Lack of Other Evidence

Lack of a Body

The prosecution spent 5000 man-hours¹ searching for Katelyn’s body in various locations. Despite using dogs trained to detect cadavers it came up empty. Since Robert Rivera is illiterate, one would think that he would stand little chance of burying a body in a way that outwitted trained searchers and detectives. However, DA Patrick Meehan praised Robert as doing a "masterful job of disposing of the body."² The unsuccessful searches served to discredit the idea that Katelyn was dead, but Meehan claimed the reverse, that they discredited the idea that Katelyn was alive. According to Meehan the searches resulted in not "one single bit of credible information to come to the conclusion that Katelyn Rivera-Helton is alive."³

Lack of a Motive

Robert’s Love For Katelyn

At his trial a prosecution witness, Donna Marie Davis, an attorney who represented Katelyn's mother, testified about Robert’s behavior towards her outside the courtroom at the time of Katelyn’s custody hearing: “He grabbed my hand, and he grabbed it as if he was in desperation. And he looked at me and he said don't forget what you promised, don't forget what you promised. I looked at him because at first I wasn't sure what he was talking about. He said don't forget to pray for my baby, you said you would pray for my baby. I said I won't forget, I'll pray for Katelyn. And he wouldn't let go of my hand, and then finally the sheriffs had to take him away and he let go. It is something I'll never forget.”⁴

Other prosecution witnesses such as Cheryl Lancianese also provided additional evidence that Robert loved Katelyn.⁵ Even Lt. Peifer acknowledged Robert’s love for Katelyn when he told Robert, “You cared about your child … You even checked out the baby-sitters to make sure that she wasn't going to someone -- when you guys were looking for baby-sitters. You wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to be mistreated by any baby-sitters.”⁶ From Michelle Lupi’s testimony one also surmises that Robert loved Katelyn, because he made Michelle sit in the back seat and had Katelyn sit in the front seat.⁷ The prosecution never tried to explain why Robert would kill someone he loved.⁸

Because of Robert’s love for Katelyn, it is clear that he would never kill Katelyn out of malice. Legally a killing must be accompanied by malice to be classified as murder. Robert’s prosecutor knew that when he told the jury, “I suggest to you that this case certainly is a killing with malice.”⁹ The prosecutor apparently was implying that Robert had malice towards Jennifer.

Alleged Malice Towards Jennifer

The prosecution argued that Robert killed Katelyn to get back at Katelyn’s mother, Jennifer. It indicated he was mad at her and wanted revenge for some reason. Robert was unhappy with Jennifer for seizing or attempting to seize exclusive custody of Katelyn. But the prosecution never demonstrated that Robert was mad at Jennifer for any other reason. The prosecution presented a Catch-22 paradox. If Robert loved Katelyn, then he could not have killed her. If Robert did not love Katelyn, then he had little reason for being mad at or wanting some alleged revenge on Jennifer.

Jennifer’s Dislike of Children

The prosecution’s argued motive implied that Jennifer loved Katelyn and that Robert could hurt her by killing Katelyn. However, Jennifer did not particularly like children, for according to Robert she had two abortions, one before Katelyn was born and one after Katelyn was born. This fact suggests that Robert had three children with Jennifer. After Jennifer killed two of their children, the prosecution is arguing that Robert believed he could hurt her by killing the third.

Jennifer’s Life Insurance Policy on Katelyn

According to Robert, Jennifer had a $25 to $50 thousand dollar life insurance policy on Katelyn,¹⁰ so if Robert killed Katelyn, he would financially enrich Jennifer. If Robert was angry at Jennifer, killing Katelyn would not be a great way of getting revenge. Robert's story appears to be corroborated by Jennifer's behavior. Following Robert's conviction for Katelyn's alleged murder, Jennifer appeared to be in a rush to have Katelyn declared dead. There would not appear to be any need for a official death declaration unless she had a life insurance policy as payouts require such a declaration.

Alleged Incidents of Abuse

On July 29, 1999, Robert and Jennifer broke up. The next day while packing up Jennifer’s belongings to give to her, Robert came across sexually explicit photos of Jennifer with other people. Some had a phone number on the back and were apparently used to solicit prostitution. Jennifer later broke into the apartment, not knowing that Robert was inside, to get her belongings. Robert confronted her and as punishment for the pictures, he cut up some of her possessions and also cut an extension of her hair. Although the jury was not permitted to know about them, the existence of these photos is confirmed in Robert’s trial transcripts.¹¹ Also, police reports describes the destruction of other sexually explicit photos of Jennifer that were found by Robert’s landlord.¹² The prosecution had Jennifer testify about this alleged abuse, but left the jury with the impression that Robert acted mindlessly for no particular reason.

On August 10, 1999, after a 9 a.m. custody hearing, Robert was told he would never see Katelyn again. Such a statement appears to be a lie, but it is not clear what custody rights Robert retained. Robert wanted to talk to Jennifer but she would run away as though her actions towards Robert bothered her conscience. After the hearing, Robert met up with her at a local Wawa (a convenience store like 7-Eleven). Jennifer ran to her car. Robert pulled her out of the car to try to talk with her. Jennifer got some bruises in part because her aunt jumped on her in an attempt to stop Robert, but according to police reports and trial transcripts she was driving around in a car later that day and was not complaining of any injury.

