The Haunted House Confession

27:40Death, yes, but someone that was killed, you know, that was murdered, it was too close. And I was like, no, this doesn't happen here. Not at all. But it had happened. And as investigators looked for Shante's killer, those closest to her were under scrutiny. When we're doing any of these investigations, who are the first people you look at as boyfriend? John Adams, Shantae's live-in boyfriend. At 26, he was a year older than Shantae. They'd known each other since middle school, had been a couple for more than three years. They were even starting to talk about marriage. John meant a lot to her. She meant a lot to him.

28:24That's what mattered to Shantae's family. They made it clear to John that Shantae was special and needed to be protected. So with John, I think there was a lot of conversations between him and other family members about it. And I think they trusted him to not ever take advantage of her and to treat her right. Two days after Shantae's body was found, investigators paid John a visit. Hello. Car log over. What's your name? John Adams. John Adams? John recognized the deputy from a traffic stop. You pulled me over before. I pulled you over before for what? Oh, down there on Sushi-Bwitson Road. Oh, okay.

29:08Is this where you all live in here? Yeah. Can we go inside? Yeah. John led them to the bedroom he shared with Shantae. Is there anything missing out of here? No. They studied the room. Can we have this brush? took pictures and examined Chante's belongings. Just going to dump this out.

29:32So she goes everywhere with her purse, but she just didn't have her purse today. Then they went back outside. That's when they let John know they weren't just looking for clues. They were looking at him. And normally, boyfriends are like, going to be the number one suspect a lot of times. And also a lot of times when we do these, we do find another suspect. So when we do find the real killer, then we can say, oh, we covered that base. They walked around the property looking into outbuildings. What is that on that hammer? Is that for pulling out nails or something? They took pictures of John's pickup truck and were interested to see a lot of lawnmowers in the shed.

30:19Man, do you guys have a lawn care service or something? Remember, it was a lawnmower blade that killed Shantae. That was missing, that was tore up. They also wanted to know about John's relationship with Shantae. Investigators had heard it was loving, but could be tense at times. It was strained. They weren't the Ozzie and Harriet. They weren't perfect. Shantae liked to wave at boys, and boys would wave back, and it made her feel good. That made him a little jealous. Now, she didn't mean anything by it, but John was a little bit jealous, so it upset him some. Did you ever learn that Shantae had complained to neighbors about John sometimes wanting to control her?

31:07Sure. Would tell her what to eat, what not to eat, where she could go, where she couldn't go. Bitsy Hobbs, one of Shantae's friends, told investigators she heard the couple fighting. Shantae sounded angry. You have no control over me. You cannot tell me what to do. You know, I went on cussing. He said, I'm your boyfriend. I have a right. She said, no, you don't. You do not have control over me. I'll see whoever I want to. I think talking to witnesses who had spoken to John prior to the homicide, that he was worried about the relationship and didn't know how much longer it was going to last. So he was thinking it may come to an end soon.

31:58Quite possible. You know, could this have been a spat, an argument, and that's why, you know, she was killed? We didn't know at that time. But they were about to find out. They had a stack of questions for John Adams. For starters, what did he do with his phone? These text messages that you deleted, and you know what I'm talking about, because you even told somebody, hey, my phone's clean.

32:37I spoke with John Harper the first night and stuff, told my side of the story. John Adams seemed like a friendly guy when he met investigators. Who lives here? Charlie Barnett. And this is where you live too? Yes, sir. But friendly didn't mean innocent. We didn't know if he knew more about what had happened to Shantae than what he was actually telling us. Did you bring him in? We did bring him in and asked him what was going on. So we had a good timeline of where Shantae was at, and we needed to see where he was at during that time. The last time you talked, you were on the phone. John said that around 5 p.m., he picked Shante up at the restaurant where neighbors had seen her that afternoon.

33:17So he picked her up and took her to where? To the house. And dropped her off? No. And went to the shower. And then, uh, we're there. John said he then went to work at his restaurant job around 6 p.m. So he left and she stayed there? Yeah. Is that what time you have to be at work? Are you supposed to be at work at 6? Well, it was 9.

33:44He said he worked an overnight shift and got home around 5 the next morning. Shantae wasn't there. He thought maybe she was at a friend's place.

