There's a new article about the 1982 murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera. The article briefly mentions that the case was on UM.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/larry_barker/mystery-call-a-ruse-for-priests-murder


Mystery call a ruse for priest's murder
Larry Barker Investigates
Updated: Friday, 05 Feb 2010, 6:20 PM MST
Published : Friday, 05 Feb 2010, 5:50 PM MST

Reporter: Larry Barker
Web Producer: Bill Diven
SANTA FE (KRQE) - In a long and distinguished career Father Reynaldo Rivera served the Roman Catholic faithful in New Mexico parishes large and small until 1982 when he was lured to his death by a killer whose identity remains a mystery.

"What a violent, hideous crime," Archbishop Michael Sheehan of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe said. "To ask a priest to come and do his ministry and then at that moment to take him and kill him.

"Evil thing. Evil thing."

On a warm summer night-- Aug. 5, 1982--Father Rivera, 57, was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

At 8:30 p.m. he answered the phone in the rectory of the Santa Fe Cathedral. A mysterious stranger calling from a pay phone said he needed a priest.

"Father Rivera was told that the caller's grandfather was requesting last rites be administered as he was sick and dying," Agent Paul Chavez, a New Mexico State Police criminal investigator, said. "He told Father Rivera he was in a blue pickup truck, and Father Rivera had agreed to meet him at the rest stop on top of La Bajada hill."

Father Rivera rushed out of the cathedral at 9 p.m. It was the last time he would be seen alive.

Two days later, the priest's body was discovered in a remote pasture two miles southwest of the rest area on Interstate 25 south of Santa Fe. He was on his back with one arm extended. He had been shot in the chest.

Autopsy results suggested the priest had been bound and tied. Then-Archbishop Robert Sanchez arrived at the crime scene to offer comfort as city and state homicide detectives fanned out looking for evidence.

"There was some personal effects that were missing from Father Rivera's person which consisted of his eyeglasses, his wallet and his sacrament kit," Chavez said.

The father's 1974 Chevrolet Malibu was found abandoned with its gas tank empty gas about 110 miles from the crime scene at a rest area on Interstate 40 near Grants. Crime lab investigators examined the vehicle for fingerprints.

A man of god had been lured to his death. And no one knew why.

"People just flocked to him," Helen Rivera, the priest's sister-in-law, said. "He was kind and very pious."

Rivera remembers clearly the sad day Santa Fe said farewell.

"When he died there was a procession on foot from the cathedral to the cemetery, Rosario Cemetery," she said. "The procession was a big procession. The streets were full, and the sidewalks were lined with people that stood there."

Investigators believe the murderer was someone with a grudge against the church. The man who called the cathedral that August night was carrying out a plot to kill a priest.

Father Rivera was likely not the target, but when he took the phone call, it became his death sentence.

"It's such a hideous thing," Sheehan told KRQE News 13. "That someone would do that, it's incomprehensible.

"To call the cathedral in Santa Fe and to ask the priest to come and then kill him. That's the most outrageous horrible thing."

There were precious few clues to the killer's identity. Nearly 50 suspects were investigated, and the case was even featured on the network TV show "Unsolved Mysteries."

But over time the trail grew cold. Eventually new leads dried up. Yet despite the passage of time, Father Rivera has not been forgotten. Not by his family or his church and not the police.

"It wasn't an easy case 28 years ago, and it certainly is not an easy case today," Chavez, who is actively working the cold case, said. "This is a solvable case. It could be as simple as shaking the right tree.

"We're not giving up on this case."

Evidence now decades' old is being reevaluated.

"We have some evidence that we do possess that due to technology advances will be beneficial to this investigation even possibly solving it," New Mexico State Police Deputy Chief Scott Ford said. "We would like to be able to solve this and bring some closure to Father Rivera's family, to the archdiocese."

Last year, the archdiocese dedicated a new wing at the cathedral to the memory of the slain priest.

