Thanks to St. Louis law enforcement obtaining text messages sent by a woman residing at a shelter for homeless mothers, an infant's life may have very well been saved.
Police say that Emma Rigdon, 20, who was staying at a shelter in Old North St. Louis, filmed herself on her phone abusing the young male child. Rigdon allegedly pinched and slapped the baby's leg and then placed her hand over his nose and mouth, presumably to cause intentional difficulty breathing.
The baby is shown on the video beginning to "flail his arms and legs," a police probable cause statement says.
Police say Rigdon texted someone about the abuse of the infant: "He's just gonna have to pay for his existence."
In a second video, Rigdon allegedly put a blanket over the baby and filmed him as he cried and grabbed vigorously at it. She sent that video to an acquaintance as well.
"IDK when I do that, I feel happy like adrenalin rush," she wrote in a text along with the video. "I be stopping right before he dies. Last time he was blue."
She added: "I really wanna kill him but I don't want to go to jail so. It's unfortunate."
The abuse allegedly occurred Monday, police obtained the videos, and Rigdon was charged yesterday with two counts of felony child abuse. She is currently in the St. Louis City Justice Center and has a bond hearing this afternoon.
UPDATE: Rigdon was denied bond at this afternoon's hearing, with St. Louis Circuit Judge Catherine Dierker citing what she called the egregious nature of the "repeated torture" described in the charging documents as well as concerns not just for Rigdon's son but any other children the 20-year-old may come into contact with if she were released from jail.
Prosecutors also expressed alarm at Rigdon having apparently "felt happy and felt joy" during the assault as a reason she should remain locked up.
The infant is less than six months old and is currently in the hospital receiving medical care. Because of a restraining order already in place against the child's father, the baby will likely later be put into state custody.
Rigdon's attorney for the hearing, Charles Barberio, conceded that the charging documents filed against Rigdon "don't read well," but that there were other factors at play as well. He cited Rigdon's history of mental health diagnoses, including borderline personality disorder, that at the time of the alleged crime were exacerbated by postpartum depression. "That is probably the backstory of how we got to this probable cause statement," he said, referring to the court document detailing the allegations she's now facing.
Barberio also said there was a host of prescription medications Rigdon takes for those mental health ailments, which he said he doubted she was getting in the city jail.
Rigdon only made the briefest of utterances at the hearing, correcting a prosecutor when he accidentally referred to the infant male as "she."
or follow on Twitter at @RyanWKrull.
Subscribe to Riverfront Times newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