34:02They dug into his relationship with Shantae. Do you have another girlfriend? No. Another girl in the top, too, that you don't have to. No. No? I'm a faithful man. I'm a lawyer. Did she ever tell you that she had been sexually intimate with anybody else? I never said anything about that. I would ask her. Did she just say no, or she just avoided the conversation? She avoided the conversation, or she said no. After that interview, John was free to go. But investigators found something while searching his cell phone data. He had given us his cell phone to download. We looked at that and noticed that there was some communication that had been deleted.

34:45So we had to pull him back in. Some messages? Some messages. This time, the conversation was less friendly on both sides. Do you delete your text messages? Yeah. Okay. And apparently you deleted some yesterday before you showed up. That was way early. No, that's not what these text messages that you deleted. And you know what I'm talking about because you even told somebody, hey, my phone's clean. So why don't you tell me about that? John admitted he was trying to hide something, but not about Shantae. I smoke weed and I just don't want that. That's one thing that would be in there. You know, he said, hey, this is what was going on.

35:28I was using drugs, and those messages were in reference to buying and selling marijuana. And so that's how I explained it. They interviewed John four times. They were pressured me. We interviewed him, too, and asked him what it was like to be grilled like that. You could tell that when they were talking to you, they weren't just trying to get information. They were thinking that you had something to do with it. They're trying to pressure me to confess what they're trying to do. Were you upset? I was. I was very upset. It hurt. I don't have a bone in my body to do something like that to someone.

36:10He told us the same thing he told investigators. His relationship with Chante was not perfect, but it was solid. Were there ever any rocky moments? Uh, there was things, you know, she'd just get mad for certain reasons. There'd be times where I just had to, I'd walk away, you know, I wouldn't yell really at her or argue with her, you know. But, I mean, learning how we stayed together, you know, made it work, you know. Even if there were ups and downs between the two of you? Yeah. It wasn't just investigators. John knew neighbors were quick to assume the boyfriend was to blame. But he told us what some saw as controlling behavior was his way of protecting Shante.

37:07Investigators needed to check out everything John told them, including what he said about other men in town. like a guy named Bobby Sosa, who John said liked to throw parties. He lived in the area. He was always seen driving around that area. Shantae's friend told investigators she'd seen a red and white Bronco in the neighborhood the night Shantae disappeared, that the driver waved at them and seemed creepy. They tracked down Sosa and confirmed he drove a red and white Bronco and brought him in for questioning at the sheriff's office. Sosa said he did drive by Shante on her walk that night, but that was it.

37:56Did investigators search his house, search his car? They searched everything. He was, come in my house, search my vehicle, look anywhere you want. So he was very open. Absolutely. He also shared where he'd been that night. He had gone to another residence, and there were multiple individuals there that he didn't leave till late that evening. Were you able to verify that? We were able to verify that. The pressure to find Shante's killer was mounting. We just know that they're out there. It's scary. You were preparing for a manhunt. We were getting ready for a manhunt. It would all come to a head in a place they least expected.

38:37I remember saying, please don't tell me he's talking about Shantae. Please don't tell me. That place that Shantae loved most of all. We want to hate you, but we can't.

39:04John Adams, Chante's serious boyfriend, was an obvious person to look at. Even more so after investigators found out he'd been deleting text messages from his phone. So why don't you tell me about that? Investigators checked out his story and confirmed those deleted text messages were just about marijuana. So you caught him in something else, but not murder. Correct. They were also able to get security video from the restaurant where John worked, along with the timesheets. He told us exactly where he was, what he had done, and everything he told us was truthful. So he gave you an alibi and you were able to verify it?

39:45Yes, through video. I mean, it doesn't get much better alibi than that. He was just worried and upset that his fiancée had been killed. He wanted to figure out who had done this also. I want to ask you, John, what do you miss the most about Shante?

40:02The most I miss about Shante?

40:11Her laughter. It made life easier when she smiled and just laughed and not mad at you. She was like my best friend. John as a suspect was a dead end. But that didn't mean talking to him was a waste of time. Not at all. We still needed more information of potential suspects that might be involved in the case. So we had to continue to try to keep him on our side to get as much information as we could. John gave them another name, a name they heard from other neighbors, Colin Smith. When we started doing interviews, his name had been mentioned multiple times. Colin was in his 20s, did some lawn mowing and odd jobs around town, and he lived just around the corner from Shantae.

41:06Shantae went missing and it was right there by Colin's house. Here's where Colin was living at the time. And it kind of backs up back to the road to where Shantae was living at too. So she would have had to walk down this area the day that she went missing. John Adams told investigators Colin was a troublemaker.