"He was a much beloved pastor of the cathedral church," Sheehan said. "Highly respected Franciscan priest with his own Hispanic roots here in New Mexico. Much loved and much grieved.

"There is still grieving in Santa Fe about his wonderful life and ministry and then his tragic murder."

At the remote spot where Father Rivera died there are no reminders of the horrible crime of 28 years ago. A simple cross once marked the spot, but it's gone now.

Today the site is just an old cow pasture.

Father's Rivera's death was hardest on his family. For Helen Rivera there are the photographs and the memories still so vivid despite the passage of time.

Helen will never forget the day her daughter was born with a tragic disability. Reynaldo Rivera held the fragile infant in his arms.

"I remember him just holding her, just holding her, looking at her," she said. "Didn't say much or anything. He just held her."

A thought I was having was what if Father Rivera was one of the Catholic Priests involved in the molestation scandal? Obviously we won't know now, but what if he was actually doing it for years? It could be the person who killed him was one of his victims?

If he wasn't into it, it's a possibility that the victim was molested by a priest and Fr. Rivera either knew the one who did it or was just the unlucky target of someone's rage.

There's a new article about the 1982 murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera. The article briefly mentions that the case was on UM.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/larry_barker/mystery-call-a-ruse-for-priests-murder


Mystery call a ruse for priest's murder
Larry Barker Investigates
Updated: Friday, 05 Feb 2010, 6:20 PM MST
Published : Friday, 05 Feb 2010, 5:50 PM MST

Reporter: Larry Barker
Web Producer: Bill Diven
SANTA FE (KRQE) - In a long and distinguished career Father Reynaldo Rivera served the Roman Catholic faithful in New Mexico parishes large and small until 1982 when he was lured to his death by a killer whose identity remains a mystery.

"What a violent, hideous crime," Archbishop Michael Sheehan of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe said. "To ask a priest to come and do his ministry and then at that moment to take him and kill him.

"Evil thing. Evil thing."

On a warm summer night-- Aug. 5, 1982--Father Rivera, 57, was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

At 8:30 p.m. he answered the phone in the rectory of the Santa Fe Cathedral. A mysterious stranger calling from a pay phone said he needed a priest.

"Father Rivera was told that the caller's grandfather was requesting last rites be administered as he was sick and dying," Agent Paul Chavez, a New Mexico State Police criminal investigator, said. "He told Father Rivera he was in a blue pickup truck, and Father Rivera had agreed to meet him at the rest stop on top of La Bajada hill."

Father Rivera rushed out of the cathedral at 9 p.m. It was the last time he would be seen alive.

Two days later, the priest's body was discovered in a remote pasture two miles southwest of the rest area on Interstate 25 south of Santa Fe. He was on his back with one arm extended. He had been shot in the chest.

Autopsy results suggested the priest had been bound and tied. Then-Archbishop Robert Sanchez arrived at the crime scene to offer comfort as city and state homicide detectives fanned out looking for evidence.

"There was some personal effects that were missing from Father Rivera's person which consisted of his eyeglasses, his wallet and his sacrament kit," Chavez said.

The father's 1974 Chevrolet Malibu was found abandoned with its gas tank empty gas about 110 miles from the crime scene at a rest area on Interstate 40 near Grants. Crime lab investigators examined the vehicle for fingerprints.

A man of god had been lured to his death. And no one knew why.

"People just flocked to him," Helen Rivera, the priest's sister-in-law, said. "He was kind and very pious."

Rivera remembers clearly the sad day Santa Fe said farewell.

"When he died there was a procession on foot from the cathedral to the cemetery, Rosario Cemetery," she said. "The procession was a big procession. The streets were full, and the sidewalks were lined with people that stood there."

Investigators believe the murderer was someone with a grudge against the church. The man who called the cathedral that August night was carrying out a plot to kill a priest.

Father Rivera was likely not the target, but when he took the phone call, it became his death sentence.

"It's such a hideous thing," Sheehan told KRQE News 13. "That someone would do that, it's incomprehensible.

