March 13, 2025 • 41 mins
In 1997, Christina Marie Riggs, a single mother from Arkansas, made a decision that would shock the nation. Struggling with depression and financial hardship, she convinced herself that there was only one way out—for her and her children. What followed was an unspeakable tragedy that left her two innocent children dead and a community searching for answers.In this Early Release episode, available exclusively to our Apple and Patreon subscribers, we take a deep dive into the heartbreaking case of Christina Riggs—what led her to commit the unthinkable, her shocking confession, and the legal battle that ended with her becoming the first woman executed in Arkansas in over 150 years.🎧 Listen now before the episode is released to the public.Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of filicide, mental illness, and execution. Listener discretion is strongly advised.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
This episode maintained content of a graphic nature, including descriptions
of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hi, I'm Shannon. Hi I'm Tanya, and we are Crimes
and Consequences, a hardcore true crime podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Ain't Shannon, Hey Tanya?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I I love that dubious glee that I hear in
your tone. Yeah, and that's right. I did use dubious
glee lexicon lexicon adam. Oh, but I get it, girl.
It's been a cold day and it's Sunday to start
(01:09):
the new week. I love a Monday. I don't mind Mondays.
What about you? Oh I hate Mondays?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well, actually I hate Sundays because tomorrow is Monday, and
I feel like, you know, it's just the coming down
from the weekend and you know whatever. But I had
a really great Sunday, so I can't complain. I like
a Sunday where I can sleep in a little bit
but then also get some stuff done and then still
also have time to myself. I know it's a la
(01:35):
on a Sunday, but yeah, my Sunday's been great, so
I can't complain. And I am looking forward to going
back to work tomorrow. I guess I'd have a shit
ton of stuff to do, so at least I'm busy
in the day will go by and that'll be that.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So yeah, and then Monday, I'll have another one down
in the books. Yeah. What do you got for us? Uh? Well,
I got a story that you may or may not
have heard. This happened before the turn of the century,
nineteen ninety eight, and it involves a woman. Her name
is Christine Marie Riggs. She was born Thomas so Christine
(02:13):
Marie Riggs. She was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, on September two,
nineteen seventy one. So that makes her virgo correct. I
believe hergo. She had a pretty rough childhood, Christina did.
She grew up in Oklahoma City. According to records, she
had two sisters named Rosanna and Elizabeth, and her parents
(02:36):
they separated when Christina was really young. She stayed with
her mother, Carol, who was living with a man who
had a son of his own. Christina said that between
the ages of seven and thirteen, however, she was sexually
assaulted by her stepbrother, and when she was thirteen, she
said she was also sexually assaulted by her neighbor so
(03:00):
around nineteen eighty five, when she was fourteen years old,
that's when Christina she began drinking and smoking cigarettes and weed.
Throughout her high school years, she was bullied for being overweight.
She always thought that she would never have a boyfriend
due to the way she looked. You know how it
is in high school, you just think you're not ready
(03:21):
to be on the cover of Vogue and a size zero.
What's you're worth right right now? Terrible? She became quite promiscuous,
sleeping with anyone who gave her attention or wanted to
have sex with her, and that's you know, that's just
sad to look at yourself that way. She later stated
(03:43):
that she thought this was the only way she could
ever get a boyfriend, and she never knew if she
would ever get another chance. And that's that's how low
her self esteem was. In January of nineteen eighty eight,
she had become pregnant with a baby boy, who she
gave up for a SIP because she was sixteen at
the time. Now, she did finish her schooling, graduating high school,
(04:06):
and she became a licensed practical nurse in LPN, but
this line of work would eventually be your downfall. She
worked a part time job as a home care nurse,
and she would work a full time job in the
Veteran Affairs hospital system. Hey, that's where I go throughout
the gyptandle down the VA Hospital in Detroit. These types
(04:29):
of hospitals provide health care for vets, which include mental health,
primary care, and health assistants for their loved ones. Shortly after,
she began a relationship with a man named Timothy Thompson,
who was stationed at Tinker Air Force Base located in
Oklahoma City. In October of nineteen eighty one, Christina became
(04:51):
pregnant again with her son Justine. Oh, I'm sorry, thank you, No,
this was we weregressed. We had the first child eighty eight.
Then when he went back to a minute, okay, yep.
This was October of ninety one. So Christina told Timothy
about her pregnancy the day before. He was discharged from
the Air Force and didn't want to accept the baby
(05:13):
as his own. He didn't, so he then moved back
to his hometown in Minnesota. Timothy later said that Chrissy's
luck with men was about zero to nothing. I think
he just wasn't attached to Christina in that way that
Christina wanted a relationship, and when she found out she
(05:33):
was pregnant, he really didn't care enough about her to
be there for her or the baby when he was born. Now,
after giving birth to her son, Justin on June seventh,
nineteen ninety two, so he's a Jenini, Christina got back
in touch with a previous boyfriend, a sailor named John Riggs,
(05:54):
who was back home on leave. The two became romantically
involved again, and she eventually moved in with him and
brought along her little boy. According to Christina, their rekindled
romance was great, and since he felt the baby's first
kick when Justin sounds like that she may have been
(06:15):
seeing Justin's dad and mister Riggs here. So John knew
about Justin even though it wasn't his son, and he
was the first to feel the baby kick. He was
the father of the baby as far as he was concerned.
He was the father of Justin, and he took care
of Justin and stepped up as his father even though
(06:36):
he wasn't biologically the dad. All that's nice, Yeah, that
is really nice. Now. In July of nineteen ninety three,
she and John were married. Christina became pregnant again, and
in December of nineteen ninety four, she gave birth to
a daughter named Shelby Alexis and Justin referred to her
(06:58):
as Sissy, as did the rest of the family. What
a great nickname, yeat cute. Christina and John were both
so astatic when she was born, and the two of
them cried happy tears together. Christina said, we were so happy.
She was so beautiful. I didn't think things could get
any better. John cried. I cried. There was so much love,
(07:21):
so much love for her and the way he looked
at her. The birth of their daughter brought Christina out
of her depressive state. She suffered from depression, but the
happiness died down, and depression was right there to rear
its ugly head. Justin and Shall be adorable children. A
(07:43):
few months later, Christina packed up her kids with John
and they moved to Sherwood, Arkansas. That's how I call
Arkansas because I spell it. When I'm spelling Arkansas, I'm
with Arkansas. They moved to Sherwood, Arkansas, so that she
could be closer to her mom and to get as
(08:03):
much help as she could raising her two young children.
Now she was able to find a job at Baptist
Hospital in Oklahoma City. John ended up separating from Christina,
Justin and Shelby, however, and once their divorce was finalized,
the three of them were basically left to fend for themselves,
(08:24):
with child support coming from John irregularly. Now. The two
broke up after Christina accused John of punching Justin in
the stomach. John always denied that accusation and it was
never proven. I'm not saying either way, I'm just saying
that was the cause of their the beginning of their
(08:45):
and around this time, Christina was working as a nurse,
but she found herself drowning in debt when she couldn't
make ends meet with how much she was making and
trying to feed two rapidly growing kids. As a car
payment and Duran's bills were coming in along with all
of her other bills. She fell back into a depression
(09:06):
and was desperate to get out of the situation altogether,
no matter what the cost and who she would have
to hurt along the way. According to reports, she would
drop off her kids at daycare so that she could
work long shift at the hospital, but the cost of
daycare was too costly for her to keep up with.
In nineteen ninety seven, Christina would come up with a
(09:28):
plan to end it all. On her last day of
work at the hospital, November fourth, nineteen ninety seven, Christina
stole a level elavil, which is an antidepressant. Some sources
said that she stole the elevil from the hospital and
some said that she brought it from a local drug store.
(09:48):
Either way, she didn't use it the way it was meant.
