Golden, Colorado- In a hearing that was open to the public only after media outlets got the Colorado Supreme Court to overturn a Judge’s decision to seal it, new facts surrounding the brutal murder of Jessica Ridgeway surfaced at the preliminary hearing of accused murderer Austin Sigg. Cameras are not permitted in the courtroom.
Among the now confirmed revelations, a neighbor suspected Sigg in the early days following her disappearance and called the FBI directly. The October 19th tip was allegedly due to Sigg’s very public obsession with death. It has not been revealed how Sigg and his Mother were approached about providing a DNA sample that has been matched to clothing belonging to Jessica Ridgeway.
Four days after the FBI visited Sigg in the presence of his Mother and took a DNA sample for processing; Austin Sigg sat his Mother Mindy Sigg down, and proceeded to confess to the kidnapping and murder of Jessica Ridgeway in lurid detail.
…” I am a monster.” -Austin Sigg
Sigg began the confession by telling his Mother he was a monster, and that after kidnapping Jessica and driving around with her for a while he brought her to the family residence while his Mother was at work and his brother was at school. The teen who hoped to study mortuary science had dismembered Jessica Ridgeway and threw a garbage bag filled with her torso at Pattridge Park while keeping several other portions of the child’s remains under a crawlspace at the residence. Sources inside the investigation speaking to BOC on the condition of anonymity have confirmed that not all of Jessica Ridgeway has been recovered to date. A receipt for the garbage bags was located among the debris found at the park. Sigg told Police he choked Ridgeway to death. Her cause of death was asphyxiation.
Mindy Sigg called 911 on October 24th to alert Police that her son confessed. During that call, Austin Sigg admitted to Jessica’s death at his hands, and also the attack on a female jogger at Kentner Lake.
The operator heard Austin in the background and asked to speak to him directly.
“I don’t exactly get why you’re asking me these questions. I murdered Jessica Ridgeway. I have proof that I did it,” Austin Sigg said. “You have to send a squad car down here, and I’ll answer any questions you want to ask me.”
Sigg attempted to use a homemade concoction of chloroform on a towel to overpower the woman over Memorial Day weekend and then attended a family vacation outside of the US a week later. (more…)
Dana’s featured guests will also include Retired FBI Criminal Analyst Clint van Zandt , Richard Muti and Charles Buckley – former New Jersey Prosecutors and National Authors of “The Charmer” and Editor In Chief “Red” of www.scaredmonkeys.com
Jessica Christine Ridgeway , the grape-hued bespectacled 10 year old who lit up the court as a Stadley Lake pee wee cheerleader, left her Westminster home at 8:30am on October 5, 2012.
She was due to meet her walk-buddy Jeremy after speaking to him briefly from her Mom’s cell at 8:25am. When she did not show by 8:40am, he hitched a ride from his Dad to avoid missing the 8:50am bell. The drive route would not pass an “enroute” Jessica if she were to take the normal path to school.
Jessica never made it to Witt Elementary School (WES) and the school called her Mother’s cell by 9am to alert her to her absence.
Sarah Ridgeway, Jessica’s Mother, worked the night shift and never heard the cell phone she left downstairs. Later in the afternoon Sara retrieved the voice mail from WES, got in her car and began looking for her daughter.
Ridgeway reports her only child she shared with Jeremiah Bryant missing via 911 when she was unable to locate her. Jeremiah Bryant, Jessica’s Father, was alerted first by his employer when police were trying to determine his whereabouts, and then directly by investigators.
Despite the 6 hour delay Westminster Police reacted swiftly. They had interviewed children that normally walked to school with Jessica by the end of the school day and issued an amber alert by 9:15 PM Friday evening.
Victorious. This is the word splashed across Jessica’s pink backpack found by a neighbor in nearby Superior in the early hours of Sunday October 7th. It was believed to have been placed there between 6:45PM Saturday and midnight Sunday morning.
By Sunday afternoon Jessica’s family had confirmed the backpack ,complete with water bottle bearing her name , was hers. By Sunday afternoon investigators knew the chances of this ending well were lost when a clear and deliberate placement of a missing ten year old child’s backpack was a definite calling card intended for them.
