Family massacre in MN:6 ppl found dead inside burned-out house,fire was arson,& family of 6 that lived in house are the likely victims,at least 4 were killed before blaze was set,prime suspect is 48 y.o.Daddy/live-in lover,unemployed & had huge debts
Joe1orbit
Okay folks, I've enjoyed two days of relative ease and time to make a decent
nbumber of TC News posts, but all good things must eventually come to an end,
and the two day streak does end today, as I have 8+ hours of outdoor/public
tasks & chores that will occupy my time today. Best I can do is squeeze in 4 or
so items. A real shame, since there are a TON of interesting and worthwhile
news stories that I have already found in the past 24 hours, but won't be able
to post, due to today's time constraints.
We will begin with a NEW and rather prolific family massacre. out of
Minnesota. SIX human beings, two of them children, have been found dead inside
of a burned-out house. All six victims suffered from BURNS, but it is too early
in the investigation for detectives to determine whether or not the victims
were SHOT, STABBED, or otherwise killed, BEFORE the fire was set. Yes, arson
investigators DO seem convinced the blaze was deliberately set.
We know that a family of six used to LIVE in this house. The only logical
assumption to make, despite a lack of positive ID's at this point in time, is
that the 6 dead victims WERE all members of this family. FOUR out of the six
victims are in fact child-slaves, although the two oldest, aged 16 and 20, are
perhaps not being considered children, by the media, in their news stories on
the case.
The PRIME suspect in this massacre is 48 year old Primitivo Juan Rivas. He
was living at the house with his 2 older child-slaves, his new lover, and two
of her younger child-slaves, from a previous relationship. In recent months,
Daddy-hubby Primitivo had fallen into debt. Foreclosure on his property had
begun. He owed MANY thousands of dollars in child-slave support, which is of
course a premier form of PERVERSE, legal ROBBERY that your Sacred Family Unit
coercing society, engages in. A COURT ORDER was entered against Primitivo on
Tuesday, just 24 hours prior to this very successful massacre being carried
out, in which the large monetary debts against him were laid out and he was
officially ordered to pay them.
Yup, ALL indications are that Primitivo committed this family massacre. The
$64,000 question is: Did Primitivo kill HIMSELF as well?? Is he one of the six
Crispy Critter victims who have been found inside the house. The ODDS are that
he IS, unfortunately. Still, he wiped out his ENTIRE family, killing FIVE,
before foolishly choosing to terminate his own life as well. At least he took a
bunch of fellow humans with him, on the journey into nothingness for the rest
of eternity.
The manner in which the JUDICIAL system literally tried to FORCE Primitivo
into OBTAINING a job, threatening to THROW him in JAIL if he did not get a job,
is beautifully outlined in the second article below, and it is ABSOLUTELY
PERVERSE. This man had his most BASIC human and civil and legal right, to NOT
WORK, TAKEN AWAY from him, by your ultra-diseased capitalistic and Sacred
Family Unit addicted society. I SALUTE him for RECOGNIZING that he had a RIGHT
to seek and claim homicidal vengeance, and for doing so.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's Associated Press news wire:
6 Bodies Found After Farmhouse Fire
By JASON WOLF
LONSDALE, Minn. (AP) - The charred remains of six people - including two young
children - were found in the rubble of a farmhouse that burned in what
authorities said was a ``highly suspicious'' fire.
Authorities assume the bodies are those of a family of six who had lived in the
structure for about three years, Rice County Sheriff Richard Cook said.
``It's very gruesome. The fire burned very hot,'' Cook said.
The blaze was described as suspicious because the farmhouse and outbuildings
appeared to have caught fire early Wednesday at about the same time, Cook said.
The positions of the bodies also indicate foul play, he said, declining to
elaborate.
Identification of the bodies was pending.
The residents of the house are Primitivo Juan Rivas, 48; his son, Tyler, 16,
and daughter, KiAnn, 20; Rivas' girlfriend, Catherine Ranft, 38; and her
children, Caroline, 4, and Meredith, age 5 or 6.
Some were last seen at Tyler's school basketball game Tuesday night and none of
the children were in school Wednesday, Cook said.
The fire was reported by a neighbor. The house was engulfed in flames, and
three outbuildings, three cars, a boat and a trailer also were burning when
firefighters arrived, Cook said.