The main side effect of this drug is grogginess. The
drug lasts anywhere from twelve to twenty four hours, and
it's known to help patients with anxiety to sleep. Not
only did she steal that, but she also stole syringes,
potassium chloride, and morphine. When she returned home her kids
(10:11):
were still awake around ten pm. To get her kids unconscious,
she mixed the eleville with some water and gave it
to both Justin and Shelby. After both children were out cold,
their mother proceeded to inject Justin with the potassium chloride. Now,
to make this more heartbreaking, Justin awoke from the injection
(10:33):
and was screaming from the excruciating pain he was in.
She injected this right into his veins and he suffered
pretty severely and pretty severe burns from it. You know,
he's only five. Yeah, And after hearing him crying in pain,
she then injected him with the morphine to help shut
him up. Oh my god, that didn't work. Yes, she's
(10:56):
a problem solver, she's a tear worthm No, that didn't work.
So what did she do?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Then?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
She smothered him with a pillow to end his life.
Good throughout the entirety, I know, throughout the entirety of
his mother smothering him. He fought back as hard as
he could. Terrible. Yeah, after what she had just experienced
with Justin's injections, she was not about to go through
(11:26):
that same ordeal with her two year old daughter. Christina
opted to just end her life by smothering her with
a pillow. Wow, I know, I don't. She later told
her mother Carol, that Shelby only fought back song. Once
both children were dead, she moved their bodies onto her
(11:47):
own bed and she laid a blanket over them. Then
she wrote out multiple suicide notes to her mother, her sisters,
and her ex husband John She then proceeded to make
an attempt on her own life, took a massive amount
of the oliville and injected herself with potassium chloride. This
amount of Eliville she took twenty eight tablets along with
(12:10):
the potassium chloride made her pass out on the bedroom floor.
So spoiler alert, She's she's gonna make it.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, spoiler alert.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
So the following day, now now this is November fifth,
nineteen ninety seven, her mother, Carol, was notified that Christina
never showed up to work, so she drove over to
her daughter's Sherwood home around four pm in the afternoon.
Later that day, she led herself in the house and
she knew that her daughter was home and wasn't answering
the door, and she made her way through the home
(12:43):
and found her two grandchildren in the bed and her
daughter passed out on the floor. She later stated that
she ran around the house screaming because she thought everyone
was dead. She called nine one one and told the operator,
my daughter and her babies are dead, and the EMT's arrived.
Christina was taken to the hospital Baptist Memorial about an
(13:05):
hour and a half later, and upon arrival Christina's stomach
was pumped and she was stabilized. While she was at
the hospital, the police alerted the hospital staff of what
she had done to her two young children, and the
staff was instructed to not let Christina have any visitors.
Oh her family really had no idea what was happening
(13:26):
and they were really not sure why they weren't allowed
to see Christina. So around midnight they got in touch
with the lawyer to represent her for when the police
needed to speak with her. The attorney contacted the Sherwood
police and said that they were not allowed to speak
with her until he got to the hospital. The police
stayed back and searched the home while Christina was in
(13:47):
the hospital. While they were looking for evidence, the officers
came across her suicide notes that she had left behind.
Around nine twenty am on November sixth, detectives show up
at the hospital to speak with her Christina. They mirandized
her and she gave them a statement that went on
for eight minutes. In the statement, she walked through every
(14:09):
step she took to kill both of her children, and
she told the detectives how she tried to kill herself
along with Justin and Shelby. A couple of hours later,
Christina was released from the hospital and was transported to
Pulaski County Jail. She was charged with two counts of
capital murder. Christina arrived at the Pulaski County Circuit Court
(14:32):
in June of nineteen ninety eight, and she pleaded not
guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Her defense
attorney never once chose to deny that she had killed
both of her children by drugging them and smothering them
to death at the ages of five and two years old.
Her defense team merely argued that the fact that their
(14:52):
client was depressed and had quite a long history of depression,
along with zero self confidence, being sure and a bit
on the heavier side, she was a poor single mother,
and in the court it became relatively clear that she
did plan to kill herself after murdering Justin and Shelby.
One of the witnesses for the defense, a psychiatrists, got
(15:15):
on the stand to testify that her actions were nothing
short of acts of love for her kids. Dont seeing me,
I don't see it, yeah right. She thought that Justin
and Shelby would be raised. The rest of their lives
completely separate from one another, since they each had different fathers,
and she knew that her mother would fight like hell
(15:36):
to keep them for herself, but knew that the courts
would award custody to their biological fathers. Obviously, it's not
one hundred percent that that you wo would have been
raised separately, right since John raised Justin straight out of
the womb, and Justin's father left to go back to
Minnesota without a second thought.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
According to records, Christina suffered from a hereditary chemical imbalance,
which caused her depression to be at full force. And
I'm not saying like that post part This is not
even postpartum. Postpartum is after birth and her youngest Shelby
is two. First I was like, oh postpartum can I'm
(16:18):
not there. But from what I've heard, it's horrible as
we've seen from women who've suffered it. This isn't that.
As I mentioned earlier, According to Christina, she was sexually
abused as a child by two different people, and this
caused her to bottle all of her problems inside of her.
That's not all that affected her every day life. Christina
(16:40):
alleged that when the Murray Federal Building located in Oklahoma City,
was bombed by Timothy McVeigh in April nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
You remember that, Yeah, Oh yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
That was crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
The hospital where she was working assigned her to work
at the triage station not far from there to help
those who were seriously hurt in the blast, and her
defense attorney made it seem like she had been suffering
from post traumatic stress disorder from helping at that triage
with all those injuries. But when it was the prosecution's turn,
(17:15):
they stated that there was no record of her ever
working in the trio station and they believe that fact
about her to be Alie. The defense team put her
mother on the stand, and she told the court that
her daughter specifically told her that when she injected justin
with the potassium chloride, he began screaming and crying, saying
(17:35):
it hurts, it hurts. She said that just hearing this
retell the calmness of someone retelling the awfulness that they've.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Done right, but like nothing happened, like you're telling a
story about your grocery trip or something.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, and yeah, and he said it hurts, it hurts. Well,
if you came in on that conversation late. Well, why
was he say that? Oh, the mom injected him with
potassium chloride. It's heinous, disgusting. Yeah, yeah, she said she
couldn't put Shelby through that, and she smothered her with
a pillow. According to Christina, both were mercy killings. The
(18:14):
witnesses for the defense also determine these killings to be
out of pure love. When it was the prosecutions to
turn at bat they painted a much different image of
the murderous mother. They made Christina look like an evil
mother who wanted nothing more than to be rid of
her children from her own life, and to get rid
of them she'd killed them. The state told the jurors
(18:36):
that Christina thought of Justin and Shelby as an inconvenience
more than anything else. She even went as far as
to plan the murders at least two weeks in advance
before she finally chose to go through with ending their
innocent lives. There was evidence presented that Christina would leave
her kids with her mother, Carol, so that she could
go out to karaoke bars long in the early morning hours.
(19:00):
Her eight minute long confession was admitted into evidence, and
the court got a chance to hear every word that
she told the two detectives on the mornings after the killings.
This pulled up the juror's heartstrings as they held on
to every word Christina was saying as she told the
detectives how she had planned it for weeks. The suicide
(19:20):
letters were presented to the court as evidence, and in
the letter to her mother, Carol Thomas, she stated that
she killed her children. In her letter to John Riggs,
her ex husband and Shelby's biological father, she told them
she took the lives of both children. On June thirtieth,
nineteen ninety eight, the jury deliberated for less than one
(19:42):
hour to find Riggs guilty on both counts of first
degree murder. The jury consisted of seven women and five men.
This was a death penalty trial. When Christina heard the
verdict run aloud to the courtroom, she collapsed onto the floor.
When the trial next phase of sentencing took place, Christina
(20:03):
looked at the jurors and spoke out and uttered three sentences.
I want to die, I want to be with my babies.
