A MAN’S terrifying confession in front of his whole church congregation has cracked a murder case wide open.
Chantay Blankinship’s death is the subject of Dateline’s new special, The Haunted House Confession, but the details of the case are even more shocking than they appear on screen.
The 25-year-old woman went for a leisurely nighttime walk around her neighborhood in Brownwood, Texas, on May 13, 2016.
A massive search was underway when Blankinship was reported missing late that evening.
Law enforcement worked with local volunteers to search tirelessly for the young woman.
Two days after the community-wide search began, a pair of volunteers found Blankinship’s blood-soaked remains lying face down with just a t-shirt on thrown into a cellar of a dilapidated, abandoned house.
An autopsy later revealed that she had been strangled and died due to blunt force trauma to the head.
Police also determined that Blankinship was sexually assaulted and found a bloody lawnmower at the abandoned house.
Blankinship’s death came as a shock to her whole community.
Her friends and family described her as being smiley and pleasant to everyone she met. She sang in the North Lake Community Church choir, The Texas Prosecutor reported.
The young woman had been diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder as a child, making it impossible for her to read or write.
Blankinship also had a speech impediment and was not able to live independently, requiring her to share a house with her grandmother, boyfriend, and other family members.
SEARCH FOR A KILLER
After Blankinship’s body was found, a massive search for her murderer began.
Days, weeks, and months went by before police had any solid evidence of who they believed her killer was.
Investigators took DNA samples from men in the community, but none of them matched the DNA found on the victim’s body, Movidelic reported.
Crime stoppers offered a $5,000 reward for anyone who knew the perpetrator, yet no new leads were found.
It wasn’t until months later that a detective on the case discovered DNA phenotyping, which uses DNA technology to provide more information on a suspect’s physical traits.
These traits could include color, hair color, skin tone, and facial structure.
Using DNA phenotyping, police created a mock image of what the suspect may look like, leading to one of Blankinship’s brothers noticing similarities between the suspect and Ryan Derek Riggs.
Chantay Blankinship’s murder timeline
Blankinship’s body was found in the cellar of an abandoned house, but her murderer wasn’t revealed until 18 months later when he made a shocking confession during church.
- May 13, 2016: Chantay Blankinship is reported missing sparking a community-wide search for her
- May 15, 2016: Blankinship’s body is found in a cellar of an abandoned home
- November 15, 2017: Ryan Riggs confesses to the murder in front of his church
- May 2019: Riggs is sentenced to life in prison
A SHOCKING CONFESSION
Investigators quickly began gathering materials to make a case against Riggs, when the suspect shockingly admitted to the crime at church on November 15, 2017.
The 21-year-old stood up in front of his congregation and told the crowd in a shocking seven-word confession, “I’m a murderer. I killed Chantay Blankinship.”
Riggs went directly to the police station with his parents and pastor, where he gave a two-hour confession.
In the confession, Riggs said he saw Blankinship walking by the community mailboxes and asked if she wanted to hang out.
The two were talking for a bit before Riggs began strangling her and then stripped her of her clothes.
After raping her and knocking her unconscious, the young man took her to the secluded Victorian house and hit her with a lawn mower blade.
“I need to make sure she doesn’t wake up and tell on me,” Riggs told investigators.
COMMUNITY REACTS
Michelle and Ryan Riggs, the parents of the killer, were a part of the search for Blankinship’s body.
“It really bothered me that the person who had done it had not been caught,” Michelle told the Austin-American Statesman.
“I was praying about it and I was praying for the person who did it. I was praying for her family, for us, just for everyone who was hurt by it.
“I was asking that God would just make that person just so miserable that they just couldn’t stand it, that they had to do the right thing. And I heard God’s voice say ‘even if it’s your own son?’ I just had to stop because I didn’t want to go any further in that conversation. But I said ‘yes.’”
Riggs’ parents, along with the rest of the neighborhood, were stunned to find out he was involved.
“Both of them were in our church. That’s what it made it doubly difficult,” Ron Keener, pastor of Northlake Community Church, told ABC affiliate KTXS.
“He knows the consequences of what he did, and those played out (Friday) in court.”
In May 2019, Riggs pled guilty to capital murder and will now be serving life in jail.
“There is a lot of peace right now, to know it’s over we won’t have to go through this anymore,” Blankinship’s mother told KTXS.