41:37And Shante's stepdad, Stephen, recalls that months before the murder, Colin took Shante out for a late-night joyride. Stephen was furious. What did you say? I just asked him what he was doing with her, and I made her get out of the vehicle and told him to stay away from her. You told him to stay away from her? Yes. Did he? As far as my knowledge, yes. But Ranger Shea heard that's not what Colin did. Miss McBee that had been walking with Shante had told us that Colin Smith had purchased her some shoes recently. Shante also told her friend Colin wanted to meet up the night she disappeared. Saying, hey, meet me out by the barn tonight, but don't tell anybody.

42:28To Shante? Yes. She told me Colin told her to meet him in the shed behind his house that night and not to tell anybody. That very well meant that Colin could have been the last person to see her alive. Sure, and that's what we were thinking. Is he the one? Did she say something that upset him? In my opinion, he was a number one that we needed to talk to. Shea went to see him in person. How you doing, sir? I'm Jason Shea. I'm with the Texas Rangers. What's your name? Colin. How did you find him? Did he seem shifty to you? He really didn't. There was a little bit of concern. I mean, that's ridiculous that I'm even being looked at.

43:17Like other neighbors investigators spoke to, Colin said he did see Shante the night she disappeared, but only from a distance. He'd seen her pass by his house on her last walk. But probably around the last time we seen her, it was around 6.37. Shantae was just a friend, Colin said. But he told investigators that she was interested in more than friendship. I would have changed my number because she would call it from like 6.30 in the morning to like midnight at night. Just call, hang up, call, hang up, call, hang up. Like a high school girl. Yeah. Did y 'all have any type of physical relationship at all?

43:58Mm-mm. So never. Investigators wanted to ask him more questions, this time hooked up to a lie detector.

44:12But right before they got started, a key part of his story changed. He admitted he did have a physical relationship with Shantae.

44:28Colin told police he didn't know Shante and John were serious.

44:43He ended up admitting that he had been in a sexual relationship with her. Was that the only thing he'd been hiding? Wired up to the machine, the questions got very specific. Did you physically cause the death of Shante? No. You don't know how she died? Not at all. You don't know what kind of weapon was used? The investigator told Colin the results of the tests were not good. I've done a lot of these tests. I'm looking at this and I'm showing deception. was that a red flag that's a big red flag i'm telling you right now that something is causing you issues on this and i want to get down to the bottom of it if you didn't kill her i have no idea i didn't i didn't do it bottom line colin who'd been cooperative up to this point seemed eager to leave you still want to cooperate right yeah don't make me out to be the bad guy here we're I'm serious, probably.

45:46I will hire a lawyer. Hey, I don't give a one way or another if you're going to hire a lawyer. Do you not sit there and try to threaten me? I'm going to threaten you. You're the one that's in here cooperating, are you not? Yes, sir. I thought you said we were done, though. Okay. Go ahead and put your hands together, please. I thought you said we were done. I'm sorry. Colin stayed long enough to give them his alibi. He'd been at his brother's house, he said, about 10 miles away. Where did you stay that night? I'm watching my brother's living room. fall asleep watching basketball games. Texas Ranger Shea and I knew we had to get to the brother to talk to him before Colin could.

46:22To get the true story and not Colin calling his brother and saying, hey, cover for me. Would Colin's alibi check out? Or would police be forced to consider a whole new theory? It felt like it couldn't have been a first-time killer.

46:53Investigators thought they might finally be getting somewhere. In a room with a young man they found highly suspicious. Colin Smith was my main focus. Colin had initially lied to detectives about his relationship with Chante. And when they hooked him up to that polygraph, it seemed he still wasn't telling the whole story. Colin told the polygrapher that he had an alibi. He was with his brother, but couldn't explain why he failed the polygraph. Investigators raced to talk to Colin's brother before he could, and the brother confirmed his alibi. It's not just his brother that we talked to. Who else is there with you?

47:35They also talked to his niece and nephew, who said they saw Colin too. Of course, they're family members. So we've got to look at that, too. It's not the strongest alibi. It's not the strongest because, you know, family members will cover family members. Investigators also took Colin's DNA and sent it to the crime lab. How does that come back? It come back that he's not a match to the DNA that was found on her body. So you're able to clear him. Yes. Another dead end. By now, DNA results were coming in from the other men they'd talked to. Shantae's boyfriend, John, was not a match. Neither was neighbor Bobby Sosa.

