Butte County Man Appears in Court on Homicide and Child Sex Abuse Charges
BUTTE COUNTY, CA — “An Oroville man accused of murdering a roommate and hiding her body in his apartment wall appeared in Butte County Superior Court yesterday. He was also facing several forcible sex charges related to his stepdaughter between the ages of 7 and 15.
Renodo Start-Espana, 36, has been in custody at Butte County Jail on sex charges since September of this year. After being charged with these crimes, Oroville Police detectives found the body of an adult female hidden inside the wall of Start-Espana’s two-story apartment in Oroville on September 30, 2025. The badly decayed body was discovered inside a wall beneath a staircase on the ground floor of the apartment.
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said dental records confirmed the body was that of Rita Rigsbay, 38, who was last reported as living with Start-Espana, his girlfriend, three other adults, and four children in January of this year. Rigsbay was also reported as missing by relatives in January this year.
Ramsey said it is alleged that Rigsbay was tortured and killed by Start-Espana on January 9, 2025, after an argument. After he killed Rigsbay, Start-Espana ordered two other adults in the apartment to douse her in bleach and household cleaner and to wrap her in an air mattress and a tarp. A section of the wall under a stairwell was cut out, and Rigsbay’s body was moved into the hole, which was covered with wallboard. A dresser was also placed in front of the area, and Start-Espana insisted that incense be kept burning at all times to mask the smell.
Start-Espana was later arrested in February of this year and convicted in April for a felony assault upon a roommate at his apartment. In April, he was placed on felony probation and released from jail. When he was arrested for the child sex charges on September 23, 2025, his probation was revoked, and he has been held in jail without bail since then.
Start-Espana entered not guilty pleas to the murder and sex charges yesterday and will appear in court again on January 15, 2026, to choose a date for a preliminary hearing. He faces life in prison on the sex charges, and because of the torture allegation, faces life without the possibility of parole on the murder charge.”
