Christina Marie Riggs

Christina Marie Riggs (September 2, 1971 – May 2, 2000) was convicted of the November 1997 murders of her two children, Justin Dalton Thomas, age five, and Shelby Alexis Riggs, age two. Riggs was a licensed practical nurse, and she planned to kill her children using drugs obtained from her workplace. After an injection did not kill her son, she smothered both children and then attempted suicide.

Defense attorneys cited Riggs's depression and post‑traumatic stress disorder during her trial, but she did not present a defense in the penalty phase. She waived her appeals and was executed by lethal injection less than two years after her convictions, becoming the first woman executed in Arkansas since 1845. She injected Justin with morphine, she said, to ease his pain. When it had no effect, she smothered him. She then smothered her daughter, Shelby, without injecting her, after witnessing the pain the potassium had caused Justin. She then attempted suicide by taking a large quantity of amitriptyline and injecting herself with undiluted potassium chloride. Nineteen hours later, her mother found her unconscious on the floor of her home. She later convinced the court to allow her to drop her appeals. The Arkansas execution chamber is located at the Cummins Unit.

Execution On Sunday, April 30, 2000, Riggs was flown from McPherson to Cummins in preparation for her execution. She was executed at 9:28 p.m. Central Daylight Time on May 2, 2000. Her final words were, "I love you, my babies." Riggs was executed with a potassium chloride injection.