Prosecutors still don't know how Nicole Montalvo was killed, despite indicting husband for murder

[Daily Mexican]

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Prosecutors say they still don’t know how or when Nicole
Montalvo was killed, despite having indicted her estranged
husband last week for murder in the St. Cloud mother’s death.

The admission comes more than a month after Gov. Ron DeSantis
reassigned the case away from Orange-Osceola State Attorney
Aramis Ayala, who argued Osceola Sheriff Russ Gibson had rushed
to arrest Montalvo’s husband Christopher Otero-Rivera and father-
in-law Angel Rivera on first-degree murder charges before
determining who killed and dismembered her in October.

An attorney for Otero-Rivera, who is now charged with second-
degree murder, abuse of a dead body and evidence tampering,
asked prosecutors Sunday to provide details of the alleged
offense, including a place, date, time and any material facts,
court records show.

Ocala-based State Attorney Brad King, who was reassigned the
case by DeSantis, responded Monday, writing his office could not
provide specifics.

“The State of Florida does not know the means or method by which
the victim was killed because her body was burned, cut into
pieces and buried on the property listed above and another piece
of property owned by members of [Otero-Rivera’s] family,” King
wrote. "Not all of the body was recovered. The Medical Examiner
has ruled the death a homicide.

King said the murder happened somewhere on the Rivera family’s
property on Hixon Avenue in St. Cloud but added the exact date
of the offense is “unknown.” The 33-year-old went missing Oct.
21 after dropping off her 8-year-old son at the Riveras’ home.

“The State can prove that the victim was alive on October 21,
2019 at approximately 4:00 pm when she was seen on video paying
her rent at Summer Cove Apartments,” King wrote. “The first
parts of her body were discovered on Oct. 24, 2019 in the late
afternoon.”

The acrimonious dispute between Ayala and Gibson over whether
there was enough evidence to charge Otero-Rivera and his father
became public after the Ayala’s office missed a November
deadline to indict the pair for first-degree murder.

Gibson called on the governor to remove Ayala from the Montalvo
case, accusing her of hindering the investigation and blaming
her reluctance to indict the pair on her opposition to the death
penalty.

Ayala hit back, calling Gibson’s accusations “blatant lies” and
said her office had repeatedly “encouraged and requested”
additional investigation by the Sheriff’s Office. In a letter to
DeSantis, Ayala accused Gibson of rushing the investigation into
Montalvo’s killing to boost his re-election campaign.

Legal experts told the Orlando Sentinel prosecutors would have
faced an uphill battle had they indicted Otero-Rivera and Rivera
for first-degree murder, due to a lack of concrete evidence
connecting one or both of them to Montalvo’s killing.

In arresting both men, deputies relied on testimony from Otero-
Rivera’s brother, Nicholas Rivera, who told investigators that
he had seen his family members with Montalvo’s bloodied corpse
in their garage. But a DNA report determined blood found on a
garage floor at the Riveras’ home did not belong to Montalvo or
her estranged husband, records show.

mcor...@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5774

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