Delaware County Daily Times - Jan 16, 2002 Article #2

Katelyn 's mom details day of horror

Delaware County Daily Times (Primos - Upper Darby, PA) - Wednesday, January 16, 2002

Author: MARLENE DiGIACOMO ; mdigiacomo@delcotimes.com

MEDIA COURTHOUSE -- On the day he allegedly kidnapped and killed his 20-month-old daughter, Robert Rivera tormented the child's mother in a "cat and mouse game" that included a series of calls -- one in which he said their daughter is going to heaven and he was going to hell, a prosecutor charged yesterday.

Also yesterday Jennifer Helton described her rocky relationship with Rivera in which he choked, punched and humiliated her before taking away her most precious possession: Her child.

Rivera , 35, of Upper Chichester, went on trial on first-degree murder charges in the death of tiny Katelyn Selena Rivera -Helton in what Assistant District Attorney John F.X. Reilly described as a "revenge killing" to get even with Helton for dumping him.

He could face the death penalty if he's convicted by the jury.

Helton said after Rivera assaulted her in a Wawa in Upper Chichester on Aug. 10, 1999, "I knew in my heart he was going to get Katelyn ."

She said she called relatives to try to head him off at the child's day care provider's home, but it was too late.

In the ensuing hours that day and into the night, she received calls from him in which he told her he wanted to meet her and not to call police. She said she did call authorities and several times that day, she agreed to meet him at various locations and tried to get to his car.

But she said every time she came close, he would inch the vehicle away from her and finally flee. She said in one call a little after 4 p.m. that day he said: " Katelyn is going to heaven and I'm going to hell." She said in another call the next morning, "He told me Katelyn was fine, in a safe place. I would never see Katelyn again and he would take her whereabouts to the grave."

In his opening, Reilly charged that Rivera killed his daughter because Helton had finally gotten a protection from abuse order against him after their stormy three-year relationship.

Reilly acknowledged that the child's body has not been found. But he said he would present circumstantial evidence, including a sock and "a sweet little sneaker" found on a highway, worn by Katelyn on the day she disappeared, that will link Rivera to her slaying.

"The defendant's rage, the defendant's actions and the defendant's statements will prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that Katelyn is dead and her own father took her life," said Reilly.

Reilly also pointed to a shovel which he said will also be tied to the case. "That shovel, this sock and this sweet little sneaker are inanimate objects but they speak powerfully -- more powerful than words ever could -- of Katelyn 's fate," he said.

Defense attorney G. Guy Smith in his turn referred to three prison inmates who are to testify for the prosecution as the "three wise men." He charged the prisoners have agendas of their own. Smith cautioned the jury to consider their character and their reasons for testifying about statements they say were told to them by Rivera .

And he told the jury the commonwealth's case is based on an "invisible bridge" that doesn't connect his client to murder.

Smith referred to Reilly's statement that 5,000 man-hours were spent trying to locate Katelyn . "They spent more than 5,000 man-hours searching for (terrorist leader) Osama bin Laden. Is he dead or alive?" asked Smith.

The child's mother was among the first witnesses called by Reilly in the case.

In a mostly calm manner, in which only once or twice did her lips quiver, Helton recounted a number of occasions in which she was assaulted by Rivera , who would go on cleaning or laundry binges and had a "fetish for clean."

She told the jury that once he became angry at the baby in 1998 and "told me I had to make a choice between him and Katelyn . I told him there was no choice."

She said she packed up Katelyn and went to her parents' home only to return when he promised "he'd try harder." She said on the days leading up to Katelyn 's disappearance his abuse increased including an incident on July 27, 1999, when they had trouble getting a cover back on the child's car seat. She said he smashed it with a hammer.

She said after another incident two days later -- when he shredded her clothes, punched her repeatedly and chopped off a clump of hair -- she called police. And on July 30, 1999, she said she received the protection from abuse order against him.

Helton, who worked as a hairdresser and now holds a paralegal degree, said that the couple had been to district court earlier on Aug. 10, 1999, on a prior assault charge when she later encountered Rivera at a Wawa.

"When I saw Robert walk in the door, my heart sank to my feet and I was afraid," she told the jury. She said at first the conversation was pleasant. Rivera said he was going to Puerto Rico and he kissed her on the cheek, she testified.

However, as she got to her car, he reached in and had both hands around her neck. "He literally carried me out of the car. I almost couldn't breathe. I thought he was going to kill me," she said.

She said an aunt, who was with her, and another pedestrian got into the fray and eventually she was freed. Rivera fled in the car and then snatched her daughter.

She said that morning she had dressed Katelyn in a yellow top, yellow shorts, socks and sneakers and took her to the babysitter's home. That was the last time she saw her. Helton, who is expected to be back on the stand later in the trial, has previously identified the sneaker and sock found on the highway as belonging to her daughter.

The trial got off to a shaky start during the morning session when Rivera refused to go into the courtroom.

The case was moved down the hall so cameras could be set up in the event Rivera acted up. If he did he would be removed from the courtroom and would have to view the case on closed-circuit TV from a holding cell.

However, Rivera remained calm while in court although at first he arrived in prison garb and the case was delayed further so that civilian clothes could be brought in for him.

When Rivera was first brought into court, Reilly commented that he appeared as if he were a "a lamb."

"He tied us in knots all morning," said the prosecutor.