A 22-year-old mother from Missouri, United States, has avoided a prison sentence after pleading guilty to abusing her infant son, including filming herself suffocating him. Emma Rigdon recorded two videos of herself covering the boy's nose and mouth with her hand and a blanket, causing him to struggle to breathe. She sent the footage to a friend, boasting that the abuse gave her an 'adrenaline rush' and made her 'feel happy'.
According to court documents, Rigdon also pinched and slapped the boy's leg, making him cry. In text messages to a friend, she wrote: 'I be stopping right before he dies. Last time he was blue.' Another message read: '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 infant survived the abuse, which occurred in April 2024.
Rigdon pleaded guilty to two counts of abuse or neglect of a child and was sentenced to five years for each count, to run concurrently. However, a judge suspended the prison sentence and gave her credit for more than 600 days already served. As part of her plea deal, she must complete anger management classes, have no contact with the victim, and serve three years of probation.
