Delaware County Daily Times - Nov 10, 1999 Article

Toddler still missing after three months

Delaware County Daily Times (Primos - Upper Darby, PA) - Wednesday, November 10, 1999

Author: ROSE QUINN ; Of the Times Staff

Three months ago today, little Katelyn Rivera-Helton's father carried her off from her Upper Chichester day care.

Katelyn , who would be turning 2 on Dec. 12, remains missing without a trace, except for a single shoe and sock that investigators recovered from a Delaware hihway.

Jailed accused kidnapper Robert Rivera is scheduled to appear in court Monday as pre-trial motions get underway in what Delaware County District Attorney Patrick Meehan calls a high-priority case.

To date, Rivera has refused to disclose the child's whereabouts, though he's told the Daily Times, both in a jailhouse interview and in two letters, that he's the only one who knows the truth about what happened to her and where she is."

Only me and God know where Katelyn is," Rivera said during the sometimes-emotional interview.

Rivera has maintained his daughter is safe. He says he gave her to a couple at Longwood Gardens the evening of Aug. 10.

At a preliminary hearing, Rivera announced in Judge Rocco Gaspari's courtroom that Katelyn 's mother, Jennifer Helton, knew of the child's whereabouts.

Helton denied the accusation.

According to Rivera , court records and witness testimony and interviews, Rivera spent at least part of the day driving around with Katelyn and stopping at various pay telephones to call Helton.

Rivera said he took his daughter to the Philadelphia Zoo and to McDonald's for lunch.

At the time, she was wearing yellow socks and rhinestone-studded sneakers, a yellow top with white flowers around the neck and yellow pants with white flowers around each leg.

Since her disappearance, authorities have combed areas in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, the latter where Rivera spent the night of Aug. 10 with a couple of friends

Katelyn was not with her father when he showed up at a private Blair Shore community to visit along the Elk River.

In the days following his visit, authorities searched part of the river, the Blair Shore area and a construction site where a shovel reported missing from the couple's home was recovered.

Meanwhile, the search for Katelyn continues under lead investigators Special Agent Donna Kibbie of the FBI and Lt. David Peifer of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division. There is a $12,000 reward for the toddler's return.

Anyone with information is asked to call Upper Chichester Police at (610) 485-8400 county detectives at (610) 891-4700 the FBI at (215) 418-4000 or Cecil County, Md., authorities at (410) 996-5547.