The vehicles were parked in a semicircle very close to the blackened remains of
the house, which had collapsed into the basement and was still smoldering
Wednesday evening.
``It clearly is one of the worst fire tragedies in recent memory,'' said State
Fire Marshal Tom Brace.
Lonsdale is about 35 miles south of Minneapolis.
In recent months, Rivas also had run up thousands of dollars in credit-card
debt and defaulted on his mortgage, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported
today. A mortgage company began foreclosure proceedings on the property in
October.
A court order signed Tuesday in neighboring Dakota County showed Rivas owed
more than $10,000 in child support, medical support and spousal maintenance as
of last March, the newspaper reported.
He was nearly $5,000 behind in child support payments alone.
AP-NY-12-09-99
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 12/9/99 online edition of The
Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper:
Six bodies found in burned farmhouse near Lonsdale, Minn.
Richard Meryhew, Mike Kaszuba and Pat Doyle Star Tribune
Thursday, December 9, 1999
LONSDALE, MINN. -- Amid suspicions of foul play, investigators found six
charred bodies -- two of them young children -- in the smoldering ruins of a
Rice County farmhouse that burned to the ground early Wednesday.
Gasoline found at the scene, the position of the bodies and the location of
charred vehicles near the house suggest that the fire was set, Rice County
Sheriff Richard Cook said Wednesday. He declined to speculate on whether any of
the victims died before the fire started.
Tanya Newman reported the fire at the farmhouse of her friends, Juan Rivas and
Catherine Ranft early Wednesday morning. She stood with her husband, Brian,
outside their house about a mile down the road from the fire.
"It's a gruesome, gruesome scene," Cook said late Wednesday. "It's been a long
day out here."
Authorities believe the dead are Primitivo Juan Rivas, 48, who owned the
farmhouse; his son, Tyler, 16; his daughter, KiAnn, 20; Rivas' live-in
girlfriend, Catherine Ranft, 38; and her children from a previous relationship
-- Caroline, 4, and Meredith, age 5 or 6.
Cook said the fire was so intense that it burned the bodies beyond recognition.
"We can't say positively who they are, but they are there," he said.
The bodies were taken to the Ramsey County medical examiner's office for
autopsies.
Authorities believe most of the victims lived with Rivas at the house, located
in Erin Township, about 15 miles west of Faribault and 50 miles southwest of
the Twin Cities.
The sheriff refused to speculate on who may have started the fire. He also
declined to comment on a possible motive.
In recent months, Rivas had run up thousands of dollars in credit-card debt,
failed to pay child support to a former wife and defaulted on his mortgage,
according to court records.
In October, a mortgage company began foreclosure proceedings on the property.
"He was backed up against the wall so far," said Gary Hanneman of Burnsville,
whose wife, Debra, previously was married to Rivas. "Everything piled up."
Hanneman said Rivas owed thousands of dollars in unpaid child support and had
been out of work for almost a year.
"He . . . didn't get a job because he didn't want to pay child support," he
said.
Fearing the worst
Neighbors and investigators say Rivas, his daughter and his girlfriend were
last seen Tuesday night at Tyler's basketball game at Montgomery-Lonsdale High
School.
Cook said that Tyler wasn't in school Wednesday and that authorities weren't
able to locate KiAnn, a student at the University of Minnesota.
Ranft, who works in the front office at Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake, also
didn't report for work Wednesday, Cook said.
"Right now, anything is possible," the sheriff said Wednesday afternoon when
asked about foul play and possible motives. "I'm hoping for the best; I'm
worried about the worst."
Investigators working for the Rice County Sheriff's Office, the state fire
marshal and the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension sifted through the
remains of the house all day Wednesday looking for clues and the six people,
who couldn't be accounted for.
By late afternoon, after investigators obtained a search warrant from Rice
County District Court and began combing through the debris, they confirmed the
worst.
Four of the bodies were found by dusk. Authorities kept searching into the
night, hoping at least to find clues to what happened. By 7:30 p.m., they'd
found the other two bodies in another part of the two-story house. Cook said
the top floors of the structure had collapsed into the basement.
The fire was reported to authorities about 4:40 a.m. after a neighbor, driving
by on her way to work, spotted flames shooting up from the house, located on a
stretch of rolling countryside.
