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[man] This thing inside of me,
it's like...
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...the appetite.
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It's like a wolf that's...
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...feeling the hunger.
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[male reporter]
This is where the Brown County Sheriff's Department
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found the body of
Rhonda Chantay Blankinship
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on County Road 424.
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They're calling
her death a homicide.
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[female reporter] Blankinship
died from a crushed larynx,
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then blunt force injuries
to her neck, face, and torso.
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Sheriff Vance Hill says
some of those injuries were caused
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by a lawn mower blade
found near her body.
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[male reporter] Brown County
Law Enforcement arrested
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21-year-old Ryan Riggs
for capital murder.
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The break in the case came
when the sheriff's office released a computerized sketch
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of Riggs using his DNA.
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Blankinship and Riggs went
to the same church.
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[male reporter] Pastor Keener
says Riggs then went before the entire congregation
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and confessed to killing
fellow church member, Chantay Blankinship
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before turning himself in.
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[Pastor Keener] He said,
"I need to confess something."
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And in that confession,
he, uh,
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he said,
"I've done something real bad. I murdered her."
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He says that
he's killed Chantay, but there's no real emotion,
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there's nothing
in his body language that suggests
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that he's experiencing
any real stress.
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He's not shaking,
he's not showing any outward or visible signs of stress.
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He's somewhat
matter-of-fact about the whole thing.
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And those are some
of the indications that start to suggest
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that there is
a psychopathic presence.
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He's owning that
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he has strong impulses
to do things that
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he's told he shouldn't do,
it invokes Satan.
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It feels evil to him.
It comes to him very naturally.
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And so that's what's
interesting about him.
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He's aware of these
feelings that he has,
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these urges that he has
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to do things
that he knows aren't right,
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but it bothers him
that it doesn't bother him.
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The way that Riggs
hangs out with Chantay
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and describes
that they're sitting in the car,
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they're flirting,
they're listening to music...
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There is an element
of manipulation in this,
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that he is basically trying
to pull her in
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and, and get her
to feel comfortable.
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It is an effort to disarm her,
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so that ultimately
he'll have greater control and power over her.
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What he chose to do
was harm her, torture her,
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drag her off,
and then bludgeon her,
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and all of those indications
suggest somebody
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who's got paraphilic
interests.
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Paraphilias are
deviant sexual interests.
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What we're talking about
is an individual who gets sexually aroused
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by creating harm and fear
in their victims.
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The nonconsensual component
of that sexual activity
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is the point of arousal.
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This is an example
of his sadistic tendencies and desires.
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He is going above and beyond.
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At this point,
she's presumably already dead,
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which is a very
personal action to take, and full of rage,
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so it's an enhanced
level of sadism
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that he is getting
some sort of pleasure
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out of being
so violent with her.
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Riggs may have been
keeping the shoes
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because, functionally,
they were nice shoes,
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but more likely,
he kept them as a trophy.
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He kept them
as a reminder of the crime and what he had done.
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And the dubious part
about it is that
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they were hidden
in plain sight.
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They were part of the weapons
used in this crime that harmed her.
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And ultimately,
nobody at that point suspected
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that he had anything to do
with Chantay's disappearance,
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much less her rape
and her murder.
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And to walk around
with those shoes on
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for some time after
she was killed and found
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really does start to speak
to someone who is reliving it.
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[Dr. Daniel Mundy]
His victim selection is really important to his MO.
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He's keeping it close to home.
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He very easily could've gone
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somewhere else
to find a victim
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in a different community
and then just come back.
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Part of targeting her is...
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...because her absence
will be noted,
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that's doing
something for him.
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It calls to mind, like, the,
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the arsonist who goes
to watch the fire, in a way.
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[Dr. Chriscelyn Tussey]
Individuals who are psychopaths
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purposely target the weaker
and the more vulnerable
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because they can
be easy targets.
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He viewed her
as an easy target because of her size
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and her cognitive limitations.
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And it's an opportunity
for him to take control,
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exact his will
and desires,
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and not have
to fight too hard for it.
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[Dr. Mundy] He's saying,
"It's evil in me." But it's, it's him.
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When he says nothing's going
through his mind,
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I don't think that's actually
how it's happening. I don't think he's lying,
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but I think he has a hard time
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kind of tapping into the part
of his brain that feels
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just very natural
doing these things
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that seem so unnatural
to most people.
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So Riggs' decision
to confess
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was not because
he was overcome by guilt.
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It's not because he was
overcome by regret or remorse
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for what he'd done
to another human being.
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It's because he knew
that he was going to be found.
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It may have been
his attempt to remain in control of the narrative,
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which is, "I'm a good person
who did a bad thing,
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and I have all this
remorse and regret."
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[Dr. Tussey]
Hard to say about his expression of suicidality
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if he genuinely
had been suicidal
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or if he's saying it
in order to garner sympathy
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and perhaps impact
the outcome of his case,
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or maybe it's
a little bit of both,
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but his other actions
and statements
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throughout this interview
and in the records
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do not paint the picture
of someone
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who is riddled with grief
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and remorse over his actions.
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[Dr. Tussey]
This is an early red flag
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for future violent behavior,
even sadistic behavior.
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Individuals who hurt
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those that are more
vulnerable to them,
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whether we're talking about
an animal or a human being,
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are people who tend
to be particularly callous
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and not have the same
respect for humanity
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that the majority
of society does.
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So this small animal was
another easy victim for him.
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[Dr. Mundy] When we get
into drug use
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and drug experimentation,
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we're in that
novelty seeking realm.
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One of the features
with psychopathy
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can be just increased
stimulation needs.
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That, they, they need
something new,
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they need something
stimulating, exciting,
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and that can
frequently be drugs,
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it can be a lot
of other things,
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but we're seeing that
in his own description.
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[Dr. Nameeta Sahni]
Psychopathic individuals are difficult to spot,
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often times because
they're highly motivated to manipulate people
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and to become
what we call chameleon-like.
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They know how to mimic
just the surface
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of typical human behaviors
and emotions.
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Riggs was someone
who blended in to the community.
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The sheer fact that
he went undetected as long as he did
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speaks to his willingness
and ability
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to manipulate others
and to pretend.
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[male reporter]
Why'd it take you a year and a half
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to confess, Mr. Riggs?
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Why'd it take you
18 months to confess?