Teen suspect in Colo. girl killing to enter plea

March 12, 2013 at 12:27p.m.

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) — The teen suspect accused of kidnapping, killing and dismembering a 10-year-old Colorado girl told police he wants to plead guilty. And today a community sent into a panic over the crime will see if that’s what he does, or if he’ll ask for a trial despite his alleged confession and the discovery of some of the girl’s remains at the home he shared with his mother.

Austin Sigg is charged with murder, kidnapping and sexual assault in the Oct. 5 disappearance and slaying of Jessica Ridgeway in the Denver suburb of Westminster. The case led parents and school officials to take extraordinary precautions to keep children safe, and residents were encouraged to report suspicious behavior by neighbors.

Sigg, who turned 18 in January, cannot face the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the slaying. He faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years if convicted. Investigators have testified that Sigg told them he wanted to plead guilty.

While investigators testified that Sigg confessed to strangling Jessica and then dismembering her body in a bathtub, he vehemently denied sexually assaulting her, and investigators testified they found no semen on Jessica’s body.

It’s unclear whether prosecutors will drop the sexual assault charges in exchange for a guilty plea to murder in order to avoid a prolonged trial. Prosecutors added the sexual assault charges because authorities said they found child pornography during the investigation.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys won’t comment on whether Sigg will plead guilty to all or some of the charges because a judge has issued a gag order in the case.