The complete contents of the bag or any other evidentiary clues it yielded have not been released. (more…)
Desiree Young, Kyron’s biological mother and arguably the bravest soul in recent memory as far as the frantic and grieving mom’s of missing children’s set is concerned, believes her youngest son has been kidnapped by Terri Horman.
Or that she arranged for same by some unknown party and is demanding his location or the location of his remains.
Her recent civil suit filed by Eldon Rosenthal makes these direct allegations against the woman that by her own admission, she entrusted with the care of her toddler son in 2003.
Her suit is demanding $10 million dollars with a reservation to amend to include punitive damages later. The complaint is 5 pages long, or apparently $2million a page.
Last month a ruling by Judge Harry Kantor denying an abatement motion will allow the suit to proceed, for now.
The decision was widely seen as a win for Desiree Young in her tenacious quest to seek answers in the disappearance of her son Kyron from The Skyline School on June 4th, 2010. Headlines throughout the region and the evening talking head regulars praised the Judge’s decision for the Mom who has had no previous success in very public campaigns to engage Terri Horman’s cooperation in the investigation.
The legal community however, not so much. The decision to move the case forward relied largely on the fact that although it was patently clear from Ms. Young’s filing and subsequent public commentary by her and counsel Eldon Rosenthal that she alleges Horman has committed criminal acts resulting in the disappearance of Kyron Horman.
Terri Horman has neither been declared a suspect by police nor has she been indicted by a grand jury who continues to meet on the case.
Kaine Horman, Kyron’s father, learned about the suit filed by his former wife by a member of the media seeking comment on his reaction to it. He has not been made a party to the civil action although he was awarded primary physical custody of the couple’s son in March, 2004.
I count myself with the thousands that want this aggrieved Mother and Father to locate their child regardless of the outcome.
That said, it is ridiculous to think a woman whose criminal attorney has advised her not to respond to a twice- renewed restraining order precluding her from seeing her now 3 year old daughter is going to utter a syllable outside of assertion of her 5th amendment rights during any deposition she is compelled to participate in.
On June 4, 2010, Terri Horman, acting alone or in concert with others, intentionally kidnapped Kyron Horman from ; Skyline Elementary School. Kyron has not been seen or heard from by either of his parents since prior to Terri Horman taking Kyron to school that morning.
Did Not Miss The Memo
The Honorable Harry Kantor penned an accompanying order memorandum to his ruling following oral arguments on August 18th, It is worthy of the Honorable Belvin Perry’s stamp of approval- with the exception of course that is does not contain the phrase, “no earthly idea.”
It did however; contain the first ever direct statement that Terri Horman is a suspect in the investigation, a PRIME suspect, no less. In pertinent part:
“..The focus of the defendant’s motion is to stop the prosecution of this civil case while an ongoing active criminal investigation into both young Kyron Horman’s disappearance in 2010 and a murder-for-hire plot against Kyron’s father, Kaine Horman, is pending, so that the defendant (Terri Horman, Kyron’s step-mother and Kaine’s wife) is not required to decide whether to exercise her constitutional rights against self-incrimination under the United States and Oregon Constitutions before it is necessary to do so in any criminal prosecution which may follow the investigation. The plaintiff is Kyron ‘smother. The defendant is a prime suspect in the investigation …” (emphasis added by me)
Interestingly, Judge Kantor takes it upon himself to declare Terri Horman a prime suspect in BOTH the ongoing criminal investigations of a murder for hire plot and Kyron’s disappearance.
While it is a fair statement to say that both sides agree that Terri Horman is the subject or focus via “laser pointer” of the investigation into Kyron’s disappearance and her attorneys used that point to support abatement. At no time and in no document or filing has either side said Terri Horman was a prime suspect of anything? Where does Judge Kantor come by such information?
For his Honor to state his concern over tainting a jury pool, and then to allege, or divulge, as it were, that Terri Horman is a prime suspect in a murder for hire plot in an ongoing criminal investigation- is he privy to such information from some alternative source that is not contained on the record?
