Delaware County Daily Times - Oct 1, 1999 Article #3

Mr. Rivera : Stop the game, start talking - Editorial

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

Where's Katelyn ?

For 53 days that is the question that has gripped Delaware County. Where is 21-month-old Katelyn Rivera -Helton?

We still don't know. But we know who does, or at least says he does. Her father.

In a letter to the Daily Times written from the George Hill Correctional Facility in Thornbury, Robert Rivera insists he's the "only one" who knows the whereabouts of his missing daughter.

That qualifies as news for several reasons. You might remember why Rivera finds himself behind bars in the Delco prison. He's charged with kidnapping and related offenses after barging into his daughter's day care provider and fleeing with her on Aug. 10.

After his arrest, Rivera told authorities he gave Katelyn to a couple he met but did not know at Longwood Gardens that same night. Now he's singing a different tune.

In his letter, Rivera complains of jailhouse snitches making deals with authorities to get lighter sentences, not to mention getting their hands on the reward money offered for Katelyn 's return.

A $10,000 payday will do that. That's how much is being offered for her safe return.

Frankly, we don't have much sympathy for Rivera . We're too busy staring at the picture. What picture? On Page 3 of yesterday's Daily Times is the angelic countenance of a beaming 21-month-old: Katelyn Rivera -Helton.

That image has haunted the county for almost two months. Her mother, who has struggled with the unimaginable grief of not knowing the whereabouts of her daughter an army of law enforcement officials who had searched here and in Cecil County, Md., but have yet to turn up any sign of the toddler and family and friends who have tried to keep hope alive as they checked day after day off the calendar, trying to keep the faith that Katelyn would be found safe and sound.

Now Rivera sounds like he wants to play "I've got a secret." Spare us. We'll mirror the words of District Attorney Patrick Meehan. On hearing of Rivera 's letter and his assertion that he knows Katelyn 's whereabouts, the D.A. called on dad to tell us where she is.

While proclaiming the news that he alone knows where Katelyn is, Rivera apparently isn't all that anxious to divulge that information. In his letter he chided the county's top law enforcement official, the FBI and county detectives as being "too anxious to make any kind of deal, right or wrong."

Meehan dismissed the charge as not meriting a response.

Well, we have one for Mr. Rivera . If you've got something to say, say it. Tell law enforcement officials what you claim you know.

Pick up the paper. Take a long, hard look at that face. That's your daughter. She's 21 months old. She hasn't been seen in 53 days. It's hard to imagine what kind of human being could knowingly withhold information that could possibly end this nightmare.

We join everyone in the hope that Katelyn is alive and well.

This isn't a game, Mr. Rivera . You say you are "the only one who knows the true story." That's not totally true. There is one other person, but she's not talking. Katelyn can't write a letter, can't pick up the phone, but you can.

We, and everyone else in this county haunted by the mystery of Katelyn Rivera-Helton, await your response.