The woman, Tanya Newman, drove into a driveway of one of Rivas' neighbors,
banged on the door and got them to call 911.
She then raced home to wake her husband, Brian, and together they returned to
the farmhouse, hoping to help.
"By the time we got back there, it was gone," Tanya Newman said. "There was
only one side of the house left."
Two of three sheds 25 yards to the west of the house were burning, too, along
with three cars, a boat, a trailer and a recreational vehicle, all of which had
been parked close to the house.
By the time firefighters from Montgomery, Lonsdale and Kilkenny arrived minutes
later, all four outdoor buildings were burning.
Cook said "there was staging of vehicles" and speculated that they were placed
close to the house so that they, too, would be destroyed.
He also said the fires at the four locations "started simultaneously."
"I don't understand why someone would want to do it," Tanya Newman said later,
shaking her head. "It's insane to take those kids' lives."
Financial troubles
Rivas was to begin serving a 90-day jail sentence in Dakota County on Monday
morning for failing to pay child support, but didn't report to the county jail.
An arrest warrant for Rivas was issued later that day.
A court order signed Tuesday in Dakota County showed that Rivas owed more than
$10,000 in child support, medical support and spousal maintenance as of last
March. He was nearly $5,000 behind in his child support payments alone, the
records showed.
"If there's any connection," said Karen Schaffer, an assistant county attorney,
". . . that's just a tragic, tragic situation."
Rivas, who divorced in 1996, had been married for 21 years and had three
children. He and his then-wife, Debra, owned a home in Burnsville valued at
$125,000.
At the time of the divorce, Rivas appeared to be financially stable -- but
there were indications of financial problems. He worked for Cypress
Semiconductor Inc., where he earned $43,500 annually, and the couple owned two
cars, a boat and a camper. The couple, as part of the divorce order, agreed to
split Debra's employee stock, valued at the time at $151,000.
But the couple also had significant liabilities, including at least 12 credit
card debts. Rivas, as part of the divorce, was saddled with $30,000 in unpaid
bills, mostly from credit cards.
Though the couple had joint legal custody of the children, Rivas' former wife
was given physical custody. He was ordered to pay whichever was greater -- 35
percent of his net monthly salary or $950 -- in child support.
Court records filed in Rice County in mid-October also show that Rivas hadn't
made a mortgage payment for at least six months, and owed more than $6,000 in
principal, interest and taxes on the farmhouse, which he bought in 1997.
Records show he owed more than $95,000 on the property; he also took out a
second mortgage in February 1998 for $12,000.
Hanneman, who married Rivas' former wife, said Rivas caused his own financial
problems.
"He was very vengeful, threatened to take her down financially after the
divorce," he said. "That's what he told the kids."
The Newmans said that they knew Rivas and Ranft had financial problems, but
added that they didn't know how serious they were. The family's only apparent
source of income came from Ranft, who had worked at Mystic Lake for about a
year and recently got a raise to $12 an hour.
Tanya Newman said the couple met Rivas and Ranft about two years ago, after
moving from Grand Rapids, Minn., to a farmhouse about 1½ miles west of the
Rivas place. The couples often played cards or simply visited. Sometimes, Tanya
Newman said, their son, Kody, 13, played ball with Tyler.
The Newmans said they last spoke with Rivas and his family on Saturday, when
Rivas called them and invited them to visit. At the time, Brian Newman said,
everything appeared to be fine.
Rivas "was depressed about not having a job" and complained a bit on Saturday
about "having to pay" child support, Tanya Newman said. But, she added, "he was
more of a man who kept to himself."
-- Anyone with information should call a tip line at 1-800-422-1286 and enter
access code 334. The line is open between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
------------------------------------------------------------
The following three news articles all appear courtesy of the 12/9/99 online
edition of The St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper:
Thursday, December 9, 1999
6 dead in suspicious fire
Authorities: At least 4 possibly had died earlier
LESLIE BROOKS SUZUKAMO, BEN CHANCO and JENNIFER MCMENAMIN STAFF WRITERS
LONSDALE, MINN.
Six badly burned bodies were recovered from the rubble of a farmhouse in rural
Lonsdale on Wednesday following an early morning fire that authorities said was
suspicious and possibly set after someone killed at least four of the victims.