48:16Nobody may have ever looked in that cellar. It may have been years. And the DNA also proved those searchers who found Shantae were exactly what they appeared to be, good Samaritans. Far from suspects, they had been a blessing to the investigation. We were very lucky, very blessed. There's all kinds of predatory animals out here, coyotes, bobcats, stray dogs, any kind of occasional mountain lion. If we hadn't have found her, that's probably what would have found her, some kind of animal. The timely discovery of Shante's body was a stroke of luck that, to investigator Bird, felt like divine intervention.

48:58But that luck seemed to be running out as they tore through lead after lead. How many calls were coming in that you guys had to chase down? A lot, hundreds. At first, it was just try this name, try this name, try this name. And you all have to chase after each and every one. Anytime somebody called in and said, hey, this person was in the neighborhood, we'd go talk to them and we would ask the male for a buccal swab to take their DNA. Investigators collected samples from at least two dozen men, including Shante's grandfather, Charlie. It seemed unthinkable the doting Charlie could be the killer, but Shante's mom was in favor of testing him.

49:43You thought he could have possibly been involved. Everybody was involved. Nobody was ruled out in your eyes. Nobody was ruled out in my eyes. It wasn't the grandfather. And it also wasn't anyone in CODIS, the National Law Enforcement DNA Database. Back to square one. Back to square one. Just heart-wrenching. Heart-wrenching for everyone in Chante's quiet lakeside neighborhood. As weeks went by, and then months. We just know that they're out there. It's scary. Out there and possibly right there in the community. Right. Is this a neighbor? Is this a friend? Everybody was scared. The kids that walked out there constantly started pairing up.

50:27Nobody walked alone. It snatched away that feeling of safety. Yeah, it did. From the whole community. Everybody, everybody started locking doors. I'm sure there were people who were out there wondering if they were, you know, eating supper beside the person who had done this. At Shante's church, parishioners were desperate for answers. I can't believe they would take such a precious person. She meant so much to Linda and I and to the community. Pastor, how are you, sir? The pastor hounded investigators for updates. Called me every day, every two days, every three days, wanting to know what we found and asking questions about the evidence.

51:10Asking about the case. Yes. And because no one was above suspicion, investigators even wondered about the pastor himself. When somebody becomes too involved in your case, sometimes they're trying to figure out what you do know, what you have found out. what you haven't found out, to protect themselves. That went nowhere. And while authorities suspected the killer was someone Shante knew, they couldn't rule out other theories. Did you ever consider the possibility that you were dealing with a serial killer? You know, that's always a possibility of things that we look at. There was absolutely a thought process of, you know, look for other similar patterned crimes to see because it felt so brutal that it felt like it couldn't have been a first-time killer.

52:03Alicia Bird was still thinking about that strange symbol on Shante's chest. What could it mean? The disappearance on Friday the 13th and the location where she was found, it just all... The haunted house. You're looking for some sort of cohesiveness. You're looking for some theory of the case. A lot of sleepless nights laying there wondering, what did I miss today? Did I talk to this person today? It makes you start second-guessing yourself. What are you missing? You were really taking this case personally. Absolutely. Investigator Byrd's wife could see the case was weighing heavily on her husband.

52:43The great thing with us both being in this field is we're able to give each other that space, recognizing that he needs to be able to think and to figure out what his next investigatory step will be. Shante's family feared the investigation had hit a wall. Seemed like that nothing was getting done to me. Desperate for answers, Shante's stepfather admits he badgered his neighbors. I would stop everybody that drove by the house. I was out there morning to dark, trying to find out answers. I caused a lot of problems out there. I wanted to know. You were desperate. That was your girl. Yeah, man. You start thinking at that point, no, probably never actually find who did this.

53:36They told me they would never stop, but in my eyes, they had stopped. because they were doing stuff that I didn't know at the time. What she didn't know was that Investigator Bird was about to take a leap of faith with a cutting-edge technology. Maybe this would reveal the face of the killer. I'm willing to try anything. It very much seemed too good to be true.

54:14One year after Shante was murdered, her mom organized a memorial. Friends and family came together and walked Shante's route. Everybody was out of breath. We didn't know how she did it. Well, that was her thing. That was her thing. It was. She loved it. Everybody always talked about her. You know, all the beautiful moments, you know, everybody's seen her. Most of them are her walking and her smile. and she had this little walk where her little honey shook. That's how you remember her, seeing her, like living out there on that road with her being gone. I could see her. Those were difficult days for everyone.

