Editor:
We are reaching out to our community newspaper in response to a large number of social media posts and to a candlelight vigil for missing persons that took place in Sweet Home earlier this week. Our son Jake Riggs has been prominently mentioned in those posts and vigil.
We want to share our story regarding our son’s passing.
March 23, 2025, was the four-year anniversary of his disappearance.
Losing a child is, by far, the worst pain and devastation a parent can endure. Our hearts will be forever broken and our loss will forever be great. We are very private people and our private grief, sorrow and immense loss have been robbed by social media pages, posts, newspaper articles and podcasts. We wanted to remain silent and grieve privately.
However, the volume of harmful words, inaccurate statements, untruths and false murder accusations, along with accusations that we didn’t love our son or were embarrassed by his addiction, have led us to share the truth.
It was not a secret that Jake battled addiction, an addiction that lasted a decade. We did not share openly with the public during this painful, family-altering journey.
Jake served a year in a minimum-security prison, where he was incarcerated for theft. While there, he received counseling and drug rehabilitation. Yet the struggles still continued once he was released.
Jake married and had children, but was divorced at the time of his disappearance.
His most recent rehab program was in Florida. He was released from the rehab, but ended up homeless. We flew him home in August 2020 after he spent time in the hospital. Doctors said he was in bad shape due to addiction-related injuries.
He was living in Sweet Home with his ex-wife (they were legally divorced) until she placed a restraining order on him in November. He was charged with domestic violence and could not see their children.
This took a toll on Jake. He was very sad. Jake had a lawyer and was fighting the charges.
During this time Jake was staying with us at the Foster RV Park, where we were living while work was being done on our home.
The events of March 23, 2021, need to be accurately stated.
It was Spring Break and Barbi was staying half of the week with our oldest son in California and the other half with our daughter in eastern Oregon.
It has falsely been stated that Barbi was on a two-week vacation.
Mid-trip, while traveling back to Oregon, Barbi received a call from the Sweet Home Police stating that there had been four calls to the department, that Jake was causing a disturbance in Sweet Home and that we needed to come and get him.
We asked for further information and a police officer told us that three of the four reports stated that Jake was “under the influence.” The officer went on to state that Jake had marks on his face that were indicative of meth.
Barbi cancelled her return flight and made arrangements to drive home. Monte was called and went to get Jake. When Monte arrived, the RV park had given us an eviction notice and there were five police officers at our RV site.
It was evident to Monte that Jake was not clear-minded and was under the influence. Monte asked the officers to please take Jake to get the substance out of his system, to put him in police hold until he was safe.
Monte was told that they could not keep Jake on a hold due to the pandemic rules for holding, which were still in place.
Monte then convinced Jake to go to the hospital to get help and get clean. Jake agreed, but halfway to Lebanon he stated he would not go to the hospital or a hotel, and demanded to go to the lake. For Jake, the lake had always been a place to clear his head – take a drive around the lake and go home.
Monte tried multiple times to convince Jake to seek help and get clean. Jake started to yell, becoming violent toward Monte, demanding to go to the lake. Monte then agreed to take Jake to the lake to clear his head. He told Jake he would be back to pick him up.
A Lebanon citizen reported finding Jake’s sweatshirt and items from his pockets left on a stump past the Gedney Boat Ramp. These were turned into the Sweet Home Police Department. Social media posts and podcasts reporting that his clothes were neatly folded on the boat launch are not the truth.
After the authorities were notified, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office engaged in a search-and-rescue effort for multiple weeks. During that period they were contacted by a couple who witnessed Jake down by the water. They said he was frantic, speaking loudly to himself, as if he were upset.
We were in constant contact with the Linn County Sheriff’s Office and were notified of every move during the search-and-rescue effort. Monte was at the lake and he never turned anyone away. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office did turn boats away when divers were in the water. The boats were stirring up silt in the water, making visibility difficult.
In fact, no one who has wanted to search for Jake has been denied by us, as has been stated by some.