I want you to give me the death penalty. The
jurors heard her, and that's exactly what they, along with
the judge, agreed to death by lethal injection. When Christina
heard her sentence, she squeezed her defense attorney's hand and
(20:27):
she thanked the jury members for that decision. Her original
execution date was set for August fifteenth that same year,
nineteen ninety eight. They weren't wasting any time. It did
end up getting postponed, as many executions do, though, so
her defense attorney, John Wesley Hall Junior, really had to
(20:48):
talk her into filing emotion for retrial, which, as you know, Tanya,
is just a certain parts that you get that conviction,
and of course the next step is motion for a retrial,
right right, yeah, he stated, we had to beg her
to file an appeal for the conviction. Christina's team chose
(21:09):
to move to have her statement to the detectives suppressed,
and her reasoning behind that was due to her medical
condition of being drugged and due to the fact that
her family made the decision to get an attorney for her.
According to Christina, the detectives completely violated her right to
counsel and her right to do process. Now here's something, Tanya.
(21:32):
You know, they come in and you know, she's in
the hospital room and she's kind of drugged from herself
trying to kill herself with that e a little, so
she's doped up and they come in. Can you miranderize
a person who is not fully in their capacity?
Speaker 3 (21:50):
You're not supposed to, they're supposed to be able to,
you know, they're not under the influence of anything, because
I mean, all of that can be challenged. You have
of a sound mind. Some people will claim, you know,
the insanity defense, whatever, but you can't be under the
influence of drugs or alcohol.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
You can't while you're being interviewed or while you're just moran.
And I'm wondering that sounds like something because if they interviewer,
who knows what she took and how long she's going
to be under the effects. Just because she's up and
awake doesn't mean she has.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
All of her safe you know, right, that is about
her you yeah, no, you can't, You can't.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
It can be challenged.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And then do you really want to mirandize someone who
is drunk and then have it be challenged and then
have it for you know, all of the evidence that
you collected, including any type of confession or whatever comes after, like,
do you really want that all thrown out and have
no case? No?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
No, You'd rather wait the twelve hours for the drug
whatever is in their her system to metabolize and be
out so you can get a sound talking an interview.
On the recording, the detectives stated the time, time of day,
and they introduced themselves. They then asked Christina if she
understood the fact that her statement was being recorded, and
(23:08):
she said back, yes, I do. One detective then told
her that they needed to start off the entire conversation
by advising her of her rights, and throughout the entire
reading of the Miranda Rights, Christina bowed her eyes out.
At the end of the reading, the detective specifically asked
do you understand your Miranda Rights, Christina, to which she responded, yes,
(23:31):
I do. Sorry. The detectives then stated they were running
an investigation into the quote unquote death of your two
babies and asked her if she wanted to tell them
what happened to Justin and Shelby. She said, flat out,
through their tears, I killed them, and then she talked
about how she got bottles and stuff from the very
(23:52):
hospital that she was in at the time of her hospitalization,
and then she stated she needed a cigarette. She went
into the detail about how she wanted to get Justin
out of the way first, since he would quote unquote
give me more problem. She tried to give him the
injection because she thought it would just stop his heart,
(24:12):
but then he started screaming because of how much pain
he was in. When the injection didn't work, Christina said
that he kept yelling, Mama, Mama, mama. She then said
that there was no turning back at this point and
explained that she had wiped out her checking account completely
and gave all of her money to her mom. The
(24:33):
detectives asked Christina why she did all of this, and
she said that she did everything because she wanted to die,
but she didn't want to die and just leave her
children behind quote unquote to be a burden to somebody else.
She refused to just kill herself because she just didn't
want her children to think she did it because she
didn't love them. She also said that she didn't want
(24:56):
them to grow up apart from one another because Justin
and Shelby again had two different fathers. I knew if
I passed away that they would be fighting. My mother
for custody, and I didn't want that for nobody, she said. So,
not only does she fail at committing suicide, but she
killed both of her children. The detectives then asked her
if she did it for the sake of her children,
(25:18):
and she said that she did it for her own
quote unquote peace of mind. She felt it was better
to kill herself and her children due to her own
financial stability, because she felt she couldn't go on anymore.
Christina told the detectives that both Justin and Shelby were
already dead when she decided to take the eleville and
(25:39):
inject herself with a potassium chloride. After they were dead,
she waited about twenty minutes before ingesting anything. She further
explained that she drank a lot of alcohol and smoked
a cigarette. She went back into the bedroom and sat
for a moment before getting enough courage to kill herself.
Her whole thoughts was that since she had already killed
(26:02):
both of her kids, there was no turning back. After
she killed Justin, she smoked a cigarette, then she suffocated
Shelby with the pillow. She gave her kids the eleville
and a glass of water since it would help them
sleep better and they wouldn't wake up to their mother
killing them. What the f right? Right? Seriously, this is
(26:23):
this thinking process. I love to hear people's thinking process,
just to dissect it and see that this must have
been the only choices they thought they had, or made
themselves believe that they only had, you know. Terrible. So
when the police asked Christina how long she had been
(26:45):
thinking about killing her children, her response was that she
was thinking about it for two or three weeks prior.
The detective asked what made her decide to go through
with everything, and she said that she couldn't take it
anymore and she felt that she was completely losing control
over her whole life. She told the detectives that she
had tried to talk to people about her losing control,
(27:06):
but she said that whatever she would try, nobody had
time for her. The detective asked if she had anything
else to say about what she did, and Christina said,
I wish I hadn't done it now. She then started
rambling about old people getting on and off escalators, just gibberish.
(27:26):
This statement had been transcribed before the hearing to suppress it,
and the court had a statement from the emergency room
doctor at the time that Christina was admitted. Doctor Buford
testified that Christina was showing results of a drug overdose,
which is why her stomach was pumped. Then said that
Christina had been given a dose of charcoal so that
(27:47):
any leftover drugs could be absorbed. On the morning that
she spoke with the detectives, Christina was alert and her
vitals were stable. Doctor Buford said that whenever he asked
her questions, she answered a probately to all of them,
and she never showed any signs of being incoherent, nor
did she show any signs of hallucinating. Another doctor, a
(28:10):
registered nurse named Karen Styles, was working in the ICU
on the night that Christina came into the hospital on
the night of November fifth. She stated at the time
that Christina came in, she was being confrontational and was
extremely confused. Styles then said that the following morning, Christina
was stable and coherent as she answered all the questions
(28:32):
she was asked. While testifying at the motion to suppress hearing,
she looked at the note she had made in Christina's chart.
Around seven point thirty the following morning, November six, she
was alert and focused. She also testified that when she
would ask Christina questions that she answered quickly and was
(28:52):
talking very fast, but not fast enough to where she
couldn't understand. A test was done on Christine using the
Glos Glascow coma scale, and this was to measure her
level of consciousness at eight am that same morning. Christina
got the highest grade of fifteen that can be achieved
using this test, so she was alert while while Nurse
(29:16):
Karen was being cross examined, she stated that Christina signed
the discharge papers, but her signature wasn't legible now. The
detectives who handled the initial interview with Christina also testified
at the suppression hearing, and they both testified to the
fact that that once didn't she attempt to stop the
interview as it was happening, even though her lawyer wasn't present.
(29:40):
They also did not at all force her to provide
a statement of her confessing to the murders of her
two children and her own attempted suicide. One detective, detective
James Harper, he testified that while sitting in Christina's hospital
room on the morning after the murders, he heard her
say I had to do it so I wouldn't leave
(30:02):
them behind. Christina called a few people to testify at
her own suppression hearing, and her team called an er
doctor who told the court that she was not making
any sense and was utterly incoherent when she was brought
into the er on the evening of the murders of
her children. Yeah. I can see, yeah, she's doped up
(30:23):
on the evening, but these questions are in the morning
where everything's worn off, you know, and she's made it,
even though more doctors testified to the same fact on
the night of the killings, but later testified that she
was completely fine the following morning. The defense called another nurse,
Julia Brown, who testified that Christina was confused and combative
(30:47):
up until at least worry. On the following morning, the
same nurse testified that she wasn't all surprised when the
nurse at Ship Change said that Christina was alert and
completely fine. She ended her testimony by saying that it
wasn't unusual for a victim of an overdose to be
fine the next morning or within a couple of hours.