A request for any exparte information should be forthcoming. Where is the conversation with District Attorney Rod Underhill or his office read into the record? It has not been.
Lea Conner, Washington Family Attorney and BOC legal analyst sees Judge Kantor’s take differently:
“…The judge is not referring exclusively to the Desiree Young lawsuit.
Kaine Horman claimed in his TRO petition that law enforcement provided him with probable cause to believe that Terri Horman had attempted to hire someone to kill him.
He again made the same claim in papers filed after the TRO petition (specifically alleging that Terri was sexting the landscaper who she wanted to murder him, then allegedly sexted Michael Cook).
Kaine reiterated his allegations a third time in papers he filed last fall in response to Terri Horman’s motion for parenting time.
Kaine once again claimed Terri Horman tried to hire a hit man when he sought to renew the restraining order in 2011. There was an additional line added to the renewal, and though it sounded like something new, it was just Kaine reiterating the same allegations.
The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment applies to criminal matters, and it does not allow prior testimonial statements of witnesses to be admitted where the witness has since become unavailable. Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004).
Here, we are talking about a civil matter. The Confrontation Clause and the holding of Crawford do not apply to civil matters or other non-criminal proceedings…”
In Oregon, a special appearance is used by a party who wishes to vacate an unauthorized proceeding without consenting to jurisdiction of the court:
A “special appearance” is made by a party when he or his attorney seeks to obtain from the court an order vacating some proceeding which, it is insisted, has been undertaken by the adverse party in an unauthorized manner; such an appearance being thus limited to prevent conferring jurisdiction of the person. Again, Ms. Conner’s thoughts:
…” The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the judge’s point was the last couple of pages that says Terri Horman’s lawyers cannot make any motion without appearing. This is to say that a special appearance allows a challenge as to the validity of a specific action, but it does not otherwise allow an attorney (nor a party) to file other types of motions or to seek other relief, as was done here.
The abatement that the attorneys sought would act as a protective order. Abatement is not a challenge to the propriety nor validity of the underlying action. As such, Terri Horman’s lawyers needed to appear before filing a motion as to the issue of abatement. ..”
Judge Kantor chose the teamwork approach in an adversarial proceeding, and instructed Terri Horman’s counsel they will need to file an appearance. He attempts to present the case’s challenges to both sides and seeks input as to how best to protect the rights of the defendant, in pertinent part:
The court does not have any particular length of time for this delay in mind at this juncture. lnstead, the court would like the parties and their lawyers to consult and confer about the following and then report back:
1. Should the court require the defendant to file an answer to the complaint which admits or denies the plaintiffs allegations or simply allow the defendant to litigate as if she denied those allegations? If so, by when and for how long?
2. Should the plaintiff be required to establish “reasonable suspicion” or “probable cause” (as defined in criminal cases) that the defendant has done what is alleged through other evidence before the defendant is required to answer oral or written deposition questions under oath?
3. Should the plaintiff be required to serve written deposition questions, which would be subject to court review upon proper motion, and review the answers before taking the defendant’s oral deposition?
Once the court has the parties’ answers to these questions, I will meet with the lawyers to form a schedule and plan for this case. Further briefing and hearings may be required as well.
Defacto Suspect Is Defacto Parent?
History is rife with hellacious stories of parents killing their own children, their own families, and ones parent status should not be considered a reason to exclude anyone. In fact, as we all know, it is 90% more likely that Kyron disappeared due to the actions of a parent or family member and all law enforcement investigators begin a parallel investigation of all with access or motive, from the start.
A hypotenuse only exists within a right triangle. This case is anything but.
Horman, through her attorneys has already certified she will protect her right not to incriminate herself and considering one of the remedies Ms. Young is seeking is that she does just that- who chaired the risk vs. reward strategy meeting in this case in its current form?
In Horman’s favor, Oregon law is one of few in the country that specifies that a jury cannot take the fact that she pleads the fifth and ostensibly cannot or is very limited in her ability to defend her case into its deliberation considerations.
Has Desiree Young been appropriately prepared for the litany of possibilities that might arise out of this filing?
