Christopher Otero-Rivera and his father Angel Rivera were sentenced to life in prison Wednesday in the October 2019 St. Cloud murder of their ex-wife and daughter-in-law, Nicole Montalvo.
While Montalvo's family cried out in controlled joy when the verdicts were read, the defendants were stoic as sentence was handed down by Judge Keith Carsten.
Nicole's siblings, Christina, Steven and Edward, read impact statements during the sentencing detailing the "family's true pain" of the last 21 months.
"We think justice was served, when you look at the facts of the case, and we're not giving them any more thought," Steven Montalvo said following the sentencing. "We're grateful to close this terrible chapter and we'll live to thee best of our ability to honor Nicole's life."
Christina Montalvo said Wednesday marked a day her family "can start our lives again."
"We got our justice, and we're working toward a better life for Elijah (Nicole's 8-year-old son) and for our family," she said. "We don't want any other family to feel what we've felt over these last two-and-a-half years."
The defendants' defense attorneys said they intend to appeal the sentences. Migdalia Perez, Otero-Rivera's attorney, noted the preponderance of evidence pointed to Rivera, whose counsel, Frank Bankowitz, noted Otero-Rivera's history of domestic violence and abuse. They asked for sentences of 23 1/2 years, the minimum under guidelines, but Carstens ruled them jointly liable. The judge noted how Otero-Rivera was wearing an ankle monitor after violating a protection order against Montalvo when he was arrested for her murder.
In April, Rivera and Otero-Rivera were found guilty of second-degree murder, abuse of a dead human body and tampering with evidence. A two-week trial in April concluded with just 90 minutes of jury deliberation. In addition to the life sentences for murder, Carsten handed down 20 more years in jail on the other two charges.
Prosecutors said Rivera, 66, and Otero-Rivera, 33, killed Montalvo because they wanted full custody of Montalvo and Otero-Rivera's 8-year-old son Montalvo shared with Otero-Rivera. The men then mutilated her body and buried it on their property in rural St. Cloud to hide the evidence. Days before, Montalvo was reported missing.
Wanda Rivera, Angel's wife, was also arrested in the case as an accomplice to the murder, but the charges were dropped in March because prosecutors didn’t believe there was enough evidence to convict her. She testified that she didn’t know anything and didn’t see any bloody clothes or other evidence suggesting a grisly murder had taken place at her home.
Court documents showed that when Montalvo was killed, she was in the process of divorcing Otero-Rivera, who had been court-ordered to stay away from her. In Oct. 2018, a year before Montalvo went missing, Otero-Rivera went to jail for a violent incident during which he forced his wife to drive to a remote location and then attacked her with the help of an accomplice.
Check back for further details on this story. News-Gazette freelance reporter Charlie Reed contributed to this story.