(31:07):
They usually are. Christina actually said to nurse Julia, I
killed my kids. She's probably in some sort of shock
at her own telling the nurse. She's telling the detective
Christina's prod. You can't believe what you did. I'm sure yes,
And hearing your own self say it, That's that's the
(31:28):
vibe I'm getting too. Christina's mother, Carol, she got on
the stand to testify for her daughter, and she told
the court that her daughter was confused even after she
gave her statement to the detectives. Apparently, Christina was claiming
that she was confused on whether Shelby was even dead.
(31:48):
She literally told the detectives that she suffocated her with
a pillow and she barely fought because she was so little.
Now she doesn't even now, she's talking like she's still here.
So Carol told the court that Christina was confused because
she hallucinated conversation that she had had with her dead daughter.
Christina's sister, Rosanna, testified to the same thing. She said
(32:13):
that her sister was confused following the statement that she
had given the detectives, and she told her that she
had played with Shelby. After the statement, Christina's aunt took
to the stand and testified that Christina was hallucinating her
dead kids. Her other sister, Elizabeth, took the stand and
said that her sister was very dazed, confused, and was
(32:35):
seeing things and was able to describe things that weren't
even there. The last thing mentioned when it was Christina's
turn to present witnesses and evidence was the fact that
she was rambling on about escalators at the conclusion of
the interview with the detectives. Even after all of this,
her motion to suppress the confession was denied. The court
(32:57):
found that her statement was completely voluntary and was not
at all a result of hallucinations. Many doctors testified that
before she gave any statement to law enforcement, she was
completely alert and not at all confused or dazed. Prior
to any of these court proceedings, Christina received a mental
(33:18):
evaluation from doctor John Anderson, a licensed psychologist from the
Arkansas Division of Mental Health and Sciences. He determined that
she was able to understand what she did was wrong
and against the law when she killed Justin and Shelby
on November fourth, nineteen ninety seven. The court fully relied
(33:38):
on his evaluation when the time came to make this
decision to not suppress her statement, Christina tried to further
escalate her motion by stating that she was never told
that her family had retained legal representation for her. Before
making the statement, the lawyer who was retained by Christina's
family did call the police department and he told him
(34:00):
that he would be acting as her legal counsel. The
attorney was then told by law enforcement that Christina wouldn't
be interviewed about the murders until the following day, but
only a few hours later police questioned Christina when she
confessed to killing her children. So to make their argument
even more complicated, her attorney argued that the prosecution made
(34:21):
some damaging notes during the opening remarks to the jury members,
and then he accused the jurors of not taking their
roles an oath seriously enough for his liking. The ruling
was not reverse and her death sentence was upheld. She
was told that she had the right to remain silent.
She waived her right. She was then deemed competent to
(34:45):
be executed, so after all the bullshit, Christina was taken
to the Correction Department McPherson's unit in Newport, Arkansas, and
she was the only inmate in the three cell woman's
death rope facility. She was provided some off white prison
clothing along with sneakers. According to her reports, she was
(35:07):
taken good care of as she awaited her execution date.
The food was pretty decent, and she even made a
comment about putting on at least thirty pounds since she
had been at that death row facility. She was actually
allowed to see visitors at times within a visitation room
that wasn't far from the death row cell. Whenever she
(35:28):
was not in her cell, she was handcuffed, and when
she spoke with her visitors, she talked to them through
a window. She was allowed to use makeup and curl
her hair for when she had people come see her.
Her mom sent her some books to read and she
was able to watch TV. Since she had literally nothing
else to do with her time as she waited for death,
(35:51):
she would crank out multiple books per week. She was
allowed to exercise in a tiny outdoor yard that was
right next to her prison cell. She did an interview
and when asked with how she was dealing with everything mentally,
she stated that she struggled constantly with what she did
to her children. She stated that God punished her by
(36:13):
letting her live without them. She told the person interviewing
her that she was impatient and excited to die. I'll
be with my children and with God. I'll be where
there's no more pain. Maybe I'll find peace. The governor
of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, took a look at Christina's case,
but did not overturn it. He set her execution date
(36:37):
to May second, two thousand and Her sentence was to
be carried out between the hours of eight and nine
pm in the Commons Unit, Arkansas. Three days prior to
her execution, she was transferred to the Commons Unit from
McPherson and it's a two and a half hour drive.
The execution was delayed by eighteen minutes due to difficulties
(37:00):
finding viable veins for the catheters.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Oh my god, isn't I know.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Christina eventually agreed to have them placed into the veins
on her wrist. And I have that problem too with veins,
Like sometimes they can't my veins roll. They're not good
juicy veins. So she's not him veins. Yeah, I have
good juice veins. I never have a problem with mine.
(37:27):
She was the first woman to be executed in the
state of Arkansas since the state began performing them eighty
seven years prior. In nineteen thirteen. He was the fifth
woman executed in the entire country since the death penalty
was reinstated back in nineteen seventy six, and she was
only twenty eight years old when her heart stopped. Potassium chloride,
(37:50):
the same drugs she ejected into her son and into herself,
is one of the three drugs used when carrying out
her death sentence by lethal injection.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Oh, the irony, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
When I found out that she had done that to
her son with the potassium chloride. I don't know much
about death by lethal injection, but I know there's more
than one.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Yeah, I think you get like a not a I
think you get a painkiller maybe, or something something that
sedate to you.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
I think is one of them, something like a heavy xanax.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yeah, you don't feel the if she's with her her
kids again, and it's just one of those sad.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
It's just sad all around, Like who.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Nobody, This is a terrible case. She's young, her kids are.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Young, I know, and of course what she did was
wrong and absolutely I just don't even understand why she
did it. It's just depression. I guess you know, the
depression and the pressure of life, and I guess, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
And you want the mom to be healthy because healthy
moms are happy kids and could have been done to
help her not done. Be so fatalistic and so final
on everything. Desperate, it has to be desperate. Well, won't
people do when they're desperate?
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Yeah, I kill your five year olds and your two
year old.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
I hate stories like this.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
I hate all of our stories.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
They're just so yeah, Like I like to tell them
just so people are aware, you know, this is really right.
But yeah, at the same time, these absolutely suck. And
if I drank, If I was a drinker, this would
be a problem for me definitely, But thank god I'm not. Yeah,
got job once in a while.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Yeah, thank goodness. I don't have addiction to any kind
of substances because, yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Be happy. It's just so sad.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
The psychology of behind why people do things is always
so interesting to me. So when we tell when you're
telling me the story, I'm trying to figure out, like,
why would.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
She do that? You know what was?
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Yes, the same with like when we tell a story
about a serial killer, I'm like, why why is this person?
You know, feel this compulsion to murder people, So I
just it's just craziness. I guess I don't know, and
as just a sad, sad story, but thank you for
telling it.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
As always my pleasure to brand.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
Absolutely, thank you everyone for listening to this week's episode.
If you haven't done so already, please hit subscribe or
follow on whatever app you're listening to us on if
you would like more episodes of Shannon and I and
also some older episodes of Tala and I. We have like, oh,
there's probably five hundred episodes in our Patreon. If you
(40:32):
are finding us now or if you just recently found us,
there's a whole treasure trove of episodes, yeah, that you
could go to. You can find them on patreon dot com,
slash t and Tea Crimes, or you can subscribe by
going to the Apple podcast app if that's how you're
listening to us now, and you can sign up and
(40:53):
become a member and get one new episode a week
in addition to the free episode that we release. Check
it out and go to our website Crimes and Consequences
dot com. There's information about becoming a Patreon. There, there's
information about our episodes and all of that good stuff,
and I think that's probably all the business.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
I think it is all right you until next time,
my friends, I love you.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
Until next time, I'll talk to you.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Bye.
