Inset: Emma Rigdon (St. Louis Justice Center). Background: The 1200 block of Warren Street in St. Louis, Missouri, where Rigdon smothered her son (Google Maps).
A Missouri mother is avoiding spending more time behind bars for recording herself smothering her infant son with her hand and a blanket, telling her friend that doing so made her feel happy and gave her an "adrenaline rush."
Emma Rigdon, 22, on Friday pleaded guilty to two counts of abuse or neglect of a child. She was sentenced to five years in prison for each count, which will run concurrently, records show. But a judge suspended the prison sentence and gave her credit for the more than 600 days she's spent in jail. As part of her conditions of the plea deal, she is unable to contact the victim. She also must take an anger management class.
She'll be on probation for another three years following her suspended sentence.
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As Law&Crime previously reported, the crimes occurred April 15, 2024, at a home in the 1200 block of Warren Street in St. Louis.
A probable cause statement said Rigdon pinched and slapped the boy's leg, which made him cry, cops said. Rigdon recorded herself putting her hand over the boy's nose and mouth, causing him to have "difficulty in breathing and to flail his arms and legs," the affidavit stated. She then sent the video to a friend saying in a text message "IDK when I do that I feel happy like adrenaline rush."
She then made a second video in which she placed a blanket over his facing which made the boy cry and "vigorously grab at the blanket." Rigdon sent that video to a friend as well, cops wrote.
In a text message to her friend she said "I be stopping right before he dies. Last time he was blue." Another message said: "I really wanna kill him but I don't want to go to jail so. It's unfortunate. He's just gonna have to pay for his existence."
The boy survived his injuries although the court papers do not say who is now taking care of him. Cops also did not list a reason why she was apparently trying to hurt the boy.
