A Missouri woman has avoided prison time after pleading guilty to child abuse Friday.
During a hearing at the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri, in St. Louis, 22-year-old Emily Rigdon pleaded guilty to two counts of abuse or neglect of a child. A judge sentenced to five years behind bars on each count, with sentencing to run concurrently.
However, the judge gave her credit served for 600 days in jail, and suspended the prison sentence, Law&Crime reports; she’ll have to serve three years of probation and complete anger management.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, the incident happened in April 2024 at a St. Louis residence, as Rigdon filmed the incident and sent it to a friend. She put her hand and a blanket over the baby’s face, causing him to cry to pull at the blanket.
“IDK when I do that, I feel happy like adrenalin rush. 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 wrote in a text.
She later recorded a second video, doing the same thing. The footage showed the baby “vigorously grab at the blanket.”
Ridgon’s son was under six months old at the time, and there was an active restraining order against his father. The infant survived, but it’s currently unclear who is caring for him.
Rigdon’s lawyer previously revealed in court that her borderline personality disorder had been exacerbated by postpartum depression.
No other reason has been provided as to why she harmed the child.
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[Feature Photo: Emma Rigdon/City Justice Center]