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Person of interest named in 2007 missing person’s case

Jul3

Heather Riggio last seen May 2007

Author: John Turchin, Crime Specialist, jturchin@local10.com
Published On: Jul 02 2012 09:13:34 PM EDT  Updated On: Jul 02 2012 09:13:57 PM EDT

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -

Five years ago, a South Florida woman mysterious disappeared. Heather Riggio vanished after leaving a relative’s home in North Miami Beach. Now, investigators say they have a person of interest in the case.

“Heather was the girl next door, blonde hair, blue eyes,” said North Miami Beach Homicide Detective Sgt. Richard Rand. “She could have been your daughter, my daughter.”

To those who love her, like Sybil Cherierico, Heather’s grandmother and the woman who raised her, it has been a rough road.

“We had a good relationship. Heather would have never ran away,” said Cherierico. “She had, she was too much into her family and we spoke every day on the telephone. That was like a big thing — she had to call me at least once a day so I knew she was alright, and things were okay with her.”

May 6, 2007 was the last time Cherierico saw her Riggio, 20, when she got in an SUV with an older man and drove off.

“She just called him ‘Sugar Daddy,’” said Cherierico. “That’s all. She said he was a sugar daddy. I guess that kind of wraps it up, you know, on who he was to her.”

“His name is Clifton Clayton Boggess,” said Rand.

Boggess owned an irrigation supply company in Homestead. That company, according to his assistant, recently changed hands.

“He had a criminal past — a violent criminal past,” said Rand.

Clifton Clayton Boggess- Person Of Interest

Boggess has quite a rap sheet, including a 1997 arrest for kidnapping and shooting a woman. According to the police report, when a woman refused his advances and jumped out of Boggess’ car, Boggess chased her down, and shot her in the head several times before driving away. He was arrested, convicted and served time after reaching a plea agreement with the state.

“I explained to him that this could be his daughter and all I wanted was to find Heather. He became extremely agitated. He completely became defensive,” said Rand.

Local 10 attempted to speak with Boggess about being named a person of interest by police. He never return calls, though a woman who called herself his assistant and appeared familiar with the case said, “He had no comment. This is nothing he hasn’t heard before.”

http://www.local10.com/news/Person-of-interest-named-in-2007-missing-person-s-case/-/1717324/15381390/-/sqa74m/-/index.html

NMB Police Name Person Of Interest In Woman’s 2007 Disappearance

Jul2
June 29, 2012 4:10 PM

Heather Riggio has not been seen since her disappearance in May 2007. (CBS4)

MIAMI (CBS4) – North Miami Beach police detectives have named a person of interest in the disappearance of a 20 year old Miami woman exclusively to CBS4 News because their tips have reached a dead end.

Detective say they have been interested in Clifton Clayton Bogges for years, but are just now calling him a person of interest.

“He’s not cooperated in any way with us, we’d love to talk to him,” said North Miami Beach police Detective Michael Stein. “We think that he may have information to help us find Heather.”

Heather Riggio, 20, was last seen walking down Southwest 197th Avenue near 200th Street in Southwest Miami-Dade around May 19, 2007. No one has heard from her since.

In the days before Riggio disappeared, she was seen at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale and also in a white SUV with her boyfriend, a man police described as an older married man from Homestead.

Police are now saying Bogges was that man.

“Through the investigation we have reason to believe that he knew Heather, that he picked Heather up from her grandmother’s house in North Miami Beach and drove her to Homestead,” Stein told CBS4′s Peter D’Oench.

“He’s a real concern for us, he’s been a real concern for us from the beginning of the investigation,” said North Miami Beach police Sgt. Richard Rand.

Police point out that Bogges has a record.

“He was arrested for a crime which he committed in Homestead which involved a prostitute. She was shot in the head. There was a trial and some proceedings afterwards which he did serve some time in prison for,” said Rand.

Clifton C Boggess

MUGSHOTS.COM

In the days following Riggio’s disappearance, several tips were called into police directing them toward a remote area of The Everglades. After an exhaustive search, no clues were found.

When CBS4 told Riggio’s grandmother that Bogges had been named by police as a ‘person of interest’ she was thrilled.

“I think it’s great. We have known all along about him. His name always came up when we talked about Heather’s disappearance,” said Sybil Chierico. “I would like to get the person who did this off the street. If he did this to Heather, he could do this to someone else. I just want someone to come forward and help us so this can be resolved.”