This episode maintained content of a graphic nature, including descriptions
of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hi, I'm Shannon. Hi I'm Tanya, and we are Crimes
and Consequences, a hardcore true crime podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Ain't Shannon, Hey Tanya?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I I love that dubious glee that I hear in
your tone. Yeah, and that's right. I did use dubious
glee lexicon lexicon adam. Oh, but I get it, girl.
It's been a cold day and it's Sunday to start
(01:09):
the new week. I love a Monday. I don't mind Mondays.
What about you? Oh I hate Mondays?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well, actually I hate Sundays because tomorrow is Monday, and
I feel like, you know, it's just the coming down
from the weekend and you know whatever. But I had
a really great Sunday, so I can't complain. I like
a Sunday where I can sleep in a little bit
but then also get some stuff done and then still
also have time to myself. I know it's a la
(01:35):
on a Sunday, but yeah, my Sunday's been great, so
I can't complain. And I am looking forward to going
back to work tomorrow. I guess I'd have a shit
ton of stuff to do, so at least I'm busy
in the day will go by and that'll be that.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So yeah, and then Monday, I'll have another one down
in the books. Yeah. What do you got for us? Uh? Well,
I got a story that you may or may not
have heard. This happened before the turn of the century,
nineteen ninety eight, and it involves a woman. Her name
is Christine Marie Riggs. She was born Thomas so Christine
(02:13):
Marie Riggs. She was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, on September two,
nineteen seventy one. So that makes her virgo correct. I
believe hergo. She had a pretty rough childhood, Christina did.
She grew up in Oklahoma City. According to records, she
had two sisters named Rosanna and Elizabeth, and her parents
(02:36):
they separated when Christina was really young. She stayed with
her mother, Carol, who was living with a man who
had a son of his own. Christina said that between
the ages of seven and thirteen, however, she was sexually
assaulted by her stepbrother, and when she was thirteen, she
said she was also sexually assaulted by her neighbor so
(03:00):
around nineteen eighty five, when she was fourteen years old,
that's when Christina she began drinking and smoking cigarettes and weed.
Throughout her high school years, she was bullied for being overweight.
She always thought that she would never have a boyfriend
due to the way she looked. You know how it
is in high school, you just think you're not ready
(03:21):
to be on the cover of Vogue and a size zero.
What's you're worth right right now? Terrible? She became quite promiscuous,
sleeping with anyone who gave her attention or wanted to
have sex with her, and that's you know, that's just
sad to look at yourself that way. She later stated
(03:43):
that she thought this was the only way she could
ever get a boyfriend, and she never knew if she
would ever get another chance. And that's that's how low
her self esteem was. In January of nineteen eighty eight,
she had become pregnant with a baby boy, who she
gave up for a SIP because she was sixteen at
the time. Now, she did finish her schooling, graduating high school,
(04:06):
and she became a licensed practical nurse in LPN, but
this line of work would eventually be your downfall. She
worked a part time job as a home care nurse,
and she would work a full time job in the
Veteran Affairs hospital system. Hey, that's where I go throughout
the gyptandle down the VA Hospital in Detroit. These types
(04:29):
of hospitals provide health care for vets, which include mental health,
primary care, and health assistants for their loved ones. Shortly after,
she began a relationship with a man named Timothy Thompson,
who was stationed at Tinker Air Force Base located in
Oklahoma City. In October of nineteen eighty one, Christina became
(04:51):
pregnant again with her son Justine. Oh, I'm sorry, thank you, No,
this was we weregressed. We had the first child eighty eight.
Then when he went back to a minute, okay, yep.
This was October of ninety one. So Christina told Timothy
about her pregnancy the day before. He was discharged from
the Air Force and didn't want to accept the baby
(05:13):
as his own. He didn't, so he then moved back
to his hometown in Minnesota. Timothy later said that Chrissy's
luck with men was about zero to nothing. I think
he just wasn't attached to Christina in that way that
Christina wanted a relationship, and when she found out she
(05:33):
was pregnant, he really didn't care enough about her to
be there for her or the baby when he was born. Now,
after giving birth to her son, Justin on June seventh,
nineteen ninety two, so he's a Jenini, Christina got back
in touch with a previous boyfriend, a sailor named John Riggs,
(05:54):
who was back home on leave. The two became romantically
involved again, and she eventually moved in with him and
brought along her little boy. According to Christina, their rekindled
romance was great, and since he felt the baby's first
kick when Justin sounds like that she may have been
(06:15):
seeing Justin's dad and mister Riggs here. So John knew
about Justin even though it wasn't his son, and he
was the first to feel the baby kick. He was
the father of the baby as far as he was concerned.
He was the father of Justin, and he took care
of Justin and stepped up as his father even though
(06:36):
he wasn't biologically the dad. All that's nice, Yeah, that
is really nice. Now. In July of nineteen ninety three,
she and John were married. Christina became pregnant again, and
in December of nineteen ninety four, she gave birth to
a daughter named Shelby Alexis and Justin referred to her
(06:58):
as Sissy, as did the rest of the family. What
a great nickname, yeat cute. Christina and John were both
so astatic when she was born, and the two of
them cried happy tears together. Christina said, we were so happy.
She was so beautiful. I didn't think things could get
any better. John cried. I cried. There was so much love,
(07:21):
so much love for her and the way he looked
at her. The birth of their daughter brought Christina out
of her depressive state. She suffered from depression, but the
happiness died down, and depression was right there to rear
its ugly head. Justin and Shall be adorable children. A
(07:43):
few months later, Christina packed up her kids with John
and they moved to Sherwood, Arkansas. That's how I call
Arkansas because I spell it. When I'm spelling Arkansas, I'm
with Arkansas. They moved to Sherwood, Arkansas, so that she
could be closer to her mom and to get as
(08:03):
much help as she could raising her two young children.
Now she was able to find a job at Baptist
Hospital in Oklahoma City. John ended up separating from Christina,
Justin and Shelby, however, and once their divorce was finalized,
the three of them were basically left to fend for themselves,
(08:24):
with child support coming from John irregularly. Now. The two
broke up after Christina accused John of punching Justin in
the stomach. John always denied that accusation and it was
never proven. I'm not saying either way, I'm just saying
that was the cause of their the beginning of their
(08:45):
and around this time, Christina was working as a nurse,
but she found herself drowning in debt when she couldn't
make ends meet with how much she was making and
trying to feed two rapidly growing kids. As a car
payment and Duran's bills were coming in along with all
of her other bills. She fell back into a depression
(09:06):
and was desperate to get out of the situation altogether,
no matter what the cost and who she would have
to hurt along the way. According to reports, she would
drop off her kids at daycare so that she could
work long shift at the hospital, but the cost of
daycare was too costly for her to keep up with.
In nineteen ninety seven, Christina would come up with a
(09:28):
plan to end it all. On her last day of
work at the hospital, November fourth, nineteen ninety seven, Christina
stole a level elavil, which is an antidepressant. Some sources
said that she stole the elevil from the hospital and
some said that she brought it from a local drug store.
(09:48):
Either way, she didn't use it the way it was meant.
The main side effect of this drug is grogginess. The
drug lasts anywhere from twelve to twenty four hours, and
it's known to help patients with anxiety to sleep. Not
only did she steal that, but she also stole syringes,
potassium chloride, and morphine. When she returned home her kids
(10:11):
were still awake around ten pm. To get her kids unconscious,
she mixed the eleville with some water and gave it
to both Justin and Shelby. After both children were out cold,
their mother proceeded to inject Justin with the potassium chloride. Now,
to make this more heartbreaking, Justin awoke from the injection
(10:33):
and was screaming from the excruciating pain he was in.