"To call the cathedral in Santa Fe and to ask the priest to come and then kill him. That's the most outrageous horrible thing."

There were precious few clues to the killer's identity. Nearly 50 suspects were investigated, and the case was even featured on the network TV show "Unsolved Mysteries."

But over time the trail grew cold. Eventually new leads dried up. Yet despite the passage of time, Father Rivera has not been forgotten. Not by his family or his church and not the police.

"It wasn't an easy case 28 years ago, and it certainly is not an easy case today," Chavez, who is actively working the cold case, said. "This is a solvable case. It could be as simple as shaking the right tree.

"We're not giving up on this case."

Evidence now decades' old is being reevaluated.

"We have some evidence that we do possess that due to technology advances will be beneficial to this investigation even possibly solving it," New Mexico State Police Deputy Chief Scott Ford said. "We would like to be able to solve this and bring some closure to Father Rivera's family, to the archdiocese."

Last year, the archdiocese dedicated a new wing at the cathedral to the memory of the slain priest.

"He was a much beloved pastor of the cathedral church," Sheehan said. "Highly respected Franciscan priest with his own Hispanic roots here in New Mexico. Much loved and much grieved.

"There is still grieving in Santa Fe about his wonderful life and ministry and then his tragic murder."

At the remote spot where Father Rivera died there are no reminders of the horrible crime of 28 years ago. A simple cross once marked the spot, but it's gone now.

Today the site is just an old cow pasture.

Father's Rivera's death was hardest on his family. For Helen Rivera there are the photographs and the memories still so vivid despite the passage of time.

Helen will never forget the day her daughter was born with a tragic disability. Reynaldo Rivera held the fragile infant in his arms.

"I remember him just holding her, just holding her, looking at her," she said. "Didn't say much or anything. He just held her."

A thought I was having was what if Father Rivera was one of the Catholic Priests involved in the molestation scandal? Obviously we won't know now, but what if he was actually doing it for years? It could be the person who killed him was one of his victims?

If he wasn't into it, it's a possibility that the victim was molested by a priest and Fr. Rivera either knew the one who did it or was just the unlucky target of someone's rage.

There's a new article about the 1982 murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera. The article briefly mentions that the case was on UM.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/larry_barker/mystery-call-a-ruse-for-priests-murder


Mystery call a ruse for priest's murder
Larry Barker Investigates
Updated: Friday, 05 Feb 2010, 6:20 PM MST
Published : Friday, 05 Feb 2010, 5:50 PM MST

Reporter: Larry Barker
Web Producer: Bill Diven
SANTA FE (KRQE) - In a long and distinguished career Father Reynaldo Rivera served the Roman Catholic faithful in New Mexico parishes large and small until 1982 when he was lured to his death by a killer whose identity remains a mystery.

"What a violent, hideous crime," Archbishop Michael Sheehan of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe said. "To ask a priest to come and do his ministry and then at that moment to take him and kill him.

"Evil thing. Evil thing."

On a warm summer night-- Aug. 5, 1982--Father Rivera, 57, was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

At 8:30 p.m. he answered the phone in the rectory of the Santa Fe Cathedral. A mysterious stranger calling from a pay phone said he needed a priest.

"Father Rivera was told that the caller's grandfather was requesting last rites be administered as he was sick and dying," Agent Paul Chavez, a New Mexico State Police criminal investigator, said. "He told Father Rivera he was in a blue pickup truck, and Father Rivera had agreed to meet him at the rest stop on top of La Bajada hill."

Father Rivera rushed out of the cathedral at 9 p.m. It was the last time he would be seen alive.

Two days later, the priest's body was discovered in a remote pasture two miles southwest of the rest area on Interstate 25 south of Santa Fe. He was on his back with one arm extended. He had been shot in the chest.

Autopsy results suggested the priest had been bound and tied. Then-Archbishop Robert Sanchez arrived at the crime scene to offer comfort as city and state homicide detectives fanned out looking for evidence.