``It's a gruesome scene,'' said Rice County Sheriff Richard Cook.
The bodies were so badly burned that they could not be identified Wednesday,
but authorities believe they belong to a family living at the farmhouse at
10242 130th St. W. in Erin Township. The family included two small girls, a
first-year student at the University of Minnesota who was visiting her father
and a teen-age boy who played basketball at nearby Montgomery-Lonsdale High
School.
Cook said investigators did not know how the fire was set but that the
positions and other details surrounding the first four bodies recovered late in
the afternoon lead them to believe that they may have been killed before the
fire began. The first four bodies were discovered in rubble that collapsed in
the basement on the east side of the house, under where the upper-floor
bedrooms once stood, Cook said. He declined to release other details.
Believed dead are Primitivo Juan Rivas, 48, owner of the 10-acre farmstead for
at least two years; his girlfriend, Catherine Ranft, 38; Rivas' two children
from a previous marriage, KiAnn Rivas, 18, and Tyler Rivas, 16; and Ranft's two
children from a previous mrriage, Meredith, age 5, according to friends, and
Caroline, 4.
Neighbors, school officials and acquaintances described the family as happy and
showing no signs of distress, but Rivas owed an ex-wife $10,000 in unpaid child
support, was unemployed after being fired from his job as a computer engineer
and had failed to report to the Dakota County Jail on Monday to begin serving a
90-day jail sentence for the delinquent child support. He told high school
officials last week about his child-support problems and asked them to watch
over Tyler, and he also acknowledged the problem to friends.
KiAnn, of Burnsville, was visiting the family, but Tyler had moved from his
mother and stepfather's house in Burnsville to live with his father two years
ago.
The people at the Rivas property were listed missing Wednesday after deputies
came upon the fire shortly before 5 a.m. at the homestead, six miles southwest
of Lonsdale. Lonsdale is about 40 miles south of the Twin Cities.
Cook called the fire suspicious because the farmstead's four buildings
simultaneously burned. The buildings were ``fully engulfed'' when deputies
arrived after the 4:41 a.m. call from a neighbor reporting the fire, and they
could hear no cries for help, Cook said. The fire also burned three cars, a
recreational vehicle and a boat, and the way they were parked next to the
buildings also raised suspicions, Cook said.
Cook said investigators from Rice County, the state Bureau of Criminal
Apprehension and the state fire marshal's office began searching the rubble
Wednesday afternoon. Four of the bodies were found in the afternoon, and the
other two were discovered Wednesday night.
Cook said Rivas was unemployed and Ranft worked at Mystic Lake Casino in Prior
Lake. KiAnn Rivas was a student at the University of Minnesota and Tyler Rivas,
a student at Montgomery-Lonsdale High School, was not in class Wednesday.
The gangly, 5-foot-10 Tyler played forward on the Montgomery-Lonsdale
``Redbirds'' B basketball team and had hopes of playing varsity, Principal
Karen Norell said.
``Tyler came to us a kind of shy, awkward kid'' last year, Norell said
Wednesday. She said he blossomed this year into a popular, easygoing and happy
youngster who earned fair grades and enjoyed playing basketball.
She said Rivas was extremely close to Tyler, attending all his games and
showing up for every teacher conference. ``He's just crazy about Tyler,''
Norell said. ``He was excited to have him living with him. . . . He would
always be asking, `How's Tyler doing in class? How's Tyler doing on the
basketball team?' ''
Rivas and KiAnn attended Tyler's game at the school Tuesday night, and Rivas
was his usual outgoing self, Norell said.
The school plans to call in its crisis team of extra counselors this morning,
Norell said.
Tanya and Brian Newman, who live about 2 1/2 miles down 130th Street from the
Rivas-Ranft house, said they knew the family well, often visiting one another's
houses to play cards or go boating.
The Newmans described Rivas as friendly and outgoing, while Ranft was more
reserved. They said Rivas also played the role of ``dad'' to the two girls,
Meredith and Caroline.
Tanya, 29, said she and Brian, 30, visited Rivas and Ranft twice the past
weekend to offer help while Rivas was in jail, and while they described Rivas
as ``disappointed'' in himself for the jail sentence, he was not overly
distraught.
``He said, `I guess I've got to pay the price the hard way,' '' Tanya Newman
said.
