2017-07-17

Man guilty of 2000 Oldham County murder returns to Texas to complete sentence

Source

VEGA, Texas (KVII) — A man who was found guilty in 2005 of a murder that happened in 2000 has returned to the Texas Panhandle to serve the remainder of his sentence for the murder.

The body of 40-year-old Allen Caton, from Ada, Oklahoma, was found by a rancher in the middle of a county road off of I-40 West near Vega in May of 2000. Caton had been stabbed multiple times.

An investigation was done by the Oldham County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Rangers. The investigation identified Ronnie Gerald Wiggins as the primary suspect. He was from Norman, Oklahoma at the time of the murder.

Wiggins was eventually arrested in Oklahoma and charged with the murder, along with other federal related charges.

During their investigation, authorities learned Wiggins and Caton had left Oklahoma to travel to New Mexico together in May of 2000. An argument between the two resulted in the death of Caton.

Wiggins, who was already incarcerated in federal prison, plead guilty to the murder of Caton in September of 2005. Under a plea agreement, he received a sentence of 22 years to run concurrent with his federal time he was already serving.

On Thursday, Wiggins was released from federal prison in Iowa and brought to Texas to complete the remainder of his sentence for the murder of Caton.

According to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, Wiggins, along with two other men, escaped from the county jail in Grants, New Mexico. They took a correctional guard's vehicle and drove to Albuquerque, New Mexico where they robbed a Circle K Store. Three days later, the three allegedly robbed the United New Mexico Bank in Albuquerque.