WESTMINSTER, Colo., Oct. 29 (UPI) -- After the killing of Jessica Ridgeway, Halloween in Westminster, Colo., will involve more vigilance, local parents say.
Schools and churches are adding security and better lighting for outdoor Halloween events, and there is a new awareness that even neighborhood kids may be masking homicidal urges or a desire to commit a copycat crime, the Denver Post reported Monday.
Austin Sigg, 17, was arrested on charges of abduction and murder in the death and dismemberment of Jessica, 10, and one count each of attempted abduction and attempted murder of a 22-year-old woman in a separate incident May 28.
"I was just asking my husband what this means for us. He said, 'I feel like we've turned a corner. The freedoms we had are not there anymore,'" said Lisa Repenning of Westminster, adding her 12-year-old child is no longer permitted to walk alone to a park three blocks away.
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Ron Leach, pastor of Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, said he expects 20,000 people at the church Fall Fest, up from estimates of 15,000 to 18,000 last year.
"We're hearing that parents are looking for a safe, alternative place, rather than traditional trick-or-treating," he said.
Law enforcement officials and experts are pondering Sigg's alleged dismemberment of his victim, a rarity in murder cases, the newspaper said.
"The amount of violence, the pathology in that, is remarkable at any age, but especially for a teen. That's very unusual," retired FBI profiler Gregg McCrary said.
Comparing lists of the approximately 200 U.S. serial killers since the 1800s, indicates only about a dozen dismembered their victims, and all were typically much older than 17, the newspaper said.
"Dismemberment is a rarity for killers of every age and background, as it is time-consuming, hard work and distasteful to most humans," said forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz of the Threat Assessment Group in Newport Beach, Calif.
