Police charge Austin Sigg with sexual assault in Jessica Ridgeway case
Prosecutors said Wednesday they have filed an additional sexual assault charge against a teen accused of kidnapping and killing a 10-year-old Colorado girl.
Austin Sigg
The additional charge and a sentence enhancing charge of a crime of violence alleges that 17-year-old Austin Sigg used physical force and threats to sexually assault 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway.
Prosecutors also edited some language in charges previously filed in Jessica’s disappearance and slaying October 5 and added a charge of “Crime of Violence.”
Ridgeway was abducted as she walked to school in the Denver suburb of Westminster. Sigg is also accused of attacking a 22-year-old jogger in the same neighborhood who escaped and provided clues which led to Sigg’s arrest.
Also during the hearing on Wednesday, District Court Chief Judge Stephen Munsinger said he would bar the public and the media from a preliminary hearing for Sigg, saying he wanted to avoid influencing any potential jurors if Sigg’s case goes to trial. Sigg’s public defender, Mitchell Ahnstedt, argued for closing the Feb. 22 hearing because of “massive and pervasive” media coverage of the case.
Sigg was arrested on October 23 after his mother turned him over to authorities.
Check out The Global Dispatch Facebook page here
Follow The Global Dispatch on Twitter here