She injected this right into his veins and he suffered
pretty severely and pretty severe burns from it. You know,
he's only five. Yeah, And after hearing him crying in pain,
she then injected him with the morphine to help shut
him up. Oh my god, that didn't work. Yes, she's
(10:56):
a problem solver, she's a tear worthm No, that didn't work.
So what did she do?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Then?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
She smothered him with a pillow to end his life.
Good throughout the entirety, I know, throughout the entirety of
his mother smothering him. He fought back as hard as
he could. Terrible. Yeah, after what she had just experienced
with Justin's injections, she was not about to go through
(11:26):
that same ordeal with her two year old daughter. Christina
opted to just end her life by smothering her with
a pillow. Wow, I know, I don't. She later told
her mother Carol, that Shelby only fought back song. Once
both children were dead, she moved their bodies onto her
(11:47):
own bed and she laid a blanket over them. Then
she wrote out multiple suicide notes to her mother, her sisters,
and her ex husband John She then proceeded to make
an attempt on her own life, took a massive amount
of the oliville and injected herself with potassium chloride. This
amount of Eliville she took twenty eight tablets along with
(12:10):
the potassium chloride made her pass out on the bedroom floor.
So spoiler alert, She's she's gonna make it.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, spoiler alert.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
So the following day, now now this is November fifth,
nineteen ninety seven, her mother, Carol, was notified that Christina
never showed up to work, so she drove over to
her daughter's Sherwood home around four pm in the afternoon.
Later that day, she led herself in the house and
she knew that her daughter was home and wasn't answering
the door, and she made her way through the home
(12:43):
and found her two grandchildren in the bed and her
daughter passed out on the floor. She later stated that
she ran around the house screaming because she thought everyone
was dead. She called nine one one and told the operator,
my daughter and her babies are dead, and the EMT's arrived.
Christina was taken to the hospital Baptist Memorial about an
(13:05):
hour and a half later, and upon arrival Christina's stomach
was pumped and she was stabilized. While she was at
the hospital, the police alerted the hospital staff of what
she had done to her two young children, and the
staff was instructed to not let Christina have any visitors.
Oh her family really had no idea what was happening
(13:26):
and they were really not sure why they weren't allowed
to see Christina. So around midnight they got in touch
with the lawyer to represent her for when the police
needed to speak with her. The attorney contacted the Sherwood
police and said that they were not allowed to speak
with her until he got to the hospital. The police
stayed back and searched the home while Christina was in
(13:47):
the hospital. While they were looking for evidence, the officers
came across her suicide notes that she had left behind.
Around nine twenty am on November sixth, detectives show up
at the hospital to speak with her Christina. They mirandized
her and she gave them a statement that went on
for eight minutes. In the statement, she walked through every
(14:09):
step she took to kill both of her children, and
she told the detectives how she tried to kill herself
along with Justin and Shelby. A couple of hours later,
Christina was released from the hospital and was transported to
Pulaski County Jail. She was charged with two counts of
capital murder. Christina arrived at the Pulaski County Circuit Court
(14:32):
in June of nineteen ninety eight, and she pleaded not
guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Her defense
attorney never once chose to deny that she had killed
both of her children by drugging them and smothering them
to death at the ages of five and two years old.
Her defense team merely argued that the fact that their
(14:52):
client was depressed and had quite a long history of depression,
along with zero self confidence, being sure and a bit
on the heavier side, she was a poor single mother,
and in the court it became relatively clear that she
did plan to kill herself after murdering Justin and Shelby.
One of the witnesses for the defense, a psychiatrists, got
(15:15):
on the stand to testify that her actions were nothing
short of acts of love for her kids. Dont seeing me,
I don't see it, yeah right. She thought that Justin
and Shelby would be raised. The rest of their lives
completely separate from one another, since they each had different fathers,
and she knew that her mother would fight like hell
(15:36):
to keep them for herself, but knew that the courts
would award custody to their biological fathers. Obviously, it's not
one hundred percent that that you wo would have been
raised separately, right since John raised Justin straight out of
the womb, and Justin's father left to go back to
Minnesota without a second thought.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
According to records, Christina suffered from a hereditary chemical imbalance,
which caused her depression to be at full force. And
I'm not saying like that post part This is not
even postpartum. Postpartum is after birth and her youngest Shelby
is two. First I was like, oh postpartum can I'm
(16:18):
not there. But from what I've heard, it's horrible as
we've seen from women who've suffered it. This isn't that.
As I mentioned earlier, According to Christina, she was sexually
abused as a child by two different people, and this
caused her to bottle all of her problems inside of her.
That's not all that affected her every day life. Christina
(16:40):
alleged that when the Murray Federal Building located in Oklahoma City,
was bombed by Timothy McVeigh in April nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
You remember that, Yeah, Oh yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
That was crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
The hospital where she was working assigned her to work
at the triage station not far from there to help
those who were seriously hurt in the blast, and her
defense attorney made it seem like she had been suffering
from post traumatic stress disorder from helping at that triage
with all those injuries. But when it was the prosecution's turn,
(17:15):
they stated that there was no record of her ever
working in the trio station and they believe that fact
about her to be Alie. The defense team put her
mother on the stand, and she told the court that
her daughter specifically told her that when she injected justin
with the potassium chloride, he began screaming and crying, saying
(17:35):
it hurts, it hurts. She said that just hearing this
retell the calmness of someone retelling the awfulness that they've.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Done right, but like nothing happened, like you're telling a
story about your grocery trip or something.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, and yeah, and he said it hurts, it hurts. Well,
if you came in on that conversation late. Well, why
was he say that? Oh, the mom injected him with
potassium chloride. It's heinous, disgusting. Yeah, yeah, she said she
couldn't put Shelby through that, and she smothered her with
a pillow. According to Christina, both were mercy killings. The
(18:14):
witnesses for the defense also determine these killings to be
out of pure love. When it was the prosecutions to
turn at bat they painted a much different image of
the murderous mother. They made Christina look like an evil
mother who wanted nothing more than to be rid of
her children from her own life, and to get rid
of them she'd killed them. The state told the jurors
(18:36):
that Christina thought of Justin and Shelby as an inconvenience
more than anything else. She even went as far as
to plan the murders at least two weeks in advance
before she finally chose to go through with ending their
innocent lives. There was evidence presented that Christina would leave
her kids with her mother, Carol, so that she could
go out to karaoke bars long in the early morning hours.
(19:00):
Her eight minute long confession was admitted into evidence, and
the court got a chance to hear every word that
she told the two detectives on the mornings after the killings.
This pulled up the juror's heartstrings as they held on
to every word Christina was saying as she told the
detectives how she had planned it for weeks. The suicide
(19:20):
letters were presented to the court as evidence, and in
the letter to her mother, Carol Thomas, she stated that
she killed her children. In her letter to John Riggs,
her ex husband and Shelby's biological father, she told them
she took the lives of both children. On June thirtieth,
nineteen ninety eight, the jury deliberated for less than one
(19:42):
hour to find Riggs guilty on both counts of first
degree murder. The jury consisted of seven women and five men.
This was a death penalty trial. When Christina heard the
verdict run aloud to the courtroom, she collapsed onto the floor.
When the trial next phase of sentencing took place, Christina
(20:03):
looked at the jurors and spoke out and uttered three sentences.
I want to die, I want to be with my babies.
