On April 1, 2024, seventeen-year-old Zach Riggs Panther went to work at at Beaver Valley Pork, a hog operation owned by Pillen Family Farms, the agricultural business founded by Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen and run by his daughter Sarah Pillen. By noon, Zach was dead.

His death was ruled undetermined.

In the months that followed, the answers his family expected never came. Instead there were conflicting reports, evidence that was lost, testing that was never done, and officials who didn't explain their decisions.

Death at the Governor's Farm retraces Zach's final hours, follows the science and the investigation, and asks a simple question:

what happened to Zach?

Behind it is a bigger one.

When an ordinary family goes looking for answers from one of the most powerful families in Nebraska…

whose side is the system on?

About Zach:

Zach was seventeen. He liked to draw and play basketball and video games. He was smart.

He like to lift weights with his friends and On a Sunday he lifted 225 pounds. On Monday, he went to work. He never came home.

His mother has spent more than two years trying to find out what happened to him. She still has no answers.

"My son is dead. There ought to be answers."

A Note on This Series:


Death at the Governor's Farm is released ahead of Nebraska's 2026 gubernatorial election, and we say so openly. The series draws on published reporting and public records. It is deeply indebted to the investigative work of Yanqi Xu and the Flatwater Free Press, in partnership with The New York Times.