54:51Those who loved her spent hours by her grave, the stone inscribed singing in the angels' choir. Her stepfather, Stephen, was grieving and feeling guilty. Before she went missing, he told Shante he might take her fishing on that Friday. Instead, he picked up an extra shift at work. It's been hard. Real hard. Because I figured if I wouldn't have went to work that weekend, I should still be here. You think through all these what-ifs. And I blame myself every day. The Le Mans were suffering too. I cried for months and months. Afterward, it came to the point where it was unsolved. It hurt. I was really angry that, you know, if I said, man, if I just get five minutes alone with this guy and, you know, that's not a proper way to think.

55:45But, you know, still, you know, they took something from all of us. Despite all the leads the investigators had run down, Shante's killer was still out there. Now, like a losing football team, they were ready for a Hail Mary. I was trying anything I could. We were lost. We didn't know what the next step was. Bird felt incredibly frustrated. He couldn't crack the case, even though he had the killer's DNA. It tells us who the killer is. It doesn't give us a name, but it tells us who did this, and it's undisputable. So what you have in your hand is quite possibly the best piece of evidence in terms of identifying someone, but no name.

56:33Right. That's how I've described it to people. I know exactly who you are. Then Bird heard about a new DNA technique his department had never used. The process is called phenotyping. It uses DNA to predict the way a person looks, eye, hair, and skin color, among other things. Back in 2017, it was a shiny new tool for law enforcement. One of our investigators, who doesn't work for us anymore, saw a show on TV. And it was about phenotyping. And he told me about it. Bird Googled it and called around. So you're hearing success stories. Correct. And thinking, this could work for us too. Right. But when the investigator ran it by others, he hit a wall of skepticism, including his wife, Alicia, in the district attorney's office.

57:26It felt very television-esque. It felt like something that you see on TV, but it doesn't really happen that way in real criminal cases. And so it very much felt like a science fiction idea. You doubted it from the very beginning. From the very beginning, I didn't believe that it would work. This is not a TV show. This is not a TV show, and this is not—they can't do that with DNA. You had a lot of people to convince. I did, including the sheriff, the district attorney. And then I had to convince them to give me some more money. That couldn't have been easy. That's not easy. The price tag? $3 ,600.

58:09More money for an investigation that was already one of the most expensive this sheriff's office had ever done. Michael Murray is the Brown County District Attorney. Did you have concerns about whether or not this would even be admissible in court? Right. It wasn't so much that we needed to use it in court, but we needed a lead that would help lead to real other evidence. And so sometimes while it may not be the primary evidence you use in court, if it leads to other evidence, that would be the important aspect here. Finally, they all agreed. It was time for that Hail Mary. They got the money.

58:47and the DNA was submitted to a lab owned by a Virginia tech company called Parabon. You thought there goes$3 ,600 down the drain? Yes, I think the county just wasted some money. Five months later, Investigator Byrd got an email. It was late afternoon. I pulled it up and it said the image was included. Oh goodness. What are you thinking before you open this picture? I hope I recognize the person. I hope this gives me an idea of who the person is. This is the image in the email. So I opened it and I had no clue. It was just a stranger. Zero recognition. Zero. Did you see it? I did. Did you think that it looked like a person?

59:31I mean, did it seem like, hey, this could lead us somewhere? It looked like, to me, it looked like every white kid out at North Lake. It could have been anybody. Not exactly the miracle they were hoping for. Still, they posted it on social media and pinned their hopes on the public, the chance that somebody out there just might recognize this face. I mean, you're like, I have no idea. This looks like just an average white boy with blonde, sandy blonde hair. And it's like, I don't know who that could be. We look at the sketch, me and my husband, and nothing. Did anything about it stand out to you?

1:00:09Nothing. Nothing. Did not. Not familiar, nothing notable. My dad looked at it. Nobody knew it. Shante's sister studied it and was struck by its sophistication. You know, you grow up looking at the news and, you know, they're looking for the guy who did whatever and it's like a stick figure and it looks like something you could have drew in art class. This was way advanced, you know, compared to anything that you had seen prior to that. But it didn't ring a bell for destiny either. To me, looks like any dude, a pitcher, you know. Everyone felt defeated. Then Michelle got a call from another member of the family, Shante's half-brother.

1:00:54He saw something others didn't and gave his mother a name to look up. My heart hit the floor and I remember crying and I turned and I said, this is him.

