A suburban neighborhood in the city of Westminster, Colorado is where we find ourselves today, home to Jessica Ridgeway, who lived with her mom, grandma, and aunt. Born to Sarah and Jeremiah, 10-year-old Jessica was in the fifth grade at Witt Elementary School. Her parents hadn’t been together for years and her dad lived in Missouri, and despite some issues with child support and custody, she had a great relationship with both of them. Her teachers described her as a joyous, smiley girl, always helpful and always kind, someone that was the first to put her hand up or start a conversation to make a new friend. Genuinely a model student who loved learning, she often made up her own dance routines and songs. She loved animals and watching TV shows like “Victorious” and “Wizards of Waverly Place.” She was full of enthusiasm, gave anything a go, and would keep trying until she picked things up. She was an exuberant child and she was always cheerful, her grandma said.
On the snowy, cold morning of October the 5th, 2012, Jessica was up at 7:45 sharp. She had asked her mom for an alarm clock so she could start getting up on her own and being more independent. She watched TV, ate her granola bar, got changed, then peeled an orange with her mom to take to school. Bundled up in her thick coat, she said goodbye and left her house on foot.
She would be meeting her friends along the way in their usual spot at Chelsea Park, just a 5-minute walk away from her street, and then they would carry on to school.
But she didn’t turn up, and her friends had to carry on before they missed the bell. Jessica was never late and never took a day off; she loved school. So when it got to 10:00 a.m. and there was still no sign of her, the teachers called Sarah. But Sarah worked a 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift, and after seeing her daughter off, she had gone to sleep and didn’t hear her phone. The school left a voicemail, which at 4:30 p.m. Sarah finally heard. There had to be a mistake, she thought. She drove past the park, went to the school, and a few of her friends’ houses, but no sign of Jessica anywhere and no one had seen her. She called Westminster police.
“My daughter’s missing.”
“Missing.”
“Um, I guess she never made it to school this morning.”
“How old?”
“She’s 10.”
“Okay, what’s your daughter’s name?”
“Jessica Ridgeway.”
“And then you get a pit in your stomach you don’t want any parent to experience in their entire life, and you know your child has been taken,” she said. By 9:15 p.m., the investigators believed they had enough information to suspect Jessica had been abducted, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert.
“I want to show you this little girl’s picture, Jessica Ridgeway. She never made it to school, and right away the school called the little girl’s mother. The mom works nights so she didn’t get the message until much later in the day, and that’s what’s bringing us to where we are right now. A massive search taking place right now. Police along with the CBI have issued an Amber Alert and the reason is this: it’s because of the amount of time that has passed since she was last seen. At least 50 police officers including the FBI are searching right now. When we start with an 8-hour delay, or a delay as substantial as this, the distance that she could have wandered, even on her own, just gets huge.”
“Police say Jessica’s father who lives out of state is in a custody battle with Jessica’s mother. They do not believe Jessica is with him but are not ruling anyone out. We don’t have a person of interest and we’re going to look at every angle. Nothing like this has really ever happened, like it’s always surprising when something happens here.”
“So as you can hear from that interview, this is a very serious situation. Normally Jessica meets some friends at a park, which is just about three blocks from her home, then the entire group walks to Witt Elementary. The girls that she usually walks with have been interviewed. They did not see her today, but at such a young age, at 10 years old, they just did not think much of it.”
“Again, we do want to show the picture of Jessica Ridgeway, 10 years old, 4’10” in height with shoulder-length blonde hair. She has blue eyes. She is wearing a winter jacket, I’m told a black puffy jacket, but with weather like this, it’s still of concern. Again, search is taking place across Westminster. In fact, if you are concerned and would like to help, you can come here to the Westview Recreation Center. We’re at the intersection of 108th and Oak, again in Westminster.”
But it was now dark and freezing cold, so it would be a long night. Firefighters used thermal imaging equipment to see through the darkness and set up lights that illuminated Chelsea Park. Police wanted a helicopter that had night vision, but it was too cold to fly without the blades icing up.
“We’re using every resource we have. We’re trying to use air or helicopters that have equipment that can search in the dark. Unfortunately, the weather has grounded those, so we’re not able to use that tool. We’ve brought our fire department in who has equipment that sees in the dark, thermal imaging equipment, so they’re out searching with that.”