I want you to give me the death penalty. The
jurors heard her, and that's exactly what they, along with
the judge, agreed to death by lethal injection. When Christina
heard her sentence, she squeezed her defense attorney's hand and
(20:27):
she thanked the jury members for that decision. Her original
execution date was set for August fifteenth that same year,
nineteen ninety eight. They weren't wasting any time. It did
end up getting postponed, as many executions do, though, so
her defense attorney, John Wesley Hall Junior, really had to
(20:48):
talk her into filing emotion for retrial, which, as you know, Tanya,
is just a certain parts that you get that conviction,
and of course the next step is motion for a retrial,
right right, yeah, he stated, we had to beg her
to file an appeal for the conviction. Christina's team chose
(21:09):
to move to have her statement to the detectives suppressed,
and her reasoning behind that was due to her medical
condition of being drugged and due to the fact that
her family made the decision to get an attorney for her.
According to Christina, the detectives completely violated her right to
counsel and her right to do process. Now here's something, Tanya.
(21:32):
You know, they come in and you know, she's in
the hospital room and she's kind of drugged from herself
trying to kill herself with that e a little, so
she's doped up and they come in. Can you miranderize
a person who is not fully in their capacity?
Speaker 3 (21:50):
You're not supposed to, they're supposed to be able to,
you know, they're not under the influence of anything, because
I mean, all of that can be challenged. You have
of a sound mind. Some people will claim, you know,
the insanity defense, whatever, but you can't be under the
influence of drugs or alcohol.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
You can't while you're being interviewed or while you're just moran.
And I'm wondering that sounds like something because if they interviewer,
who knows what she took and how long she's going
to be under the effects. Just because she's up and
awake doesn't mean she has.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
All of her safe you know, right, that is about
her you yeah, no, you can't, You can't.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
It can be challenged.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And then do you really want to mirandize someone who
is drunk and then have it be challenged and then
have it for you know, all of the evidence that
you collected, including any type of confession or whatever comes after, like,
do you really want that all thrown out and have
no case? No?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
No, You'd rather wait the twelve hours for the drug
whatever is in their her system to metabolize and be
out so you can get a sound talking an interview.
On the recording, the detectives stated the time, time of day,
and they introduced themselves. They then asked Christina if she
understood the fact that her statement was being recorded, and
(23:08):
she said back, yes, I do. One detective then told
her that they needed to start off the entire conversation
by advising her of her rights, and throughout the entire
reading of the Miranda Rights, Christina bowed her eyes out.
At the end of the reading, the detective specifically asked
do you understand your Miranda Rights, Christina, to which she responded, yes,
(23:31):
I do. Sorry. The detectives then stated they were running
an investigation into the quote unquote death of your two
babies and asked her if she wanted to tell them
what happened to Justin and Shelby. She said, flat out,
through their tears, I killed them, and then she talked
about how she got bottles and stuff from the very
(23:52):
hospital that she was in at the time of her hospitalization,
and then she stated she needed a cigarette. She went
into the detail about how she wanted to get Justin
out of the way first, since he would quote unquote
give me more problem. She tried to give him the
injection because she thought it would just stop his heart,
(24:12):
but then he started screaming because of how much pain
he was in. When the injection didn't work, Christina said
that he kept yelling, Mama, Mama, mama. She then said
that there was no turning back at this point and
explained that she had wiped out her checking account completely
and gave all of her money to her mom. The
(24:33):
detectives asked Christina why she did all of this, and
she said that she did everything because she wanted to die,
but she didn't want to die and just leave her
children behind quote unquote to be a burden to somebody else.
She refused to just kill herself because she just didn't
want her children to think she did it because she
didn't love them. She also said that she didn't want
(24:56):
them to grow up apart from one another because Justin
and Shelby again had two different fathers. I knew if
I passed away that they would be fighting. My mother
for custody, and I didn't want that for nobody, she said. So,
not only does she fail at committing suicide, but she
killed both of her children. The detectives then asked her
if she did it for the sake of her children,
(25:18):
and she said that she did it for her own
quote unquote peace of mind. She felt it was better
to kill herself and her children due to her own
financial stability, because she felt she couldn't go on anymore.
Christina told the detectives that both Justin and Shelby were
already dead when she decided to take the eleville and
(25:39):
inject herself with a potassium chloride. After they were dead,
she waited about twenty minutes before ingesting anything. She further
explained that she drank a lot of alcohol and smoked
a cigarette. She went back into the bedroom and sat
for a moment before getting enough courage to kill herself.
Her whole thoughts was that since she had already killed
(26:02):
both of her kids, there was no turning back. After
she killed Justin, she smoked a cigarette, then she suffocated
Shelby with the pillow. She gave her kids the eleville
and a glass of water since it would help them
sleep better and they wouldn't wake up to their mother
killing them. What the f right? Right? Seriously, this is
(26:23):
this thinking process. I love to hear people's thinking process,
just to dissect it and see that this must have
been the only choices they thought they had, or made
themselves believe that they only had, you know. Terrible. So
when the police asked Christina how long she had been
(26:45):
thinking about killing her children, her response was that she
was thinking about it for two or three weeks prior.
The detective asked what made her decide to go through
with everything, and she said that she couldn't take it
anymore and she felt that she was completely losing control
over her whole life. She told the detectives that she
had tried to talk to people about her losing control,
(27:06):
but she said that whatever she would try, nobody had
time for her. The detective asked if she had anything
else to say about what she did, and Christina said,
I wish I hadn't done it now. She then started
rambling about old people getting on and off escalators, just gibberish.
(27:26):
This statement had been transcribed before the hearing to suppress it,
and the court had a statement from the emergency room
doctor at the time that Christina was admitted. Doctor Buford
testified that Christina was showing results of a drug overdose,
which is why her stomach was pumped. Then said that
Christina had been given a dose of charcoal so that
(27:47):
any leftover drugs could be absorbed. On the morning that
she spoke with the detectives, Christina was alert and her
vitals were stable. Doctor Buford said that whenever he asked
her questions, she answered a probately to all of them,
and she never showed any signs of being incoherent, nor
did she show any signs of hallucinating. Another doctor, a
(28:10):
registered nurse named Karen Styles, was working in the ICU
on the night that Christina came into the hospital on
the night of November fifth. She stated at the time
that Christina came in, she was being confrontational and was
extremely confused. Styles then said that the following morning, Christina
was stable and coherent as she answered all the questions
(28:32):
she was asked. While testifying at the motion to suppress hearing,
she looked at the note she had made in Christina's chart.
Around seven point thirty the following morning, November six, she
was alert and focused. She also testified that when she
would ask Christina questions that she answered quickly and was
(28:52):
talking very fast, but not fast enough to where she
couldn't understand. A test was done on Christine using the
Glos Glascow coma scale, and this was to measure her
level of consciousness at eight am that same morning. Christina
got the highest grade of fifteen that can be achieved
using this test, so she was alert while while Nurse
(29:16):
Karen was being cross examined, she stated that Christina signed
the discharge papers, but her signature wasn't legible now. The
detectives who handled the initial interview with Christina also testified
at the suppression hearing, and they both testified to the
fact that that once didn't she attempt to stop the
interview as it was happening, even though her lawyer wasn't present.
(29:40):
They also did not at all force her to provide
a statement of her confessing to the murders of her
two children and her own attempted suicide. One detective, detective
James Harper, he testified that while sitting in Christina's hospital
room on the morning after the murders, he heard her
say I had to do it so I wouldn't leave
(30:02):
them behind. Christina called a few people to testify at
her own suppression hearing, and her team called an er
doctor who told the court that she was not making
any sense and was utterly incoherent when she was brought
into the er on the evening of the murders of
her children. Yeah. I can see, yeah, she's doped up
(30:23):
on the evening, but these questions are in the morning
where everything's worn off, you know, and she's made it,
even though more doctors testified to the same fact on
the night of the killings, but later testified that she
was completely fine the following morning. The defense called another nurse,
Julia Brown, who testified that Christina was confused and combative
(30:47):
up until at least worry. On the following morning, the
same nurse testified that she wasn't all surprised when the
nurse at Ship Change said that Christina was alert and
completely fine. She ended her testimony by saying that it
wasn't unusual for a victim of an overdose to be
fine the next morning or within a couple of hours.