1:01:17At first, the Parabon sketch felt like a big dud. Police posted it on social media and showed it to the family, but nothing. Then Michelle's son, Cutter, called her. He said he felt like he knew it right then. Cutter told his mom he was sure the sketch showed somebody he knew, someone named Ryan Riggs. I looked him up, and as soon as I seen that face, my heart hit the floor. And I remember crying, and I turned, and I said, this is him. This is him. All of a sudden, it was almost like somebody turned the lights on, and you were like, there he is. Ryan Riggs was a local, a member of Shantae's church.

1:02:09Cutter knew Riggs from high school and would never forget him. Ryan had bullied Cutter in school and had poured a whole glass of sweet tea over his head. So your son had known him for years. They all did. And they all used to play video games together. Michelle called Scott Bird and gave him the name. You've got a picture. You've got a name. How do you put those together? We went to social media. We basically looked up Ryan Riggs on Facebook, and the picture that popped up of him was the spitting image of the computer image that we'd received. It felt definitive. It felt like here is the answer.

1:02:54We have been looking for a year and a half and we've had nothing and here it is and it's a perfect match. What did you think when you saw that side by side? I started becoming a believer. Maybe it wasn't a waste of$3 ,600. Maybe this is not a waste of money. Investigators still had a lot of work to do. The sketch alone wasn't enough for an arrest. We start diving into Ryan Riggs to find out who he is. They learned that the 21-year-old Riggs loved playing video games online and picked up work doing lawn care. When Shantae first went missing, he'd even been part of the search, riding with John on an ATV.

1:03:41We was yelling her name and just trying to see anything that was out of ordinary or see if we could just get lucky to find her, you know. And Ryan was calling her name too? Yeah, he was. When investigators looked in their own files, they learned more. We found that he was a suspect in an illegal dumping case. That's where he dumped some trash on a county road. Dumping trash is no big deal. But where he dumped it was. Just a half mile from where Shante's body was found, along that same remote country road. So what does that tell you? He knows the area. What's more, in those dark days after Shante's murder, Riggs was a constant presence.

1:04:34Here he is captured on the police surveillance video, attending Shante's funeral, waiting at the entrance to the church, then watching from the doorway. Midway through the service, he gets a program and takes a seat. And then he leaves before it's over. He was at the house for, you know, her wake. He was at our house multiple times with John. Chante's boyfriend. I'd be crying, talking about it, and he'd just act like just normal. He would come into your intimate space and offer comfort, give you hugs. He was there. Standing next to him, he shook my hand. He shook your hand. Yes, ma 'am. The day we buried my daughter.

1:05:26The fact that he was there for some of the most painful moments, that had to feel like the ultimate insult. It was. How could anybody do that? I mean, I just didn't understand. And I was mad just because he was there the whole time and I couldn't see it. And he was right there. After 18 months of hard work, investigators now had a new and urgent priority. Find Ryan Riggs. We find his mom and dad. They let us come in and look in the house. He's not there. They don't know where he is, hasn't been home for several days. After police released the sketch to the public, Riggs had taken off. So now we know Ryan's on the run from us.

1:06:18We fear he's seen the sketch, he's seen the news release. And at this point, you're looking, but... We can't find him. My job at that point was, we're going to have to come up with a plan to locate him. If that's out in the woods, out in the brush, wherever he's at, we've got to find him. You were preparing for a manhunt. We were getting ready for a manhunt. The investigation had been jump-started, and another dramatic development was just around the corner. Not in the woods or the brush, but at the very church that Shante loved. I want you guys to take me to that Wednesday night church service.

1:07:15Ryan Riggs was now the prime suspect in Shantae's murder. But almost a week after the DNA sketch was made public, he was nowhere to be found. Scott Byrd believed he was on the run. We're calling informants. We have this picture out to the police department, our department. Everybody out driving around is looking for him. Russell and Linda Lamond had no idea there was an all-out manhunt underway for the young man they knew from church. He would pop up every once in a while. He was always with his mom and dad or if mom was there by herself. And his sister as well. Yes, his sister. What did you know about Ryan Riggs?

1:08:00Oh, he was a good kid. Good kid. He would do anything for you? Mm-hmm. Anything you would ask him? Hey, can you do this for me? And it would be, yes, ma 'am, yes, sir. We had a community cleanup of one of the homeless shelters. I remember him out there weed-eating, just going to town weed-eating, cleaning up the community. He was very excited about doing it. On November 15, 2017, 18 months after Shantae was murdered, The Le Mans headed to church for a regular Wednesday night service. I want you guys to take me to that Wednesday night church service.

