Illustration by Leah Abucayan/CNN

“Mom, I’ve got to tell you something.”

It was an evening in late October 2012, the leaves turning orange in Mindy Sigg’s Denver suburb, when her life turned upside down.

The single mother of two had come home from work and taken a shower when she found her 17-year-old sitting in her bed.

“Is this,” she asked, “about Jessica?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m a monster.”

For weeks, the community of Westminster, Colorado, had been consumed by the disappearance of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway , who had vanished earlier that month while walking to school. Days earlier, police had announced Jessica was dead, part of her body having been found and later identified as the missing girl.

Soon, Sigg was on the phone with Westminster Police, sharing with them the news

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