(31:07):
They usually are. Christina actually said to nurse Julia, I
killed my kids. She's probably in some sort of shock
at her own telling the nurse. She's telling the detective
Christina's prod. You can't believe what you did. I'm sure yes,
And hearing your own self say it, That's that's the
(31:28):
vibe I'm getting too. Christina's mother, Carol, she got on
the stand to testify for her daughter, and she told
the court that her daughter was confused even after she
gave her statement to the detectives. Apparently, Christina was claiming
that she was confused on whether Shelby was even dead.
(31:48):
She literally told the detectives that she suffocated her with
a pillow and she barely fought because she was so little.
Now she doesn't even now, she's talking like she's still here.
So Carol told the court that Christina was confused because
she hallucinated conversation that she had had with her dead daughter.
Christina's sister, Rosanna, testified to the same thing. She said
(32:13):
that her sister was confused following the statement that she
had given the detectives, and she told her that she
had played with Shelby. After the statement, Christina's aunt took
to the stand and testified that Christina was hallucinating her
dead kids. Her other sister, Elizabeth, took the stand and
said that her sister was very dazed, confused, and was
(32:35):
seeing things and was able to describe things that weren't
even there. The last thing mentioned when it was Christina's
turn to present witnesses and evidence was the fact that
she was rambling on about escalators at the conclusion of
the interview with the detectives. Even after all of this,
her motion to suppress the confession was denied. The court
(32:57):
found that her statement was completely voluntary and was not
at all a result of hallucinations. Many doctors testified that
before she gave any statement to law enforcement, she was
completely alert and not at all confused or dazed. Prior
to any of these court proceedings, Christina received a mental
(33:18):
evaluation from doctor John Anderson, a licensed psychologist from the
Arkansas Division of Mental Health and Sciences. He determined that
she was able to understand what she did was wrong
and against the law when she killed Justin and Shelby
on November fourth, nineteen ninety seven. The court fully relied
(33:38):
on his evaluation when the time came to make this
decision to not suppress her statement, Christina tried to further
escalate her motion by stating that she was never told
that her family had retained legal representation for her. Before
making the statement, the lawyer who was retained by Christina's
family did call the police department and he told him
(34:00):
that he would be acting as her legal counsel. The
attorney was then told by law enforcement that Christina wouldn't
be interviewed about the murders until the following day, but
only a few hours later police questioned Christina when she
confessed to killing her children. So to make their argument
even more complicated, her attorney argued that the prosecution made
(34:21):
some damaging notes during the opening remarks to the jury members,
and then he accused the jurors of not taking their
roles an oath seriously enough for his liking. The ruling
was not reverse and her death sentence was upheld. She
was told that she had the right to remain silent.
She waived her right. She was then deemed competent to
(34:45):
be executed, so after all the bullshit, Christina was taken
to the Correction Department McPherson's unit in Newport, Arkansas, and
she was the only inmate in the three cell woman's
death rope facility. She was provided some off white prison
clothing along with sneakers. According to her reports, she was
(35:07):
taken good care of as she awaited her execution date.
The food was pretty decent, and she even made a
comment about putting on at least thirty pounds since she
had been at that death row facility. She was actually
allowed to see visitors at times within a visitation room
that wasn't far from the death row cell. Whenever she
(35:28):
was not in her cell, she was handcuffed, and when
she spoke with her visitors, she talked to them through
a window. She was allowed to use makeup and curl
her hair for when she had people come see her.
Her mom sent her some books to read and she
was able to watch TV. Since she had literally nothing
else to do with her time as she waited for death,
(35:51):
she would crank out multiple books per week. She was
allowed to exercise in a tiny outdoor yard that was
right next to her prison cell. She did an interview
and when asked with how she was dealing with everything mentally,
she stated that she struggled constantly with what she did
to her children. She stated that God punished her by
(36:13):
letting her live without them. She told the person interviewing
her that she was impatient and excited to die. I'll
be with my children and with God. I'll be where
there's no more pain. Maybe I'll find peace. The governor
of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, took a look at Christina's case,
but did not overturn it. He set her execution date
(36:37):
to May second, two thousand and Her sentence was to
be carried out between the hours of eight and nine
pm in the Commons Unit, Arkansas. Three days prior to
her execution, she was transferred to the Commons Unit from
McPherson and it's a two and a half hour drive.
The execution was delayed by eighteen minutes due to difficulties
(37:00):
finding viable veins for the catheters.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Oh my god, isn't I know.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Christina eventually agreed to have them placed into the veins
on her wrist. And I have that problem too with veins,
Like sometimes they can't my veins roll. They're not good
juicy veins. So she's not him veins. Yeah, I have
good juice veins. I never have a problem with mine.
(37:27):
She was the first woman to be executed in the
state of Arkansas since the state began performing them eighty
seven years prior. In nineteen thirteen. He was the fifth
woman executed in the entire country since the death penalty
was reinstated back in nineteen seventy six, and she was
only twenty eight years old when her heart stopped. Potassium chloride,
(37:50):
the same drugs she ejected into her son and into herself,
is one of the three drugs used when carrying out
her death sentence by lethal injection.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Oh, the irony, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
When I found out that she had done that to
her son with the potassium chloride. I don't know much
about death by lethal injection, but I know there's more
than one.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Yeah, I think you get like a not a I
think you get a painkiller maybe, or something something that
sedate to you.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
I think is one of them, something like a heavy xanax.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yeah, you don't feel the if she's with her her
kids again, and it's just one of those sad.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
It's just sad all around, Like who.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Nobody, This is a terrible case. She's young, her kids are.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Young, I know, and of course what she did was
wrong and absolutely I just don't even understand why she
did it. It's just depression. I guess you know, the
depression and the pressure of life, and I guess, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
And you want the mom to be healthy because healthy
moms are happy kids and could have been done to
help her not done. Be so fatalistic and so final
on everything. Desperate, it has to be desperate. Well, won't
people do when they're desperate?
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Yeah, I kill your five year olds and your two
year old.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
I hate stories like this.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
I hate all of our stories.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
They're just so yeah, Like I like to tell them
just so people are aware, you know, this is really right.
But yeah, at the same time, these absolutely suck. And
if I drank, If I was a drinker, this would
be a problem for me definitely, But thank god I'm not. Yeah,
got job once in a while.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Yeah, thank goodness. I don't have addiction to any kind
of substances because, yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Be happy. It's just so sad.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
The psychology of behind why people do things is always
so interesting to me. So when we tell when you're
telling me the story, I'm trying to figure out, like,
why would.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
She do that? You know what was?
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Yes, the same with like when we tell a story
about a serial killer, I'm like, why why is this person?
You know, feel this compulsion to murder people, So I
just it's just craziness. I guess I don't know, and
as just a sad, sad story, but thank you for
telling it.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
As always my pleasure to brand.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
Absolutely, thank you everyone for listening to this week's episode.
If you haven't done so already, please hit subscribe or
follow on whatever app you're listening to us on if
you would like more episodes of Shannon and I and
also some older episodes of Tala and I. We have like, oh,
there's probably five hundred episodes in our Patreon. If you
(40:32):
are finding us now or if you just recently found us,
there's a whole treasure trove of episodes, yeah, that you
could go to. You can find them on patreon dot com,
slash t and Tea Crimes, or you can subscribe by
going to the Apple podcast app if that's how you're
listening to us now, and you can sign up and
(40:53):
become a member and get one new episode a week
in addition to the free episode that we release. Check
it out and go to our website Crimes and Consequences
dot com. There's information about becoming a Patreon. There, there's
information about our episodes and all of that good stuff,
and I think that's probably all the business.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
I think it is all right you until next time,
my friends, I love you.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
Until next time, I'll talk to you.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Bye.
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