Husband, father-in-law of murdered mom can’t be held for homicide

An arrest affidavit released Thursday said Nicole Montalvo’s husband and father-in-law buried the dismembered woman’s dead body on the family’s St. Cloud property.

Christopher Otero-Rivera, 31, and his father, Angel Rivera, 63, were arrested in October for premeditated murder, about a week after the young mother disappeared.

Montalvo was in the process of divorcing Otero-Rivera, who was living with his parents at the time.

Montalvo, 33, was last seen dropping off the couple’s son at the Riveras’ Hixon Avenue home on Oct. 21. Her cell phone records showed she never left the property, according to the arrest affidavit.

“Nicole was killed and her body was cut into pieces and then buried by Angel and Christopher,” the affidavit stated.

Exactly how Montalvo was killed and who killed her were not in the affidavit, which was unsealed by Circuit Judge Jon Morgan during a hearing Thursday. Morgan also ruled that Angel Rivera could not be held on the murder charge because the State Attorney’s Office didn’t indict him within the 33-day requirement.

However, prosecutors added two more charges against him Wednesday for abuse of a dead body and not reporting a death to the medical examiner.

A new bond was set for $350,000 by Judge Wayne Wooten at another hearing after Morgan’s ruling.

Angel Rivera’s attorney Frank Bankowitz told WESH 2 News that prosecutors “don’t have enough to file” murder charges against his client.

“They don’t have enough to take the case to the grand jury, which is required under the rules and procedure and case law,” he said.

A judge ruled Tuesday that Otero-Rivera also could no longer be held in jail in the murder case because prosecutors did not file formal charges against him in time.

But he will remain in jail on a probation violation and violating a no-contact order, both related to a 2018 case in which Otero-Rivera was accused of kidnapping and assaulting Montalvo .

Montalvo’s mother-in-law, Wanda Rivera, 59, and her brother-in-law, Nicholas Rivera, 28, also have been arrested in the case. Wanda Rivera is accused of tampering with evidence and lying to investigators.

Nicholas Rivera was named a person of interest in the case and was extradited to Florida from Georgia on eight counts of child pornography, unrelated to the murder.