Nine-year-old boy found dead inside burning car and his dad was charged with his murder
A nine-year-old child was found dead inside the trunk of a burning car and his father has been charged with the boy’s murder. On March 29, New Jersey’s Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Chief Daniel Plumacker of the Sayreville Police Department announced that 43-year-old Manuel Rivera of Sayreville, has been charged with Aggravated Arson, Murder, Endangering the Welfare of a Child, and Desecration of Human Remains.
On March 28, 2024, at approximately 10:45 p.m., authorities received a 911 call reporting a fire in the area of the Sayreville War Memorial High School. While responding to the call, an additional call came in reporting a related domestic dispute. Authorities then responded to Eisenhower Drive in Sayreville.
Upon their arrival, officers located a female victim, who alerted the authorities of a domestic dispute that led to Manuel Rivera, 43, of Sayreville, leaving the home with their nine-year-old son.
Authorities on scene at Washington Road, near the rear of Sayreville High School, found Rivera alive but with burns to his body and a self-inflicted wound. Next to Rivera, a vehicle was located that was doused with gasoline and on fire. Rivera was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick where he is in critical condition and being treated for his injuries.
As police investigated, they discovered the body of a deceased child found in the vehicle. That child was Rivera’s nine-year-old son. Based upon the results of the boy’s autopsy, Rivera was charged with second-degree Aggravated Arson, first-degree Murder, second-degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child, and second-degree Desecration of Human Remains.
The boy was a student a Sayreville Public Schools and Rivera worked in the school district, according to Superintendent Richard Labbe. Rivera was hired by the school in December 2023 as a cafeteria worker/driver, according to My Central Jersey. ~ New York Post
My Central Jersey shared a statement by Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O’Brien, who said the community is shaken to its core.
“Any time such senseless violence involves one of our children, it gravely affects all of Sayreville,” he said in a statement. “I want to assure you the community is safe, as the Sayreville Police Department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office launches a detailed investigation this morning. On behalf of a shocked and saddened community, I want to say that Sayreville stands in solidarity with the child and the family and friends who are enduring this inconceivable ordeal.”
Anyone with information or surveillance footage of the area is asked to call Detective Michael Pirigyi of the Sayreville Police Department at 732-727-4444 or Detective Jose Rosario of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3289.
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(Source: Sayreville Police Department)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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