Riggs pleads guilty to second-degree murder

UPDATE: Kristen McAdam said Monday her life was forever changed May 29, 2010 when her husband, Jeffrey McAdam, was murdered at an Interstate 80 rest stop near Victor.

“It turned it upside down and tore apart what I knew and loved to be normal,” Kristen McAdam said.

Peter Riggs took a man away from a wife, a dad from his children, a son away from his mother and a brother away from his sibling that day, Kristen McAdam said in a victim impact statement read during Riggs' second-degree murder pleading and sentencing in Iowa County District Court in Marengo.

“Jeff had touched the lives of thousands, not only in Iowa but across the USA and world,” Kristen McAdam said. “He was no celebrity, but he was and always will be loved by all of us and those thousands of people. You may have taken his life, but his spirit will always live on.”

Jeffrey McAdam, 46, of Victor, was shot and killed by Riggs, 33, of Columbus, Neb., as McAdam was working at the rest stop. There is no explanation for the shooting, and none was offered in court Monday.

Riggs pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and admitted to shooting and killing McAdam that day. He declined to speak before he was sentenced to 50 years in prison for second-degree murder.

Riggs' attorney, Johnson County Public Defender Peter Persaud, said Riggs didn't want to say anything, but wanted Persaud to tell McAdam's family he was sorry for what happened that day, and that if he could turn back time, things would have been different.

Persaud said he had no answers for why this happened to their loved one.

Riggs was charged with first-degree murder and his trial was set to start Tuesday, but a plea agreement was reached late Friday.

Assistant Iowa County Attorney Lou McMeen said after the hearing that in preparing witnesses for the trial, the state had concerns the judge, since it was going to be a bench trial, might find Riggs guilty of a lesser charge such as manslaughter. Prosecutors didn't know if they could prove malice aforethought – that the shooting was a premeditated act, an element of first-degree murder.

“We don't know why (this happened),” McMeen said. “He is a somewhat, a low functioning individual and don't know if he knows. We have no answers.”

McMeen said the family was informed about their concerns and were satisfied with the second-degree plea because Riggs will have to serve 35 of the 50 years before being eligible for parole.

McAdam was shot and killed in the men's bathroom at the rest stop, and Riggs was apprehended later that night when he pulled over on the shoulder of I-80 in Johnson County and told a county deputy he was wanted.

Police searched his car and recovered the murder weapon, a 9mm handgun, as well as another 9mm handgun, a stun gun, ammunition and a double bladed martial arts knife.

While in jail pending his trial, Riggs had written letters to the court stating he wanted to plead guilty to the crime and also confessed to shooting McAdam. In one letter, Riggs said he shot McAdam because he hated him. He also, at different times, wanted to fire his attorney but later would withdraw the requests.

Reporter Trish Mehaffey provided live coverage of the hearing Monday from the courtroom. Replay the live coverage below.