Man gets life sentence in death of girlfriend

By Ed Runyan

The defendant killed the woman with a hammer.

WARREN — Dozens of family members of Tricia W. Wade listened as the woman’s mother and brother told the court of the devastating loss they feel.

Nathan Riggs bludgeoned to death the 31-year-old Vernon Township woman in the garage of her home last June.

Joey Wade, the victim’s 30-year-old brother, told Judge Andrew Logan in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court that he was advised he had to speak to the judge, not to Riggs, 27, who stood about 30 feet away in handcuffs.

Wade said he wants everyone to know how much he misses Tricia, a mother of four.

“She was always there” no matter how much trouble he was in, Wade said at Friday’s hearing.

“And I don’t have that anymore,” he said as his voice cracked with emotion.

Just before he stepped away from the front of the courtroom, Wade finally uttered the other thing he so desperately wanted to say:

“And I just want to let her know that I love her and I hate him.” He emphasized the final word in an unmistakable tone.

He returned to his seat in the back of the courtroom, but a short time later, while the judge delivered Riggs’ sentence, he walked out, screaming as he descended the stairs and left the courthouse.

Riggs, who was the live-in boyfriend of Tricia Wade at her home on Bushnell- Campbell Road at the time of the June 27 murder, received a life prison sentence with eligibility of parole after 20 years.

Chris Becker, an assistant county prosecutor, said he doesn’t think Riggs will ever get released from prison.

Earlier in the hearing, Riggs pleaded guilty to all of the charges against him — aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse.

After hitting Tricia Wade numerous times in the head with a hammer and killing her in a fit of rage, Riggs drank a beer, then hit her in the arm with a heavy, steel bar, Becker said.

Riggs confessed on a 911 tape to killing Wade. He later told police the couple had been arguing for a couple weeks, including that night at a tavern in Mecca. They returned home and argued some more before the attack, Becker said.

After the hearing, Kathy Miller, the victim’s mother, said she hopes her daughter’s death sends a message to couples in a similar predicament.

“If you’re in a relationship and can’t take it anymore, just leave — whether you’re a man or a woman,” she said.

She said she talked to her daughter several weeks before the murder, and there was no indication anything was wrong between them.

Miller also read a statement to Judge Logan during the hearing. She spoke of things she thought her daughter would say if she were alive.

“Nathan Riggs not only robbed me of my life. He also robbed the hopes and dreams of me being on this planet with my four children, my brother, my dad, my mom and all the others whom I loved and also love me,” she said.

She listed events the children have experienced or will experience without their mother: Derrick Moore, 14, making a touchdown last fall; Kaitlynn Moore, 13, getting married some day; and ordinary things like having birthdays with Dylan Moore, 10, and Devin Moore, 9. The children live with their maternal grandfather, Joseph Wade, in Vernon.

When Riggs spoke to Judge Logan, he said he was sorry. “Things got of hand that night,” he said.

Riggs originally pleaded innocent by reason of insanity but was found competent to stand trial. His attorney, Anthony Consoldane of the Ohio Public Defender’s Office, has said Riggs suffered brain damage at age 2 from having drowned and subsequently revived.

runyan@vindy.com