Delaware County Daily Times - Oct 1, 1999 Article #2

Rivera's mom: Katelyn's alive

Delaware County Daily Times (Primos - Upper Darby, PA) - Friday, October 1, 1999

Author: ROSE QUINN ; Of the Times Staff

Jailed accused kidnapper Robert Rivera supposedly cried to his mother after confiding his fear of losing contact with his daughter.

Bonnie Bagley said yesterday that Rivera called her some time before he burst into the home of Katelyn Rivera-Helton's day care provider and carried her to oblivion 53 days ago.

A massive search in two states has uncovered no trace of the toddler.

Bagley believes the missing 21-month-old girl is alive and safe, but has "no idea" of her whereabouts or who her son might have known so well that he or she would risk criminal repercussions for hiding her amid extensive search efforts.

Bagley openly doubted that her son could kill, let alone harm, his child.

But she said she thought taking the girl was the wrong thing to do. "He was wrong and I told him that, too," Bagley said, though she added that both of Katelyn 's parents knew how to push each other's buttons.

When she was told of a witness's partial testimony in court that Rivera dragged Helton around on the ground of a convenience store parking lot, she said, "I guess he was worried about not seeing his daughter."

Of all of her four children, Bagley described 33-year-old Robert as the most God-fearing. "

It was upsetting to Robbie," Bagley said of threats he told her were made by Katelyn 's grandmother, Olga Helton of Upper Chichester. "They were close."

In a telephone interview from her Long Island, N.Y., home, Bagley recalled her conversation with Rivera in which he said Helton not only threatened to deny visits, but would destroy anything he or his family had given the child."

Rob is nothing but a liar,'' refuted an angry Olga Helton last night.

Helton, whose 26-year-old daughter Jennifer sought a protection from abuse order against Rivera out of fear for her own safety and the safety of the toddler, accompanied Katelyn during a supervised visit with Rivera five days before the Aug. 10 kidnapping.

A second visit had already been scheduled for Aug. 12.

Helton said she went to a park that day even though she was a little afraid of him after the alleged attacks on Jennifer.

Pausing, Olga Helton said, "I'll tell you why Rob's pissed. He's pissed because he kept saying to Katelyn , Who am I?' and Katelyn never said one way or the other. Then when he pointed to me and asked Katelyn who I was, she said, Mom-mom.'"

Helton said Rivera insisted that his daughter's alienation was the result of his forced absence. "

That's when I told him, She knows who pays attention to her,'" Helton said.

Jennifer Helton, who dated Rivera for nearly four years since their meeting at a Chadds Ford bar, said as far as she knew, Rivera was unwelcome at his mother's New York home after stealing money from his stepfather. "

I never tried to stop him from seeing Katelyn ," Helton said. "My mother never said any of that. It's all a lie."

Helton met Bagley only once and remembered her as nice.

She and Rivera bought Katelyn to see her at the Philadelphia International Airport in April."

She was on her way to see a friend in North Carolina and had a two-hour layover,'' Jennifer Helton said.

Olga Helton recalled a phone call she had with Bagley when Jennifer was pregnant with Katelyn .
She called to tell her that she did not like the disrespectful way Rivera treated her, her husband, her daughter, or her 80-year-old mother who would go out of her way to make Rivera homemade pierogies.

Olga Helton admitted having second thoughts at the time about hosting a baby shower for her daughter because relationships were so strained.

Helton did say that Bagley had been invited to the shower. "

Why would I throw things away they gave her?" Helton asked, referring again to Rivera 's allegations."

I like to live my life by the Lord,'' Helton said. "It's obvious to me the kind of life he'd been living.''

Helton said Rivera once broke Katelyn 's crib in a rage. Another time she found an envelope of photographs of her son playing with Kayelyn. Rivera cut out the images of her son. "What Rob's saying (to his mother) is exactly what he would have liked me to do," she said.

Bagley said Rivera fathered a child at 16, who has since been adopted by the mother's husband.

They live in upstate New York. "

He lost one daughter," said Bagley, "and then to have (Olga Helton) say he would never see his other daughter, really upset him."

Bagley never saw her first granddaughter. She doesn't remember her name.

She does remember her only meeting with Katelyn as pleasant. "

She's great," said Bagley. "That's what makes this so upsetting."

Rivera was born and raised on Long Island. His mother, a home health aide, said her son dropped out of high school around the 11th grade. "

He's always had a problem with reading," she said.

She described him as stubborn and having a talent for drawing, especially cars.

His father lives in Puerto Rico.