“I think for the sake of the family of Heather Riggio it would be great if we could resolve this,” said Rand.

D’Oench caught up with Bogges at a business that he used to own in Southwest Miami-Dade. But he did not want to say anything. D’Oench was told that Bogges has been told by his attorney not to comment about this case.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/06/29/nmb-police-name-person-of-interest-in-womans-2007-disappearance/

CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Florida Department of Corrections-Clifton Clayton Boggess

Heather Riggo Case-TrueFacts | Jon Leiberman

Apr8

The Show:

TRUEFACTS is a truly interactive show that digs deeper. You’ve seen me on “America’s Most Wanted” – now you will hear me on http://www.CyberStationUSA.com

I have been in the trenches as an investigative reporter for the past 15 years. I was at the Pentagon moments after the plane hit on 9/11 – broadcasting live from that tragic location for weeks. I was in Iraq in 2004 – reporting from the front lines of the war. And, I have been in the trenches with homicide detectives throughout the world hunting down fugitives.

TRUEFACTS will cover the crime stories you haven’t heard about. We will search for answers. We will offer solutions. Most of all, we will listen to you.

What issues are most important to you? We will talk about them. Government waste? Corruption? Failures and successes – this is the place you will get it all. You’ll also get a healthy dose of TRUEFACTS.

Oh-and don’t forget about our TRUEFACTS TAKE 2 -

Jon Leiberman

http://www.jonleiberman.com

https://www.cyberstationlive.com/JonLeiberman

Professional Bio

Jon Leiberman is an Emmy award-winning investigative correspondent and producer who has filed hundreds of reports on fugitives across the country and abroad for the FOX TV show “America’s Most Wanted.” An expert in all things crime, he has appeared on national shows including “TODAY”, “Shepard Smith’s Fox Report”, “Nancy Grace,” and “The Maury Povich Show,” and is quoted extensively on crime stories in newspapers throughout the country. In January 2011, Jon started up LeibermanMedia, Inc. – a full service media content producing company whose clients include Webcast TV.

Through LeibermanMedia, Jon hosts TrueFacts on CyberStationUSA.com and serves as managing editor for investigative projects at http://www.track180.com. The company mantra is to give voice to the voiceless and help advocate for those in need. Jon also runs SonicLeibs,Inc. a company that provides compassionate and credible non-medical home care for seniors and others in need. Just as LeibermanMedia fights for the voiceless, SonicLeibs,Inc. helps those in their greatest time of need. Jon previously reported from Iraq, Cuba, and from the floor of the 2004 presidential political conventions for 62 stations nationwide as Washington Bureau Chief for Sinclair Broadcast Group. His journalistic actions during this time earned him a 2005 Payne Special Citation for Ethics in Journalism. As Albuquerque capital bureau chief for KOAT from 1997-2000, Leiberman earned an Emmy for Live Reporting when he remained on the air for 24-hours straight during a fast-moving wildfire that engulfed thousands of acres.

He reported from the ground, and then from a helicopter when the flames came too close. Leiberman has served as a professor in residence at the University of Iowa School of Journalism, and has lectured at the University of Maryland and McDaniel College. He also teaches journalism classes online for http://www.mediabistro.com, and does media relations seminars. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

‘Spotlight on the Missing’: Heather Riggio, family still holds out hope

Jan20

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Florida – Heather Riggio vanished from North Miami Beach, Florida, in May 2007, but her family is not giving up hope that she could still be found alive one day.

Tuesday evening, Heather’s was the second missing person’s story spotlighted on “The Nancy Grace Show: America’s Missing,” a two-month series where Nancy Grace will spotlight 50 missing persons cases.

At the time she disappeared Heather was only 20 years old. She had her entire life ahead of her.

Heather was visiting a relative in North Miami Beach, Florida, and was last seen on May 6, 2007, getting into a white SUV-type vehicle driven by an older male. She has not been seen or heard from since.

“I am sicken daily by the not knowing of where my granddaughter is and as time passes, it seems people have forgotten, we cannot forget” said Sybil Chierico.

Since Heather disappeared her family has made every attempt to keep her name and face out in the public, but have run out of ideas and energy.

In their search for help they found and contacted the non-profit organization, Community United Effort “CUE” Center for Missing Persons (CUE Center), less than three months ago.

The CUE Center is located in Wilmington, North Carolina, and has helped over 9,000 families coping with the loss of a loved one. Additionally, their services are free to families who reach out for help.

