More than a decade after her disappearance, Nancy Riggins now can have a proper burial. Howard police identified the remains found last month in a wooded area of Hanover as those of Riggins, 37, who was last seen alive in July 1996. Her husband, Paul Stephen Riggins, denied killing her, but last month he unexpectedly led police to the site where he dumped her body, according to police.
“Based on his past, you could only assume that he?s motivated by self-interest,” said Howard State?s Attorney Timothy McCrone, referring to the benefits of cooperating with police when Riggins? becomes eligible for parole in 2016.
“But that?s a ways off, and murderers don?t often get parole the first time.”
Paul Riggins was convicted for his wife?s murder in 2001 in Howard County?s first “no body” homicide case.
But the two detectives who worked on the case for five years, Lt. Chuck Jacobs and Capt. Greg Marshall, never gave up searching for her body.
In a court order requested by Jacobs on Oct. 11, Paul Riggins was briefly released from prison to lead Jacobs and Marshall to a wooded area in Anne Arundel County. They then notified Howard police to begin the excavation. Police have been waiting for the DNA results because the remains were found without a skull and hands, which would have made identification easier.
“We?re very happy for Nancy Riggins? family, that this may bring some closure to them,” said Sherry Llewellyn, police spokeswoman.
The police are conducting an internal investigation into Jacobs? actions because he did not alert his superiors to the mission. Jacobs is not commenting at this time. Marshall no longer works with the Howard County Police Department, Llewellyn said.
“Jacobs is an agent of the Howard County Police Department, so whatever he does in the context of a criminal investigation, he does as a Howard County police officer,” McCrone said. “What Jacobs did, he did with best of intentions.”
