Texas Man Raped, Killed Neighbor With Lawnmower Blade

This episode, an excerpt from the book "Chantay Blankinship: Faith, DNA, and Murder," recounts the brutal 2016 murder of Chantay Blankinship, a 25-year-old woman with developmental disabilities who was raped and beaten to death in Brown County, Texas. The sources detail the frantic search for Chantay after she vanished during her evening walk and the discovery of her body in a dilapidated "haunted house" two days later. Investigators initially struggled with few leads, but a breakthrough came through advanced DNA phenotyping by Parabon NanoLabs, which created a composite sketch of the suspect. The source concludes with the eventual capture and confession of Ryan Derek Riggs after he sought counsel at the North Lake Community Church, illustrating how technology and the local faith community converged to solve the complex case, resulting in Riggs receiving a life sentence.

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