during the investigation, leading them to also charge him with child sexual exploitation.

He faced separate charges related to the attempted kidnapping of the 22-year-old female jogger. Authorities said that took place months before Jessica’s killing, per NBC News.

Austin’s classmates spoke with PEOPLE in 2012 shortly after his arrest about his “emotional and argumentative” behavior that past year. They said he showed an interest in crime scene investigation and bypassed his senior year of high school to study mortuary sciences at Arapahoe Community College. 

Austin ultimately pleaded guilty to 15 counts related to both cases in October 2013, just two days before his murder trial was scheduled to start, NBC News reported. 

He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. Austin was not eligible for the death penalty since he was under 18 at the time of the killing, per the outlet.

According to local station KDVR, Austin’s defense attorney tried to show that his history of unaddressed mental health issues left him “not in the right state of mind” when the murder happened.

But prosecutors said, according to the outlet, “He is someone who derives pleasure in pain. He derives pleasure in dismemberment. Any claim that this man lacked the executive function to plan and exercise a plan is proved false by his actions.”

Jessica’s grandmother, who was present for Austin’s sentencing, called him a “monster” who “shattered the core of our family,” KDVR reported.

Today, Jessica’s memory remains alive at the park where she was supposed to meet her friends that fateful day. To reflect her “playful spirit,” butterflies and traces of purple, her favorite color, were incorporated into the outdoor space now known as Jessica Ridgeway Memorial Park.

“Each year, hundreds of children and adults use the park for fun, recreation, meditation and remembering Jessica,” its website says.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.