ST. LOUIS, MO – A 22-year-old St. Louis woman will not be serving any prison time after pleading guilty to two counts of abuse/neglect of a child in connection to the woman recording herself suffocating her baby and reportedly describing the act as an “adrenaline rush.”
In April of 2024, a then-20-year-old Emma Rigdon was charged with child abuse after investigators learned of videos she apparently recorded of herself pinching and slapping her infant son, with her then smothering the infant’s nose and mouth with a blanket when he began to cry.
In the videos obtained by authorities, the infant could reportedly be seen flailing his arms and legs while being smothered by Rigdon. The woman apparently shared these videos with an acquaintance via text, with accompanying messages where she expressed excitement over suffocating her son to the point where he turned “blue.”
“IDK when I do that, I feel happy like adrenalin rush,” Rigdon reportedly wrote in a text message accompanying her abuse videos, adding, “I be stopping right before he dies. Last time, he was blue. 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.”
Rigdon, who has been held in custody since her April 2024 arrest, learned her fate in court earlier in December after pleading guilty to two counts of abuse/neglect of a child. During a December 12th hearing at the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri, a judge handed down two five-year sentences for each count of abuse, with the sentences to run concurrently. However, after giving Rigdon approximately 600 days credit for time already served, the judge suspended her remaining sentence, meaning Rigdon won’t see a day in prison.
Despite expressing excitement at the idea of nearly murdering her own child, Rigdon will only have to serve approximately three years of probation and take anger management courses. One of the conditions of her probation is that she not have contact with the young victim in the case.
It’s unclear who currently has custody of Rigdon’s child, as she reportedly had an active restraining order against the child’s father at the time of the abusive videos being recorded.
In April of 2024, a then-20-year-old Emma Rigdon was charged with child abuse after investigators learned of videos she apparently recorded of herself pinching and slapping her infant son, with her then smothering the infant’s nose and mouth with a blanket when he began to cry.
In the videos obtained by authorities, the infant could reportedly be seen flailing his arms and legs while being smothered by Rigdon. The woman apparently shared these videos with an acquaintance via text, with accompanying messages where she expressed excitement over suffocating her son to the point where he turned “blue.”
“IDK when I do that, I feel happy like adrenalin rush,” Rigdon reportedly wrote in a text message accompanying her abuse videos, adding, “I be stopping right before he dies. Last time, he was blue. 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.”
Rigdon, who has been held in custody since her April 2024 arrest, learned her fate in court earlier in December after pleading guilty to two counts of abuse/neglect of a child. During a December 12th hearing at the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri, a judge handed down two five-year sentences for each count of abuse, with the sentences to run concurrently. However, after giving Rigdon approximately 600 days credit for time already served, the judge suspended her remaining sentence, meaning Rigdon won’t see a day in prison.
Despite expressing excitement at the idea of nearly murdering her own child, Rigdon will only have to serve approximately three years of probation and take anger management courses. One of the conditions of her probation is that she not have contact with the young victim in the case.
It’s unclear who currently has custody of Rigdon’s child, as she reportedly had an active restraining order against the child’s father at the time of the abusive videos being recorded.
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