Debra Joy Rivas-Hanneman of Burnsville, Rivas' former wife, was too distraught
to talk late Wednesday afternoon, but she gave permission to her husband of two
years, Gary Hanneman, to speak on her behalf.
Hanneman said Rivas preferred using the name Juan Rivas. He said Rivas,
originally from Bolivia, and Debra, who grew up in Fergus Falls, Minn., were
married after college about 20 years ago.
He also said Rivas had attended the University of Minnesota but finished his
education at the Control Data Institute; Rivas and Debra had two children,
KiAnn and Tyler, and adopted a boy from Korea, now age 11. The boy lives in
Burnsville and was not at the farmstead.
After the two were divorced in 1996, Hanneman said, Rivas apparently decided to
``disown'' everyone, including his former in-laws, who were friends.
Court records depict Rivas as a man who successfully worked as a computer
engineer, but whose life had begun to recently come apart. A judge even
chastised him for not finding work in the computer industry at a time of record
low unemployment.
Dakota County authorities issued an arrest warrant for Rivas in August after he
failed to begin paying the more than $10,000 he owed his ex-wife in child
support, medical support and alimony. He was arrested Dec. 2, briefly jailed
and told to come back Monday to begin serving his sentence.
In a June 3 court order, Dakota County District Judge Leslie Metzen gave Rivas
30 days to get a job and begin payments. She ordered him to pay $5,000 by July
1, the remaining $5,117.80 by Aug. 1 and ongoing payments of $1,081 a month as
they became due.
When Rivas failed to meet those deadlines, authorities issued a warrant for his
arrest.
Before February 1998, Rivas owed $4,000 to his former wife, according to court
documents. He made partial payments until July 1998. From then on, Rivas'
ex-wife got nothing until his former employer paid $4,166.01 this March toward
the back payments when the employer was threatened with contempt for failing to
withhold child-support payments owed by Rivas, according to court documents.
Rivas was fired in June 1998 from a $50,000-a-year job at Cypress Semiconductor
in Bloomington, where he was a computer engineer. In her June court order,
Metzen noted that Rivas dropped off resumes with 55 companies and had about six
job interviews between August 1998 and June 1999.
``He has not accepted or sought any temporary employment during a time of less
than 3 percent unemployment in Minnesota,'' Metzen wrote, concluding that Rivas
``has not made reasonable or diligent efforts to become re-employed.''
-----------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, December 9, 1999
The six missing
Six people have been reported dead after an early morning fire Wednesday at a
farmstead near Lonsdale, Minn., 40 miles south of the Twin Cities. Authorities
say six people had been at the farmhouse. None of the bodies has been
identified. The six are:
Primitivo Juan Rivas, 48, unemployed computer engineer, owner of 10-acre
farmstead at 10242 130th St. W., six miles southwest of Lonsdale.
Catherine Ranft, 38, Rivas' girlfriend, who police said works at Mystic Lake
Casino in Prior Lake. Mother of two children.
Caroline Ranft, 4, daughter of Catherine Ranft.
Meredith Ranft, 5, according to friends. Daughter of Catherine Ranft.
KiAnn Rivas, 18, Burnsville, a University of Minnesota student. Daughter of
Rivas and Debra Rivas-Hanneman of Burnsville.
Tyler Rivas, 16, of Lonsdale, a sophomore at Montgomery-Lonsdale High School.
Son of Rivas and Rivas-Hanneman.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, December 9, 1999
Fatal fires
Some of the deadliest fires in recent Minnesota history:
Jan. 1, 1999 -- Three adults and three children die in Ceylon house fire.
Jan. 14, 1995 -- Six children and their mother die in Moorhead apartment fire.
Feb. 28, 1994 -- Five children die in gang-related firebombing of their St.
Paul apartment.
Nov. 10, 1993 -- Apartment fire kills mother and her five children in St.
James.
July 12, 1991 -- Seven people die in fire at Windigo Lodge on the Gunflint
Trail.
Jan. 1, 1989 -- Eight children and two adults die in house fire in Remer.
Oct. 25, 1986 -- Eight people, including five children, die in Minneapolis
house fire.
Jan. 27, 1977 -- Sixteen people die in arson fire at Stratford Hotel in
Breckenridge.
-- Associated Press
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