“We immediately featured Heather on our national road tour telling her story in eleven states and making people aware of her. Surprisingly many had no knowledge of her case,” said CUE Center Founder, Monica Caison.

The tour “On the Road to Remember” annually features cold cases of missing persons. This year, the group traveled close to 3,000 miles, leaving behind a trail of DVDs, press kits, t-shirts, flyers, bumper-stickers, and visiting over twenty host rally spots which involved the media at all levels.

The purpose of the tour is to remind communities of the 109 unsolved cases featured on CUE Center’s tour line-up.

The CUE Center is now conducting an awareness campaign for Heather’s story and has launched a website for her family which can be located at http://helpfindheatherriggio.com.

Tipsters can remain anonymous and can leave confidential information by clicking the form on her site. Visitors can also download a poster from her site and help by getting involved.

In addition, Heather Riggio’s story and photo is currently featured on the website for the TV show “Americas Most Wanted”, in an effort seek new information to aid law officials in the investigation.

Cases such as Heather’s, that have gone unsolved an extended period of time, need to be presented to the public in a new way.  Which is what the CUE Center is doing for Heather, and others.

“We must start over in the awareness effort, to gain new information and ultimately locate a new area to search”, said Caison.

The hope, Caison said, is to eliminate where Heather is not, and to find where she might be.

Anyone with information on Heather Riggio’s disappearance or location is asked to contact the North Miami Police Department at (305) 948-2940.

Police are still offering a reward of up to $3,500 for information leading to a resolution in Heather’s case.

Description of Heather:

Name: Heather Riggio
Nickname: Kitty

NMissing from: North Miami Beach, Florida
Missing since: 05/06/07
Classification: Endangered Missing
Age at Disappearance: 20
Date of Birth: 03/11/87
White Female
Height: 5’1
Weight: 110
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde

Tattoos:  Black nautical star on back; picture of a Betty Page pin-up girl on leg; words “love hurts, love heals” on her backside

Clothing: Last seen wearing a pink top, jeans, and high heel shoes

Identifying Characteristics: Pierced ears, lip/tongue

—

Click here for links to more Spotlighted missing persons cases.

This author has teamed up with the CUE Center in the “Spotlight for the Missing” series.

The Community United Effort “CUE” Center for Missing Persons was founded in 1994 to aid cases of missing persons nationwide, and is funded entirely by donations and staffed by volunteers.

CUE is focused on finding the missing, advocating their causes, and supporting their families, and has helped more than 9,000 families since its inception. You can contact the CUE Center for Missing Persons on their 24-hour line at (910) 232-1687 or (910) 343-1131.

TIPSTERS can also contact CUE through email at cuecenter@aol.com or on the web http://www.ncmissingpersons.org

Continue reading on Examiner.com: ‘Spotlight on the Missing’: Heather Riggio, family still holds out hope – National missing persons | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/missing-persons-in-national/spotlight-on-the-missing-heather-riggio-family-still-holds-out-hope#ixzz1BanHSfts

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Heather Riggio Featured On National Missing Persons Tour

Aug10

National Tour Purpose and Inspiration

leahoveralls The annual tour was created to generate new interest in cold cases of missing people across our nation. The inspiration came in 2004 from the case of North Carolina college student Leah Roberts, who had gone on a cross-country trip of self-exploration. Her wrecked and abandoned vehicle was found, but Leah is still missing. Leah’s case went cold and interest faded until CUE volunteers set out on a grueling 14-day trip to retrace her route and inform the media of all those who were missing in the path of the tour. In the years to follow, it only seemed right to keep hope alive after families across the country voiced the need for more help and supported the tour idea.

National Tour Objective

The national road tour, called “On the Road to Remember,” is an awareness campaign that focuses on missing persons cases that have gone cold or have not received appropriate media coverage on the local level – much less the national level.. The tour, which travels through many states annually, provides that attention.

In all cases of missing people, it is vital to inform the public of the missing person’s circumstances quickly and to disseminate that information to the media and the public. In most cases where details are released immediately to the public through an organized campaign, the public brings forth information that aids in the investigation and or the location of the victim. The media plays a significant role in getting the word out on the behalf of the missing person and should be recognized as a vital resource to any investigation.