1:08:41Okay, I'll start. When we got to church, there's Ryan's parents, the pastor and his wife, and then I see Ryan in the middle. There was Ryan, not hiding, not on the run, but there in plain sight at the church. We sat down and the pastor said that, you know, Ryan wants to tell us something. And he starts talking, but he's talking about his salvation. And my thought's like, what is he talking about? So you're just lost. I'm lost. and he starts talking about that he had, you know, demon thoughts or he had, you know, voices in his head that was telling him to do things. And then Ryan Riggs, standing alone at the pulpit in front of the whole congregation, said it.

1:09:42He was a murderer. I start crying and I don't even remember everything he said at that point. I want to ask you, Russell, all I had to do was mention that church service and you were almost brought to tears. It was very difficult, very difficult, because when he said, I'm a murderer, I just got sick. I was like, and I remember saying, please don't tell me he's talking about Shante. Hey, please don't tell me. And the pastor's wife was standing next to us. And she goes, yes.

1:10:24And I put my head down. And I was so angry. I was so angry. But I put my head down. I grabbed the pew. And I was like, how? I love this boy. And Pastor saw that he could see the look on my face. You were really conflicted. He goes, Russell, I want you to come stand next to him. And I'm thinking to myself, that's probably not a good idea right now. You know, I'm not an angry person, but I wanted to hurt you for five minutes. I kid you not, because I loved her so much. And now you're being asked to stand next to him. So now I'm being asked to stand up next to him. And I went up to the pulpit, and I put my arms around him, and I embraced him.

1:11:15And I told him I loved him. It was one of the hardest things I had to do. Did you forgive him in that moment? Yes, I did. I did. This is a brutal, cold-blooded murderer, and he's being treated with kid gloves. He's allowed to come to this church where he's very familiar, confess in front of people who love him. Where's the SWAT scene? Where are the dogs? Yeah, yeah. I don't know how he was able to do that at church. And my thought was, he needs to know we're angry. And so before he left, I just put my face in front of a killer's face. You know, I mean, that close. It kind of, it scared me a little bit, but I had grabbed his hands and told Ryan, I said, Ryan, we want to hate you, but we can't.

1:12:14We love you. Because I just wanted him to feel that what he did was wrong. Do you think he felt that? I'm hoping he did. Before that unforgettable scene at the church, Riggs had been on the run for several days. But then he showed up at the church with his parents, told the pastor what he'd done, and asked if he could confess to the congregation. The pastor agreed. So after the confession, what happens? Pastor Keener calls Sheriff Hill and says, I'm bringing in Ryan Riggs. He's just confessed to me in the church of killing Shante. So they all ride to the sheriff's office together. He's not cuffed.

1:13:00He's not arrested. He's just in the car with his parents going to the sheriff's office. The sheriff met him out on the highway and followed him in to make sure Ryan didn't have a change of heart. Investigator Bird and Ranger Shea rushed to the sheriff's office. As you're processing all of this. How can you process that? That he just confessed to the church that he attended, that he's the one that everybody's been looking for for the last 18 months. You know, driving to the sheriff's office, trying to process that million things are going through your mind. Did he really do it? Is he just saying that he did it?

1:13:38This is somebody that you've been pursuing for 18 months, day in and day out. Finally, you're face to face with this person. What was that moment like for you? I kept thinking my job's not done yet. Now it's time to talk. And did he talk? Yes, he did. I've always had this, it's like this different part of me that it just wants nothing but destruction and evil.

1:14:13There's always more to the story. To go behind the scenes of tonight's episode, listen to our Talking Dateline series with Blaine and Josh, available Wednesday.

1:14:32This was the news Michelle had wanted so badly for so long, ever since that terrible Friday the 13th. Her daughter's killer was finally in custody. But she was confused by the way it happened. Ryan Riggs did not confess to authorities. He'd done it in front of the congregation at Shantae's church. This was the place where she would go and find comfort day after day, where she would sing and sit in the pews. The place she loved. How did it feel to know that he had chosen that place, that church, to confess to killing her? I couldn't imagine being a person sitting on that pew when he confessed that.

