Delaware County Daily Times - Apr 28, 2000 Article

Rivera to face death for Katelyn 's murder

Delaware County Daily Times (Primos - Upper Darby, PA) - Friday, April 28, 2000

Author: MARLENE DiGIACOMO ; Of the Times Staff

MEDIA COURTHOUSE -- The District Attorney's office today will officially put Robert Rivera on notice that he will face the death penalty when he's tried on charges he kidnapped and killed his 20-month-old daughter, Katelyn Selena Rivera -Helton.

Rivera , 33, of the 2800 block of Chichester Avenue, Boothwyn, was first charged with kidnapping the child last summer.

The charges were filed after he allegedly broke into a day-care provider's home last Aug. 10 and carried the child away, violating a protection-from-abuse order obtained by the child's mother, Jennifer Helton of Upper Chichester.

The case was upgraded to murder March 22 after an extensive search using everything from helicopters to cadaver-sniffing dogs failed to produce a single bit of evidence that the child is still alive.

The girl's body has not been found and investigators have continued to comb areas around the Brandywine Creek near Route 100 in an effort to find evidence in the case.

Both District Attorney Patrick Meehan and Deputy District Attorney John Reilly Jr. said yesterday four of the 18 specific aggravating circumstances delineated by law, will be cited in certifying the case as a capital crime. Only one is necessary to seek a death sentence.

"We will absolutely put him on notice that a death penalty is being sought," said Reilly, who is handling the case for the D.A.'s office.

Rivera will be in Delaware County Court today for his formal arraignment before Judge Charles C. Keeler. Under law the District Attorney's office must notify a defendant of its intent to seek death at that time.

Rivera has long frustrated police by giving them conflicting stories as to the child's whereabouts. He has also maintained that Katelyn is alive and he will reveal where she is when he is ready.

Meehan said that one of the aggravating circumstances to be cited against Rivera comes under a law -- adopted less than three years ago -- that is geared to protect victims of domestic violence.

Meehan said Rivera 'ss will be the first case in Delaware County, and may be the first in Pennsylvania, in which the death penalty will be sought under the new provision that the killing evolved after a order had been issued for the victim's protection.

Reilly also cited other aggravating circumstances such as the fact that the victim was under 12 years old, that the crime arose out of the commission of a second felony such as kidnapping, and that he "held the victim for ransom, reward or as a shield."

Reilly declined to state specifically how that would be proven. "I can assert we have evidence to sustain it," he said.

A defense motion to have the murder charges dismissed is also expected to be addressed in court today

Defense attorney G. Guy Smith is seeking to have the charges against Rivera tossed, alleging there is no evidence that Katelyn is dead -- let alone how she died.

During a preliminary hearing March 28, Reilly presented testimony about the extensive searches for the tot conducted in several states over the past nine months, as well as statements from Rivera in which he is quoted as implying the girl is dead.

Smith is asking Keeler to overturn the decision of District Justice Rocco Gaspari, who ruled there was sufficient evidence presented at that preliminary hearing to have the case go forward.

Smith, who made similar argument before Gaspari during that earlier hearing, is charging the case against his client is "factually and legally flawed."

Pennsylvania law does not require a body for a homicide conviction.