Delaware County Daily Times - Sept 2, 1999 Article

By ROSE QUINN - Of the Times Staff

Delaware County Daily Times (Primos - Upper Darby, PA) - Thursday, September 2, 1999

Author: ROSE QUINN ; Of the Times Staff

LOWER CHICHESTER -- Just minutes after he was held for court on charges that he kidnapped his still-missing 20-month-old daughter, Robert N. Rivera told a packed courtroom, "Her mother knows where she is.''

Rivera 's outburst, his second throughout an hour-long hearing, came in response to a reporter's question, ""Where's Katelyn?''

Previously, as the baby's mother and his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Helton was exiting the witness stand, Rivera spat unprovoked: "You better tell them where she is. You know where she is.''

Unresponsive, Helton quickly brushed by the defense table. Rivera -- who has maintained since his Aug. 11 mid-afternoon arrest that he gave little Katelyn Selena Rivera-Helton away to a couple he met but did not know at Longwood Gardens -- made a cryptic reference about Helton having even seen the child since the time she vanished 24 days ago today.

Rivera's courtroom declarations came as a surprise to both District Justice Rocco Gaspari and Upper Chichester Police Chief William Robinson. They've been involved in the case since the disappearance of the then-ailing child as babysitter Sheila Clendening put exactly at "one minute before 11 a.m.'' Aug. 10.

The FBI has since joined the extensive probe, which has included searches of a river, woods and a construction site in Cecil County, Md., near where Rivera visited the night of the kidnapping.

Calling the brooding, dark-eyed defendant "a case study'' of elements of domestic violence like control and manipulation, Delaware County District Attorney Patrick Meehan later said that Rivera has been blaming Helton since day one.

"He's so wrapped up in punishing her,'' Meehan said, noting that his allegations are almost laughable.

"If the mother knew, she would be there. Believe me,'' he added.

In addition to kidnapping, Rivera , 33, will be tried on four counts of simple assault and one count each of burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, harassment and stalking, unlawful restraint and interference with custody of children.

Four counts of aggravated assault and five counts of reckless endangerment were withdrawn by Deputy District Attorney John A. Reilly Jr. before the highly guarded and media-jammed proceeding got under way an hour late.

Helton, the last of three witnesses to testify, recalled how Rivera assaulted her in a convenience store parking lot before he barged in and forcibly removed Katelyn from Clendening's nearby home.

Katelyn 's diapers and milk, as well as medicine she was taking that day, were left behind in the diaper bag left by her mother and grandmother that morning.

Helton -- almost in stereo of her aunt Jane Baxter's earlier testimony -- described Rivera as "grabbing me by the throat'' and "dragging me around the parking lot'' by her hair until Baxter managed to jump on Helton's petite frame for additional weight.

Baxter, who like Helton and Clendening wore a pink ribbon, said she jumped on Helton so Rivera "couldn't drag her around like a little ragamuffin.''

Prior to the parking lot assault, Helton said Rivera "took my hand and kissed me on the cheek'' inside the Wawa store on Chichester Avenue. Baxter reminded her that she shouldn't be talking to him under the conditions of an Aug. 5 protection from abuse order, she said.

At one point, Helton said Rivera told her that "this would have never happened if I would just talk to him.'' Helton remained calm on the stand.

Her testimony spurred frequent sobbing and sniffling from Rivera, as he sat between his public defenders, lead attorney Robert D'Agostino and Al Greto, in a bright red prison-issue uniform.

Rivera became especially emotional when Helton told the court that he both read and wrote at a third-grade level.

Greto, at times, stroked Rivera 's back as he leaned his head into his wrist-shackled hands.

Neither D'Agostino nor Greto wanted to comment on either the hearing or their client's statements involving Katelyn 's mother.

Rivera , who's being held on $100,000 cash bail, is scheduled for formal arraignment Oct. 16 at the Media Courthouse.