Over 400 faculty and every parent that has a student attending Witt Elementary has received the notification that Jessica is missing. When the sun comes up, police say they will be bringing in even more people to help search for Jessica. They’re also hoping for a break in the weather so they can get helicopters up to search from the sky. By 2:00 a.m., authorities told volunteers to go home and come back later in the morning. Westminster police set up their command center and asked for search volunteers to support; there was definitely no shortage of people.
Officers were searching homes and gardens as well as huge open spaces like creeks and forest areas. They talked to a huge number of people, taking 700 DNA samples. They had guards stationed at crosswalks and photographed cars coming into and leaving the neighborhood. Most mailboxes and trees were wrapped in ribbons, and Jessica’s favorite color, purple. On her desk, they found Jessica’s notebook with some homework in there. On one page, she had written, “Do not play at the park alone and watch out for strangers.” She was very wary and always careful, so either she had been lured by someone that she knew and trusted, or she had been snatched without warning. But approaching or engaging with someone she didn’t know did not seem likely. The police station soon needed more resources and the FBI got involved too, along with 12 different agencies. Soon more than 1,000 people were following up on more than 4,000 tips. 4 days after she went missing, her family left the house for the first time in order to make a statement to the media. They hadn’t been able to face leaving home up until this point, but they had cooperated fully.
“And Mike, the FBI mobile evidence response team unit, they were inside this home much of the afternoon for about 2 hours. They’ve since left, but they first arrived not even 10 minutes after the Ridgeway family left the home. This FBI evidence response team on standby, soon putting on gloves, covering their shoes, then walking in the…”
And this park has just been transformed here. Everywhere you look there are hints of Jessica, from the purple that is speckled throughout the park to this dragonfly teeter-totter, which we’re told represents a school project she was particularly fond of that she was working on at the time of her disappearance. The way Jessica’s community still remembers and celebrates her young life is truly special, with something going on all the time it seems. A memorial playground was built, which included a 40ft custom track ride, imprinted knock-knock jokes from her classmates, a custom-designed ribbon swing set, and everything in purple, of course.
There was also work done with the Lassie Project; it’s a free service that gives parents and guardians the ability to notify an entire local community about their child being missing within seconds. The Jessica Ridgeway Cheer Camp was also set up as this was the thing she was most excited to be when she was old enough. She said to her mom that she promised to be a cheerleader who will be kind to everyone.
5 years after she lost her daughter, Sarah welcomed a baby girl, Anna. The reminders of her are everywhere. Lots of purple, her sweet 10-year-old smile, her pictures everywhere, her favorite color.
“We all still wear purple. Purple’s everywhere in our house. I think she makes her presence known,” that’s how Sarah Pendell Ridgeway and her family remember Jessica.
“We still talk about her, you know. It’s, you know, she still exists for us.”
“Yes, it’s hard, and it’s the hardest thing that anybody could possibly do is to move forward. I need to remember who she was and who I would have hoped she would have become, and know that I need to keep moving forward.”
“Oh, she was born October 15th, Anna Christine Pendell Ridgeway. Her and her sister share the same middle name, and then her eyes are blue—different blue than Jessica’s—but they’re blue. She loves her hands; they’re her favorite thing in the whole wide world.”
“I think Jessica would be enamored. She’s very much ever-present. We talk to Jessica, and I think she kind of turns her head, it looks like she’s talking to somebody over in the distance, so I think her sister definitely comes and visits and leaves her little sparkly way around.”
And mom and grandma say they’ll tell Anna all about Jessica’s sparkle as soon as she’s old enough.
“I’m mostly going to say that, you know, she has a big sister that left before she was born.”
They want to raise her without fear.
“I’m going to try not to let what happened overshadow… overshadow how I raise Anna, because I don’t want her to be smothered a little bit. I want her to be able to have her own little life. It never… she’s not replaced. She’s just expanded.”
“No, she definitely has an extra special angel watching over her,” she said. She knew Jessica would have been the best big sister, but she looks over her now in a different way.
Jessica’s story is as heartbreaking as they come. The thought of her last moments of childlike wonderment, doing what every 10-year-old should be able to do: play in the snow, meet her friends, have another good day at school, and come back ready to tell everyone all about her day. In a split second, everything had changed, and that purity and innocence would be snatched away. The Ridgeways are much the same as anyone else in their position; take it day by day. Sarah described Jessica’s murder as like a plate shattering, and that one piece that gets lost somewhere, you can glue it as best you can, but the cracks still show and it’s just not ever the same again. She said you can’t quite put it back together correctly and completely.
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