"There was some personal effects that were missing from Father Rivera's person which consisted of his eyeglasses, his wallet and his sacrament kit," Chavez said.

The father's 1974 Chevrolet Malibu was found abandoned with its gas tank empty gas about 110 miles from the crime scene at a rest area on Interstate 40 near Grants. Crime lab investigators examined the vehicle for fingerprints.

A man of god had been lured to his death. And no one knew why.

"People just flocked to him," Helen Rivera, the priest's sister-in-law, said. "He was kind and very pious."

Rivera remembers clearly the sad day Santa Fe said farewell.

"When he died there was a procession on foot from the cathedral to the cemetery, Rosario Cemetery," she said. "The procession was a big procession. The streets were full, and the sidewalks were lined with people that stood there."

Investigators believe the murderer was someone with a grudge against the church. The man who called the cathedral that August night was carrying out a plot to kill a priest.

Father Rivera was likely not the target, but when he took the phone call, it became his death sentence.

"It's such a hideous thing," Sheehan told KRQE News 13. "That someone would do that, it's incomprehensible.

"To call the cathedral in Santa Fe and to ask the priest to come and then kill him. That's the most outrageous horrible thing."

There were precious few clues to the killer's identity. Nearly 50 suspects were investigated, and the case was even featured on the network TV show "Unsolved Mysteries."

But over time the trail grew cold. Eventually new leads dried up. Yet despite the passage of time, Father Rivera has not been forgotten. Not by his family or his church and not the police.

"It wasn't an easy case 28 years ago, and it certainly is not an easy case today," Chavez, who is actively working the cold case, said. "This is a solvable case. It could be as simple as shaking the right tree.

"We're not giving up on this case."

Evidence now decades' old is being reevaluated.

"We have some evidence that we do possess that due to technology advances will be beneficial to this investigation even possibly solving it," New Mexico State Police Deputy Chief Scott Ford said. "We would like to be able to solve this and bring some closure to Father Rivera's family, to the archdiocese."

Last year, the archdiocese dedicated a new wing at the cathedral to the memory of the slain priest.

"He was a much beloved pastor of the cathedral church," Sheehan said. "Highly respected Franciscan priest with his own Hispanic roots here in New Mexico. Much loved and much grieved.

"There is still grieving in Santa Fe about his wonderful life and ministry and then his tragic murder."

At the remote spot where Father Rivera died there are no reminders of the horrible crime of 28 years ago. A simple cross once marked the spot, but it's gone now.

Today the site is just an old cow pasture.

Father's Rivera's death was hardest on his family. For Helen Rivera there are the photographs and the memories still so vivid despite the passage of time.

Helen will never forget the day her daughter was born with a tragic disability. Reynaldo Rivera held the fragile infant in his arms.

"I remember him just holding her, just holding her, looking at her," she said. "Didn't say much or anything. He just held her."

A thought I was having was what if Father Rivera was one of the Catholic Priests involved in the molestation scandal? Obviously we won't know now, but what if he was actually doing it for years? It could be the person who killed him was one of his victims?

If he wasn't into it, it's a possibility that the victim was molested by a priest and Fr. Rivera either knew the one who did it or was just the unlucky target of someone's rag

The only problem with that theory is that its seems like more than one person took part in the murder. Two molested children working together? I guess it's possible.

One theory I'm circulating , I think Father Rivera was killed by two satanists, atheists or church hating individuals who wanted to kill a priest to sort of show to themselves that "God couldn;t save the priest."

It;s the fact that Father;s belongings were taken by the attackers. Almost as if they wanted something to relive the moment or show to other people. I could easily see a satanic cult using the belongings in their rituals.

Does anyone else think the coat hangers are significant?

I wonder if there is a link with the coat hangers. This might be a stretch, but maybe it's not linked to molestations. Maybe it's linked to the church's view on abortion. Coat hangers are often seen as a symbol of illegal abortions in the past - maybe there was a group that chose to express their views in a violent manner.

Of course, I could be completely out in left field too.