1:15:18Michelle was angry that the pastor had arranged what Riggs himself described as a moment of salvation. I felt like it was done wrongfully, that he shouldn't have been brought into the church. Should not have been able to step foot in that church. The way he decided to go about telling everybody was like his opportunity to try to cleanse himself or ask for some sort of forgiveness or his way of saying like, hey, look, I'm sorry. I don't believe he was sorry. When Riggs arrived at the sheriff's office after the service, he was finally face to face with Ranger Shea and Investigator Bird. What I'm going to do is take you back a little bit and go through some of this stuff.

1:16:08Where did you find Shantae that day? She was walking past the mailboxes, and I had stopped and asked her if she needed a ride, and she got in my truck. Riggs said they drove around the neighborhood. Then he pulled over in a secluded spot. When y 'all were sitting in the truck talking, what were y 'all talking about? Music. I was letting her go through all my music. and every time she'd play a song, she'd say something like, oh, that's my song. He told investigators that as they sat there in the truck listening to music, something inside of him snapped. Out of nowhere, I just put my left arm around her and began to strangle her.

1:17:02And whenever she had passed out, I took her clothes off and I raped her. While she's unconscious? While she's unconscious. Then what happened? He told us he knew he couldn't let her live because he had raped her. And he couldn't have her talking. I went to the abandoned house. Riggs knew about the haunted house because he'd been there with friends when he was a teenager. I threw her over that fence and then climbed over the fence and dragged her to that tank battery where I had put her. But before I threw her in there, I went back to my truck and got a lawnmower blade out of the back of my truck.

1:17:53And I went back to where she was and I beat her to death with it. I had stomped on her chest as well. So he stomped on her chest to try to kill her. That was the mark. And that's the mark from his shoes. It was an appalling story. But the way Riggs told it was cold, almost methodical. I think whatever came over me knew that she was an easy target. What was his demeanor? Matter of fact. And that's what surprised us also. So there wasn't really a whole bunch of emotion involved in this. It's like this different part of me that it just wants nothing but destruction and evil. It wanted to kill somebody.

1:18:47It wanted to rape. How long have you been having those thoughts before this happened? I've always had these thoughts. That's, we used to have a chihuahua, and I tried on numerous occasions to drown that chihuahua in a five-gallon bucket of water. But I would just hold it there long enough to where I would just think to myself, what am I doing? Your parents never saw you do it? No, I always made sure to do it whenever they were away. As you're sitting there listening to him, what are you thinking? about this guy? This guy's dangerous. This guy's scary. He kills without remorse. And I'm shocked he hadn't done it again.

1:19:35Did you believe that Ryan Riggs would kill again? Absolutely. If you could say something right now to Sean Day, what would you say? That I'm sorry that I did what I did. And whatever I have coming towards me, I deserve. What do you think you deserve? Death for sure. Riggs was charged with capital murder. In the state of Texas, if you commit a murder and there's aggravating circumstances around it, for instance, in this case, sexually assaulting the victim, that by itself transformed this from a regular murder case into a capital murder case. So the death penalty is on the table. At this point, it very much is.

1:20:19But before D.A. Murray went to court to seek the death penalty, he talked to Shante's family. He wanted them to know there is a long process before an execution can be carried out, likely spanning many years. The question is, are you going to be able to get justice for the family in a reasonable period of time that's not going to prolong their agony? Shante's mom decided death was too good for Ryan Riggs. To me, that would have been an easy way out. Easy for him? Easy for him. What? He wouldn't have got to suffer. So the state offered Riggs a deal, a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

1:21:01It was important for our community to have closure. And the finality of being able to tell everyone, we are guaranteed that he will remain in prison. And that was incredibly valuable for our community. Riggs accepted the deal. He was sentenced in February 2019. He will never marry, never have kids, but he's still alive and he can still see his family. He got the choice to live or die and Shantae did not. Michelle feels she knows what would have been in her daughter's heart. She would have forgave him. Do you forgive him? I don't.

1:21:51Shante's loved ones try not to dwell on the man who killed her. Michelle would rather remember her feisty, radiant daughter. When you close your eyes and think about your daughter, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? Her smile. Her smile. Yeah. it doesn't ever go away. I see her all the time.

1:22:24I want people to remember her singing at the choir, walking down the street, waving at people. That's how everybody needs to remember her, not as some sort of a victim. And on the streets where she walked, in the church where she sang, Shante's spirit is still very much alive. Her family visits her on holidays, decorating her grave and picturing her smiling as she sings in the Angels Choir.

1:23:06That's all for this edition of Dateline. We'll see you again next Friday at 9, 8 central. And of course, I'll see you each weeknight for NBC Nightly News. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night.