Riggin Schaffer checked in with his mother Stephanie on Sunday, March 23. It was around 7 p.m. and Riggin said he was home for the night, tucked into his room at The Social Laramie apartments.
Stephanie Schaffer graduated from the University of Wyoming, and Riggin was thrilled to be carrying on a family tradition in Laramie. He was studying automotive restoration at WyoTech, and it was a school night.
But his family said they believe that sometime later that evening Riggin got in his Ford F-150 and drove around 30 miles on Highway 130 to near Centennial. There on what’s also known as Snowy Range Road, Riggin's family also believes he parked and went to assist another 18-year-old who crashed his vehicle and stalled it across one lane in the way of oncoming traffic.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol has not released details about the incident and the drivers involved to confirm the family's beliefs about the crash, and the family said they were told it is being investigated as two separate crashes.
"The other driver had crashed into both guardrails and ended up kind of sideways in the road,” Bram Schaffer, Riggin’s father, told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
From their home in Broadus, Montana — where Riggin grew up a ranch kid infatuated with cars — Riggin’s parents shared details about the crash that took their son’s life in an instant around 10:30 p.m. that night.
“The only reason I can think for him to be out as late as it was on a school night was if the kid who was driving the car and got into the accident had called him for help,” said Stephanie. “His phone is smashed so I can't confirm if that's actually what happened, but you know in my heart, he wasn't driving on that road for no reason at 10:30 at night.”
Based on what the Wyoming Highway Patrol shared with the Schaffer family, while Riggin stood by the driver’s side door of the crashed vehicle in the road, a man in his 50s drove upon the scene and crashed into Riggin, crushing him against the already crashed vehicle.
“It was an instantaneous death,” Madeline York, Riggin’s older sister, told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. “They said there was no way they could have done anything.”
The family says they were told that the 18-year-old driver Riggin was trying to assist was injured person and taken to the hospital.
Always One To Step Up
Madeline remembers her little brother’s protective instincts emerged at an early age.
“We went to Cheyenne Frontier Days, and he was maybe a year old,” remembered Madeline, who now lives in Rock Springs. “I went on this purple octopus-like ride and I was screaming because I was having fun and he thought I was getting hurt, so he's trying to crawl out of whoever's arms he was in and try to get to me.
“He was like my protector and then I always just tried to mother him, and he was always like, ‘Quit mothering me,’” said Madeline.
Thinking back on past good times together, Madeline remembered Riggin getting nervous talking to a pretty waitress at Twin Peaks in Laramie. He couldn’t look at her when he ordered a Pepsi, his favorite.
When Riggin went to Wal-Mart, he’d scan the parking lot for cool cars, pick one, then go inside and find a matching Hot Wheels miniature replica of the same car.
“He'd leave it in their windshield wiper like, ‘Here's the Hot Wheels for your car,’” said Madeline, who wasn’t surprised to hear Riggin was out at night 30 minutes from his apartment trying to help someone.
Riggin’s family said he gave money away to people he just met and took new friends from WyoTech down to his grandmother’s home in Fort Collins so “Nana” could do their laundry.
On the day he died, said Riggin’s mother Stephanie, Riggin worked at Snowy Range Ski Area, where he spent the better part of the day comforting a four-year-old girl looking for her mom.
Second Traffic Tragedy To Hit Small Town
Riggin’s best friend growing up in Broadus — population 469 — was Cale Emmons. The two liked to sword fight and crack inappropriate jokes.
On March 17, 2022, according to news reports at the time, 15-year-old Cale was driving Caty, 13, and their other two sisters to school in an older model Chevrolet Camaro.
The Camaro was involved in a multi-vehicle crash, killing Cale and Caty.
“Riggin filled that void for our family. He's just amazing. He was,” Kimber Emmons told Cowboy State Daily.
When Emmons lost those two children, Riggin started calling her “mom.”
“The love of living life. It was so evident in those two boys,” said Emmons. “Riggin just embraced life, and he had to learn that after my son, his best friend, died. He struggled a lot.”
Riggin’s sister Madeline said at first, he couldn’t talk about Cale. But later Riggin used humor to cope with the loss.
“He got to the point where he'd crack jokes about Cale all the time,” said Madeline. “The most inappropriate ones that you'd be like, ‘Oh my God Riggin.’ And he'd be like, ‘Well, Cale would have liked it.’”
Bram Schaffer and Riggin as a young cowboy. (Courtesy Madeline York) 
Stephanie Schaffer and Riggin as a young wrestler. (Courtesy Madeline York)
Dream Car
Five days before the accident, Riggin purchased the vehicle he hoped would become his dream car.
“If he went after something, it was with his whole soul,” said Stephanie, sighing about her son’s obsession with cars. His new love was a 2014 Dodge Challenger. “He was so freaking excited about this car.”
“And then the battery blew up and the hose didn't work and so he got to drive it for like two blocks,” said Stephanie. “And now that car is sitting in Laramie, and we have to figure out how to get it running and get it here.”
Stephanie is now going through her phone, looking back at old texts and photos, laughing and crying.
“99% of them are car videos, cars for sale. I'm just like, 'Dude,'” she said, her voice breaking. “He was the breath in my lungs.”
A visitation will be held on Thursday, April 3, at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Broadus with family receiving friends from 4-7 p.m. Then a funeral service is scheduled for Friday, April 4 at 1 p.m. at the Rolling Hills Golf Course. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.stevensonandsons.com.
In lieu of flowers, an account has been set up at the Yellowstone Bank of Broadus c/o Riggin Schaffer Benefit Account, PO Box 347, Broadus, MT 59317. There’s also a GoFundMe site.
Editor's note: This story has been clarified to more plainly reflect the theories of what happened that night leading up to Riggin's death is what the family believes and based on what the family says they were told by the Wyoming Highway Patrol. The WHP hasn't yet released a report on what happened.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
