UPDATE: On August 20, 2024, the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office received confirmation from the Medical Examiner that the remains found a week ago are Elsie Wiggington’s.
Elsie’s sister, Victoria Seal, told Dateline her body was found under a slab of concrete on the property she shared with her husband, Fredrick Wiggington Jr.
On August 14, the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office announced that Wiggington Jr. had been charged with concealment of a dead body.
Wiggington Jr. has now also been charged with first-degree murder and concealment of a firearm.
He is currently being held at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail without bond. Dateline reached out to Wigginton Jr.’s attorney but has not yet received a response.
On August 14, 2024, the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia announced the likely remains of Elsie Wiggington had been found and her husband is in custody in connection to the case.
In May 2024, Elsie’s case was featured in Dateline’s ‘Missing in America’ series and Dateline spoke with her daughter, Sativa Rucker, friend Tracey Coleman, sister Victoria Seal, and Amherst County Sheriff Jimmy Ayers.
Sativa said she last heard from her mother on June 25, 2023, when she texted her asking for a recipe. Elsie responded, but the next day Sativa couldn’t get in touch with her mother. “I just assumed that was because she was working. And then a couple hours later, her job called me asking if I heard from her,” she told Dateline in May 2024.
Elsie worked as the director of nursing at Fairmont Crossing Health Rehabilitation Center in Amherst. Her sister, Victoria Seal, told Dateline she loved her job. “You don’t just walk away from that,” she said.
In May 2024, Dateline spoke with Amherst County Sheriff Jimmy Ayers. He said that on June 26, 2023, Elsie’s husband, Frederick Wiggington Jr., called to report her missing. He told authorities he last saw Elsie on the evening of June 25 wearing pajamas and packing.
Elsie’s loved ones told Dateline she would never just walk away from her life and believed that something happened to her. “She would never put her children through this heartache,” friend Tracey Coleman told Dateline in May.
They were right.
According to a release from the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office, on the morning of August 14, 2024, authorities executed a search warrant on a property in Amherst County. When they arrived, investigators located remains that are believed to be Elsie’s.
They are awaiting DNA testing from the medical examiner’s office for official confirmation.
The release also states that Elsie’s husband, Fredrick Wiggington Jr., has been charged with concealment of a dead body.
Dateline reached out to Wiggington Jr. in May 2024 but did not receive a response. It is unclear if he has an attorney at this time.
He is currently being held at the Middle River Regional jail without bond.
After Elsie’s remains were found, Dateline again spoke with her sister, Victoria Seal. “It’s a bittersweet moment for us. We kind of knew that this would be the result but we were holding onto a glimmer of hope,” she said. “We would like to thank the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office and all the hard work it took to make this happen.”