Interest in many of the cases we have featured in previous tours has been renewed. The media has learned about local cases they were unaware of; case investigations have been renewed, and searches conducted. Information has resulted in new leads in some cases, and has even helped identify an unknown decedent and in 2008 solved a cold case of twenty eight years. And finally, each tour some of the missing featured have been found from various efforts, which is the main reason we conduct the tour despite the toll it takes on our all-volunteer staff.

It is the belief of the CUE Center for Missing Persons that all investigations, the public, volunteers and the media should work in collaboration on cases involving missing children and adults; until this happens, their will continue to be cases of the missing labeled “cold” or “inactive.”

To read and learn more about the tour visit CUE Center For Missing Persons website here

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Police Ask For Help To Find Missing NMB Woman

Aug10

May 25, 2007 4:23 pm US/Eastern

Police Ask For Help To Find Missing NMB Woman

(CBS4) NORTH MIAMI BEACH The North Miami Beach police department is asking for the public’s help in an attempt to find a missing woman who may be endangered.

According to police, 20-year old Heather “Kitty” Riggio, was last seen on May 6th leaving her family’s house, 1601 NE 174th Street. She got into a white SUV and that’s the last anyone has seen her.

She has blonde hair and was wearing a pink top, jeans and high heels. North Miami Beach Detective Rich Rand described a man in the SUV as an “associate”.

“She was a good person, who would give you the shirt off her back,” said Riggio’s grandmother, who spoke to CBS4.com and did not wish to be identified.

Riggio’s background is a bit tragic. Her mother died in a motorcycle accident when she was a child and her father hasn’t been around for years. She was raised by her grandmother.

Riggio, a one-time exotic dancer who has never been missing before, has a felony charge pending for possession of narcotics. Police say Riggio simply may have gotten involved with the wrong crowd, despite the fact that family members say she had been trying to straighten out her life.

“I have no idea who may have taken her. I was out of town this happened. I don’t know the people who may have taken her and I haven’t been able to help the police at all,” said the grandmother in frustration.

Police are asking anyone with information to call North Miami Beach police at 305-948-2940 or Miami-Dade Crime

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Police, family search for missing woman

Aug10

Police, family search for missing woman

BY DAVID OVALLE
Posted on Fri, May. 25, 2007

Heather “Kitty” Riggio was last seen by her family on May 6.

Detectives and family on Friday pleaded for help in finding a 20-year-old North Miami Beach woman who vanished earlier this month, police and family say.

Heather “Kitty” Riggio, a petite blonde, was last seen wearing a pink top, jeans and high heels. On the afternoon of May 6, she left her family’s house, 1601 NE 174th St., and got into a white SUV, police say.

Family described Riggio as a troubled young woman whose mother died when she was a child and whose father has long since disappeared.

A one-time exotic dancer, Riggio had struggled with drug problems and chosen shady friends, family said.

“She had been trying to straighten out her life and wanted to get on a good path,” said Riggio’s uncle, Chris Lee.

“She was a very fun girl, very bubbly, very energetic.”

North Miami Beach Detective Rich Rand said she left with an “associate” in the SUV that afternoon. He did not provide more details.

Since then, no one has heard from her.

“Her cellphone goes straight to voice mail. It’s very scary,” Rand said.

Anyone with information can call North Miami Beach police at 305-948-2940 or Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at 305-471-8477.

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The Family Of Heather Riggio Fears The Worst

Aug10

Jul 11, 2008

2,140 Children Are Reported Missing In The U.S. Daily

Kid Finders Network announced on Friday it will assist in a missing person case where a young female, Heather Riggio of North Miami, went missing on May 6th, 2007.  The organization will provide a mobile billboard that will feature vital information such as photographs of the victim, the areas she frequented, which will be placed in the area Riggio was last seen.

According to police, 20-year old Heather “Kitty” Riggio, was last seen on May 6th leaving her family’s house, 1601 NE 174th Street. She got into a white SUV and that’s the last anyone saw her.

She has blonde hair and was wearing a pink top, jeans and high heels. North Miami Beach Detective Rich Rand described a man in the SUV as an “associate”.

Riggio’s background is a bit tragic. Her mother died in a motorcycle accident when she was a child, and her father hasn’t been around for years. She was raised by her grandmother.

Riggio, a one-time exotic dancer, who has never been missing before, has a felony charge pending for possession of narcotics. Police said Riggio simply may have gotten involved with the wrong crowd, despite the fact that family members say she had been trying to straighten out her life.

Police ask anyone with information to Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS (8477).

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