There is some reason to think it *may* be linked to molestation. The other priest who was murdered in Ronan, Montana was Rev. John Patrick Kerrigan.
He had been in Jemez Springs, New Mexico at a treatment center for priests with behavioral problems and addictions, including some pedophiles. Of course, the records were destroyed some years ago and it is unclear why he was at the treatment center.

Since he was murdered just four day after arriving at his new assignment, it is possible there is a link.

It is also possible these are not linked crimes at all.

See this source:

http://www.podles.org/case-studies/Reynaldo-Rivera-Murder-Case-Study.htm

Mastermind and MissFit, those are some interesting theories--especially the latter's. I would've never thought of that--very thought-provacative.

The $1,000 Fr. Kerrigan was carrying is something that's always bothered me. Of course, UM doesn't really elaborate, but I was always under the impression that was money HE had for his own personal use--as opposed to him say, acting as courier for the church or something like that. Fr. Kerrigan was an OFM priest; they take vows of poverty. Why would a priest need to carry a thousand dollars for his own use?

I've pretty summarily decided in the years since I first saw the segment that the murder and disappearance are probably unrelated. I've nearly made up my mind Fr. Rivera was murdered by someone with a grudge against the Church; Fr. Kerrigan is an absolute mystery to me in all aspects.

Thanks for the update Kane, you always find these great articles

I feel there is a very possible theory that the person who did the murder(s) wanted to get back at the church. Whether this was about being molested by one of the priests, or by a priest in general, they definitely wanted to make a point. Perhaps they were in Catholic school and beaten with a coat hanger. (May be a stretch, but it could symbolize some kind of abuse they suffered. Or a brother whose sister died having an illegal abortion because of the beliefs of the church. Again, a stretch, but not entirely impossible...)

The reason I feel the motive may be "revenge" in the killer's mind is 1) they wanted it to be very clear they killed a priest as they didn't go to any trouble to hide the body, and I can't imagine in a random killing, a person would see over a 1,000 dollars in someone's wallet and not take it, knowing the police were going to get the money anyway when the car was found. We're not talking about 50 or 100, but 1000. I think the killer was trying very hard to make the point - "I don't want anything from this priest, including his money...", he may have even been disgusted that a "man of the cloth" who supposedly takes a "vow of poverty" to help others, had that kind of cash in his wallet, which may have made the killer feel even more contempt, and feel rage at what he considered more hypocrisy. (I don't know if the priest actually had a 1,000 dollar bill as they suggested in the UM segment or the equivalent...I would image an 1,000 bill would make the killer even angrier as this is a rare currency for anyone to be carrying around as "pocket money"...the suggestion of more impropriety and which may have also set the killer off.)

That makes me think this is a case where this person either had a personal thing with the priest himself or against priests and the church in general. For most of us, the idea of killing one of "god's representatives" is so horrifying, for superstitious reasons, most people, including, I think, some serial killers with religious upbringings, wouldn't go near it. It would have to be someone who had a very specific hatred and wanted to get even. I'm not suggesting at all the priests deserved it, I'm just trying to get in the mind of who did this. I feel whoever was responsible had personal reasons, and got someone who was willing to help, I don't think they both hated the church, but the one who did was determined and convinced the other.

I bet it was the crips or bloods

This feels like a flush out article.

Maybe try and catch a guilty conscience, maybe find some ex-wife who knows something about her ex that matches this case, maybe somebody's gone off and gotten drunk and let their mouth run about the case since it happened....I don't think they'd catch the killer now, however this type of article is a nice way to not only pay homage to the fallen priest, but drag some bait out to see if someone bites.....

Kneejerk is that this case had something to do with pedophilia or molestation, given the infamous history of the Catholic church. Targeting any priest because of an axe to grind against priests in general plays for me.

Heck this could certainly just be a disturbed, zonked out teen who bought into the "satanic panic" and wanted to kill a priest, but priest killing is such a heady endeavour that I'd hazard there's more motive to this, with more targeted malice.