Prosecutor: Teen confessed to Jessica Ridgeway killing

• Jessica disappeared on her way to school Oct. 5
• Her body was found five days later
• Suspect is a student at Arapahoe Community College

GOLDEN, Colo. -- Prosecutors say a Colorado teenager has confessed to the abduction and killing of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway and a related attack on a jogger that eventually led to his arrest.

Authorities also said at a court hearing Thursday for 17-year-old Austin Reed Sigg that they have "overwhelming" DNA evidence against the suspect, who kept his head bowed for much of his time in court and said very little.

Jessica disappeared while on her way to school Oct. 5. Her body, described by police as "not intact," was found five days later in an area of abandoned mines in Arvada.

Sigg spoke occasionally with his lawyer and at one point made eye contact at one point with relatives of Ridgeway, who were in the courtroom wearing purple ribbons in the girl's memory, the Associated Press reports.

As soon as Sigg, sporting a goatee and a mohawk, was brought into the courtroom, one of his family members began to sob.

During the hearing, his public defenders kept referring to Sigg, who is being held at Mount View Youth Services Center, as a "child."

The suspect, who will be formally charged in adult court on Oct. 30, is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, felony murder and kidnapping in Jessica's case and faces charges of a criminal attempt to kidnap and murder in the attack on a jogger at Ketner Lake.

Sigg, a student at Arapahoe Community College, was arrested Tuesday evening at his home about a mile and a half from Ridgeway's home in Westminster, Colo.

KUSA-TV reports that police say they found partial remains of the 10-year-old during a search of Sigg's home on Wednesday. I

The Post quotes longtime friends of the suspect as describing him as sweet and "very smart."

If convicted of murder, Sigg would not face the death penalty because of his age.

KCTV reported that this legal reality disappoints Jessica's paternal family, who live in Independence, Mo.

"I think it's all I've got within me not to just want to just burn him, and I mean burn him," Jessica's great-grandmother, Donna Moss, told KCTV Wednesday evening. "I meant literally lit him on fire. Send him to hell in a blaze of glory."

Police in the Denver suburb of Westminster said they took Sigg into custody on Tuesday night after receiving a phone call, apparently from his mother, that led them to the suspect.

Reached by phone, Sigg's mother told the AP that he turned himself in.

"I made the phone call, and he turned himself in. That's all I have to say," said Mindy Sigg, before she broke down in tears and hung up.

Authorities said Sigg also will face charges in the May 28 attempted kidnapping of a 22-year-old runner at the Ketner Lake Open Space.

Police have said the two crimes are connected but haven't elaborated.

In the May case, a woman fought off a stranger who grabbed her from behind and put a rag that smelled of chemicals over her mouth, authorities said. Police haven't determined if the substance on the rag was meant to subdue
the woman.