Like, say, a counter suit or an effective defense resulting in a dismissal with prejudice? An award for Horman’s attorney fees ?
For the record, for those of you cringing while reading that remark, I cringed at writing it. (more…)
Evansdale, Iowa- Lyric Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins have been missing from what their Grandmother Wylma Cook described as “within her view from the home” for over one week. Myers Lake, approximately a 27 acre body of water surrounded by a Nature bike trail which yielded the tweens bikes and purse, has been cleared after consultation with the Elite FBI CSI dive team.
Courtesy WH8T
On July 12th, the day before the girls disappeared, Daniel Morrissey was due to enter a guilty plea in a pending Federal drug arrest. Instead, he requested the matter be scheduled/reset for trial. In response, prosecutors swiftly requested the court place Morrissey under appropriate pre-trial supervision for his alleged crimes.
On Thursday, prosecutors with the Black Hawk County Attorney’s Office asked a judge to review Morrissey’s release, pointing out that Iowa Code state people charged with conspiracy to manufacture meth being a second offender — one of the charges Morrissey is facing — shall be under supervision as a condition of their release.
Occurring almost simultaneously to Morrissey’s plea filing which he did not attend personally, a Black Hawk county prisoner broke out of jail, robbed a pharmacy and was on the lam for over 18 hours.
Jeremy Alan Mask, fond of controlled substances which led to his arrests is now in custody and additional charges related to the escape were filed against Mask the following day. Mask was sentenced to a residential treatment center following a burglary of a Walgreens last April.
Are the incidents connected? Investigators are not talking. Except to say they now have video footage of the girls at about the time they were both seen. No mention as to whether or not the girls were on their bikes.
Investigators may be tight lipped- But they ARE acting.
Yesterday Black Hawk County detectives revised a no contact order barring Dan Morrissey from being near his wife Misty- although they have appeared together and have been living together for weeks- following a domestic violence assault which landed both Dan and Misty back in prison last August.
As reported exclusively last week on www.blinkoncrime.com, Dan Morrissey for the assault and Misty Cook-Morrissey for extensive probation/parole violations.
The pair are now permitted to be in each other’s company, provided LE agents are as well.
Misty Cook Morrissey’s sister Tammy Brossueau has confirmed that detectives have directly confronted Dan Morrissey with information they developed pointing to him as a suspect and as a result the estranged couple have refused to cooperate further in the investigation to locate their daughter and her cousin Elizabeth.
Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office Captain Rick Abben officially declared the case an abduction at a 4 PM press conference yesterday afternoon.
Abben also announced a $50,000 reward is being offered leading to the person or persons responsible for the disappearance of the girls. He confirmed said evidence has been seized in the investigation and sent to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation crime lab in Des Moines. While he would not comment on the evidence specifically, sources inside the investigation speaking on the condition of anonymity to www.blinkoncrime.com have confirmed that items from the home including a computer and other electronic devices are among the listed property inventory.
Missing since Friday July 13th from right outside the Lederal Safety Shoe shop since about 12:15 PM, Lyric Morrissey, 11, and her cousin Elizabeth Collins, 8 are the subject of an exhaustive air and foot search for the third day.
Both girls bikes were found 2 miles away from where they were last seen at Meyers Lake next to route 27. About 20 yards away, the bag and cell phone of one of the girls was also located.
Misty Morrissey, mother of Lyric, believes the girls have been abducted.
Investigators are stumped and frustrated they have not found any sign of Lyric and Elizabeth whatsoever and compared the disappearance to” vanishing into thin air”.
Heather Collins, Elizabeth’s mother, is Misty Morrissey’s sister. Lyric Morrissey also has a brother, Dillin.
As with any alleged abduction, family becomes the initial focus of investigators in an effort to rule them out.
Daniel Eugene Morrissey, Lyric’s father and Elizabeth’s former Uncle by marriage, has had a very long and varied criminal past.
While it is of course not known if Mr. Morrissey has had any recent contact with his daughter, court records show that he was investigated for a dismissed domestic abuse battery with a weapon /mental illness charge less than one year ago.
He has been in and out of the corrections system since as early as 1997.
