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Morehouse woman sentenced to life in prison for grandmother’s death
NEW MADRID, Mo. — A Morehouse, Missouri, woman who was found guilty of murdering her grandmother will spend the rest of her life in prison.
On Wednesday, Sept. 6, Ashley M. Riggins, 37, was sentenced to life without parole for a first-degree murder charge; 30 years for armed criminal action; 10 years each for two counts of abuse or neglect of child, all to run consecutive with each other; and seven years each for abandonment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. The abandonment of a corpse charge is to run consecutive with the first four charges, and the tampering charge is to run concurrently with the other charges.
Riggins was was convicted on April 20 for the Aug. 3, 2020, stabbing death of 74-year-old Dottie Lutes following a bench trial before Circuit Judge Ed Reeves. Formal sentencing was originally set for June 12. However, the sentencing was continued multiple times due to Reeves’ failing health, according to Lawson. After Reeves passed away, the Missouri Supreme Court appointed 33rd Judicial Circuit Judge David Dolan to preside over the sentencing.
New Madrid County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Lawson, who was assisted in the case by New Madrid County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Austin Crowe, described Lutes’ murder as brutal and tragic.
“Not only did this defendant murder her own grandmother, she forced one of her children to watch and she forced another one of her children to help carry their great-grandmother’s body out of the house,” Lawson said. “The life without parole sentence means that the defendant’s last breath will be inside the Missouri Department of Corrections.”
Dolan followed the state’s recommendation for the maximum sentence allowed for each crime, according to Lawson.
“This large prison sentence would not have been possible if not for the collective efforts of the SEMO Major Case Squad,” Lawson said. “This went from a missing person case, to a homicide investigation, to the suspects being arrested all in a span of four hours. The citizens of Southeast Missouri are fortunate to have such highly-skilled law enforcement agencies on their side.”
On Aug. 3, 2020, law enforcement officers were notified Lutes was missing. After receiving a search warrant to enter Lutes’ residence, officers found blood in her bedroom, drag marks with blood leading from the bedroom to the exit of the residence and a large bloody kitchen knife with a broken handle.
Officers located Riggins and her boyfriend Rayshand Lyons in Charleston, Missouri, where they were taken into custody.
Lyons would later tell police the couple had planned to rob Lutes and steal her gun. Lyons stated Riggins woke Lutes and they both stabbed her. When Lutes fought back and called for help, Lyons said he knocked Lutes to the floor where Riggins continued to stab her.
The couple then rolled the woman into some carpet and put the woman in the car. At that time, Lyons said Lutes’ abdomen was still moving and he heard her exhaling
He said he and Riggins drove to Charleston where they left Lutes’ body in a field. The body was then located by law enforcement.
On March 17 in Pemiscot County, Lyons pled guilty to second degree murder in connection with Lutes’ death and to escape from confinement with a deadly weapon for breaking out of the Mississippi County Jail in November 2020. He received the maximum possible sentence of 30 years on the charge of second degree murder and a 20-year sentence on the escape charge with the sentences to run consecutive for a total of 50 years.
“Dottie Lutes deserved a better fate than she received at the hands of her own granddaughter,” Lawson said. “She was kind enough to allow the defendant and her children to move into her home in an effort to give them a better life, and she paid for that kindness with her life.”