Montalvo’s husband, father-in-law guilty

Six-member jury convicts defendants of second-degree murder in gruesome mutilation death of St. Cloud woman

After just 90 minutes of deliberation, a jury found the estranged husband and father-inlaw of St. Cloud woman Nicole Montalvo guilty of second-degree murder Wednesday for killing and dismembering her.

The six-member jury began deliberating close to 4:30 p.m. at the Osceola County Courthouse and rendered a verdict around 6 p.m.

Montalvo’s estranged husband, Christopher Otero-Rivera, and father-in-law, Angel Luis Rivera, were convicted of second-degree murder, abuse of a body and evidence tampering in her 2019 death. Prosecutors say both men wanted Montalvo to “disappear” so they could get custody of the couple’s shared son.

Neither Otero-Rivera nor his father reacted to the verdict. Montalvo’s mother, siblings and other family members all broke down in tears and held each other as the decision was read.

Outside the courthouse, Montalvo’s twin brother, Eddie Montalvo, thanked prosecutors, law enforcement and the community for their support.

“While justice was served today, our sister — my sister — Nicole is still gone,” he said.

“A son has still lost his mother. We still don’t have her.”

Both men, who face up to life in prison, will have a sentencing hearing at a later date, Circuit Judge Keith Carsten said.

Life was looking up for Montalvo before she suddenly disappeared on Oct. 21, 2019.

Prosecutors said in closing arguments Wednesday the St. Cloud woman was “happy” after getting a new apartment to share with her 8-year-old son, Elijah, and

planned to take him to a pumpkin patch. She was last seen alive dropping off her child at the Riveras’ home on Hixon Avenue.

“As she drove out to the Rivera residence with the love of her life, her son Elijah, the day seemed bright,” Assistant State Attorney Ryan Williams told jurors. “She didn’t know that the drive would result in her mangled and mutilated body ending up there.”

Otero-Rivera’s attorney, Migdalia Perez, told jurors that “not one” piece of evidence directly linked Montalvo’s killing to her estranged husband during her closing argument.

“The compelling evidence is on Angel Rivera,” she said.

“Mr. Otero-Rivera is not guilty,” she added. “... You know what he’s guilty of? Being gullible, vulnerable and manipulated by the master of the house.”

Angel Rivera’s attorney, though, blamed Otero-Rivera, arguing the estranged husband had the most to gain.

“Christopher Otero-Rivera stood to gain substantially because he’s the father of the child,” Frank Bankowitz said. “If she’s dead, he gets custody all to himself.”

A year before Montalvo went missing, Otero-Rivera was accused of abducting and brutally beating his wife in October 2018, court records show. While he was jailed, Montalvo filed for divorce in February 2019, seeking an end to their relationship after years of alleged abuse.

Otero-Rivera talked often about wanting to hurt his estranged wife and taking custody of their shared son, but after she petitioned to end their marriage, he became more adamant about wanting to kill her, his former jail pod mates testified.

Angel Rivera was also upset at Montalvo for not allowing him to see his grandchild for several months while Otero-Rivera was incarcerated, witnesses said.

Dustin Gonzalez, Otero-Rivera’s former cellmate, said the father and son helped get him out of jail in exchange for planting drugs on Montalvo. Gonzalez told jurors that Angel Rivera offered him money twice to make Montalvo “disappear.”

A neighbor of the family testified that Angel Rivera also offered him $10,000 to kill his daughter-in-law during the summer of 2019.

“They told anyone who would listen for up to a year that they wanted Nicole dead,” Williams said.

Perez argued Otero-Rivera wanted to prevent Montalvo from testifying against him, not hurt her. Angel Rivera, though, harbored resentment against his daughter-in-law because “he couldn’t control her,” she argued.

Otero-Rivera pleaded to lesser offenses and was sentenced to a short jail term and probation. He wasn’t allowed contact with Montalvo, but his parents were heavily involved in taking care of the couple’s son by October 2019.

After she disappeared, Angel Rivera told law enforcement that his daughter-in-law had sent him a text asking him and his wife, Wanda Rivera, to take care of the child for a few days.

Detectives, though, suspected the text was sent by someone other than Montalvo because she hadn’t told anyone she was leaving. Prosecutors said Angel Rivera likely took Montalvo’s phone from the property so it could connect with cell towers and confuse authorities.

After a search, investigators found Montalvo’s remains on the Hixon Avenue property and another property belonging to the Riveras on Henry J Avenue.

She had been burned, cut into pieces and buried, according to the medical examiner. A forensic anthropologist testified that Montalvo’s dismembering involved hacking and cutting body parts with different tools, including a powered blade, as well as physically breaking bones.

Location data from an ankle monitor on Otero-Rivera showed he was near a site where Montalvo’s remains were buried and where her car was abandoned on Big Sky Boulevard. GPS data from a rented excavator showed it was near burial sites on both properties.

Perez told jurors that the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office did a “poor” investigation into Montalvo’s killing and misrepresented evidence, including GPS data from Otero-Rivera’s tracking monitor that was made to look like he was standing over the burial site for long periods of time.

“They only looked at Christopher because he was the easy target,” she said.

Montalvo’s blood was only found on an orange cart on the Hixon property, while none of the tools allegedly used in the dismemberment had Montalvo’s DNA on them, defense attorneys argued. But on the excavator, investigators did find two water bottles with DNA that matched Angel Rivera, witnesses testified.

The case was prosecuted by the office of Ocala-based State Attorney William Gladson after Gov. Ron DeSantis reassigned the case following a public spat between then Osceola Sheriff Russ Gibson and then Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala.

Ayala argued Gibson had been overzealous in arresting Montalvo’s husband and father-in-law on first-degree murder charges before determining who killed and dismembered her.

After the state attorney missed a deadline to indict the pair, Gibson accused her of hindering the investigation and blamed her reluctance on her opposition to the death penalty.