We were aware of land searches, the water search, divers, drones, and volunteer efforts from both the Junior Search and Rescue and the Linn County Search and Rescue, as well as search efforts by a multitude of friends and family.
The Sheriff advised that it was not a good idea for Barbi to be at the lake, and asked us to appoint a family liaison to be present with Monte. Monte’s daughter and his sister accepted this role. The Sheriff explained how graphic a deceased body in the water can be and the effects it could have on the family.
For this reason, Barbi stayed away from the lake and was in constant contact with the Linn County Sheriff and her family.
We loved our son with all of our hearts. The search and the unknown were painful.
After weeks of searching, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office met with us and told us that they had made a decision to move the rescue to a recovery. It has been publicly stated that we called off the search – not true.
Sheriff’s officials told us that a body in the water could take time to rise, and that the body may never be found. We were told about the depth of the lake, the mud, snags in the water and the gate at the dam. They never made exact pronouncements, but were open about the possibilities.
Months went by and Jake’s birthday was coming up. Our family had a close connection with Clear Lake – a vacation spot for us and a place of fond memories. We decided that we wanted to set aside a memorial day on his birthday just for his parents and siblings to remember Jake and pay tribute to his life. This was private, very private. We shared our pain, grief and even funny, joyous stories about our boy.
We have been falsely accused of having a funeral without a body. We chose to have a place and time for private grief and remembering stories about a son and brother. It was a family decision.
In October 2021, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office told us they had hired a water search and rescue team from Idaho to conduct a three-day search and sonar the lake. They stayed an additional day to try to cover the entire lake.
In December of 2022, Monte and Barbi met with Sheriff’s officials who spent three hours going over the information in Jake’s original file and swabbing both parents for DNA. They informed us that this information would be added to the Missing Person Registry. We were not aware that Jake had not been listed in March of 2021, after he disappeared.
Again, we are making these details public because of the massive amount of misinformation and outright lies that have been prevalent on social media. It is amazing to us that you can say literally anything on Facebook, Reddit and other social media, or podcasts, and people think it is the truth.
These are the facts (in response to accusations and blatant inaccuracies that have appeared):
- Monte did not murder Jake.
- Monte was not the last person to see Jake at the lake.
- Monte was not embarrassed about Jake’s addiction.
- Monte did not have lye and a shovel in the back of his truck.
- Monte does not own a logging company named Riggs Logging.
- Monte never refused anyone access at the search site.
- Jake was never on the Sweet Home High School swim team.
- Barbi was not embarrassed about Jake’s addiction. She walked every mile of his painful journey, praying for him daily.
- Barbi is not superintendent of the Sweet Home School District.
- Barbi did not name herself (she was named Barbara by her parents and called “Barbi” immediately as a baby).
- Barbi never made a sign stating “Jake is swimming with the fishes.”
- Barbi has never stated that the day at Clear Lake was a funeral.
- Barbi has never used the word “suicide” in relation to Jake’s disappearance. We have stated that we believe it was a drug-induced accidental drowning. We believe that if Jake had been clear-minded, he would never have gone into the lake in the middle of March.
- Barbi has been accused of being “too happy” while attending community events. I grieve my son daily, but you can smile and have deep sorrow at the same time.
- Barbi has not stated that the lake was completely drained.
- Barbi and Monte have been accused of going to The Point restaurant, in a negative light in a social media post, which apparently presumed that the parents should not have gone there because it overlooks the lake. Our friend, who owns the restaurant, is a happy, pleasant individual and we can still find joy at his establishment.
These cruel taunts and innuendo on social media sites are so ugly and negative that we have chosen to write this letter to our local newspaper to address the lies, false accusations of murder, claims of child abuse, defamation, slander and fake media accounts regarding our family.
We will never get over the loss and will grieve our son for the rest of our lives. We want to thank the many people who have loved and supported us through this devastating and painful journey.
WE LOVED OUR SON! We wanted the best for him. We wanted to save him from his addiction and we wanted him to live a happy and healthy life.
We miss our Peanut.
Monte and Barbi Riggs
Sweet Home
Psalms 34:18
John 8:32