The prosecution used these incidents of mistreatment to claim that Robert harbored murderous rage towards Jennifer, but Jennifer apparently did not think so. The following day Jennifer met with Robert following Robert’s arrest. The two were allowed to talk for over an hour. Detective Reardon observed Jennifer sitting on Robert’s lap, with her arms around him.¹³ By her behavior it seems clear that Jennifer did not think Robert harbored any serious ill will towards her.

To the author of this website, Robert has only once expressed a criticism of Jennifer. A TV producer (also named Jennifer) had scheduled an on air phone interview with Robert. However, the producer canceled the interview after Jennifer (Helton) refused to appear on the show unless the interview with Robert was canceled. Robert wrote to me, "Just between you and me, I think both Jennifers are lesbians." Another time Robert was talking so warmly of Jennifer, that I said, "You are not thinking of getting back with Jennifer, if you get out?" He agreed he would not.

Footnotes

¹ Trial Transcripts, Jan. 15, page 29
Prosecutor John F. X. Reilly:
“We have spent over 5,000 man-hours searching for Katelyn with no success.”

² Delaware County Daily Times, Aug 11, 2000

³ Delaware County Daily Times, Apr 18, 2000

⁴ Trial Transcripts, Jan. 16, pages 22, 23.

⁵ Trial Transcripts, Jan. 17, page 168.
Questioning of Cheryl (Sheri) Lancianese:
Q. “… Did he say that he would contact you after the court hearing?
A. He said that he would. He had told me during that interview that he was upset because he couldn't see Katelyn but one hour a week. And it had to be a supervised visitation. So he was very upset about that.”

⁶ Tape Recording Testimony, Sept. 13, 2000, pages 72, 73.

⁷ Trial Transcripts, Jan. 16, page 81.
Questioning of Michelle Lupi:
“Q. Tell us what he [Rivera] said?
A. Just get … in the car, Katelyn stays in the front, he wouldn't let Katelyn in the back, I wanted to get in the front.”

⁸ This website author knew Robert and had some knowledge of his love for Katelyn, and on that basis alone found it difficult to believe that Robert could have killed her. Later, after learning about the allegedly incriminating evidence, I still did not believe he killed his daughter, but I tried to maintain some doubt. Following Robert's conviction for murder and transfer to a state prison, I sent Robert pictures of Katelyn, which he appreciated, but he wanted other pictures of her, which were difficult for me to get.
Later when I did not send him the other pictures, Robert somehow got the idea that I believed his accusers and that I was offended at the idea of sending him pictures of his daughter. I was not offended at all. I just did not understand why the other pictures were such a big deal, as he already he already had several pictures of Katelyn. I wrote to him and said, “I guess you are sentimental about Katelyn.” Robert agreed, he was sentimental. After that incident in late 2002, I still could not explain the shoe and shovel evidence. But I could no longer maintain any doubt about his innocence.

⁹ Trial Transcripts, Jan. 23, page 80.

¹⁰ Rivera: “…the judge has signed the death certificate and now she [Jennifer] can get the money from the life insurance policy. The policy is from 25,000 to 50,000 dollars.” From letter by Robert dated 9-24-02.
At Rivera’s sentencing on 3-11-02, the prosecutor spoke to the judge with Jennifer present about getting Katelyn declared dead. (witnessed by website author.) On 6-19-02, the Delaware County Daily Times reported that Jennifer got Katelyn officially declared dead. An official declaration is largely pointless, unless Jennifer needed a death certificate to collect on a life insurance policy.

¹¹ Trial Transcripts, Jan. 23, page 5:
“Mr Smith: … [Rivera] wanted me to produce for him a series of photographs that he had given to me that were sexually explicit photographs involving Jennifer with other people, objects and so forth, and he wanted to exhibit those to the jury.”
Trial Transcripts, Jan. 23, page 6:
“Mr. Smith: He -- he is adamant that he wants me to turn those photographs over to him immediately prior to the conclusion of the trial and I have told him that I will not do so.
The Court: I so instruct you.”

¹² Police Report:
“On Monday 08/30/99 1700 hours, Det. Reardon contacted Joseph Valentine (2804 #1 Chi Ave. Boothwyn 610-364-0384 Rivera's old apt.) with reference to obtaining info on the location of possible photos found in Rivera's apt. during the clean out. Valentine advised that he, along with two friends (Melissa Forrester and Angel Klum), cleaned out the apt. He advised that Forrester found about photos in a pocket of a flannel shirt in the living room closet. These photos displayed Jennifer Helton in various sexual positions (nude). There was also an unknown male (torso down in several of the photos. Helton's phone number was on the back of each of these photos. Valentine advised that he told Forrester to throw the photos in the trash and he observed her do so. (See interview sheet)”

¹³ Police Report:
“On Wednesday 08/11/99 at 1500 hours, Rivera indicated that if he could speak with Jennifer, that he might disclose the whereabouts of Katlyn. At 1520 hours, Jennifer Helton arrived at police HQs where she agreed to meet and speak with Rivera. Rivera was secured to a chair in the conference room of the Twp. building. Both Jennifer and Rivera spoke for nearly 1 hour 20 minutes. Det. Reardon maintained a post outside of the conference room door. Det. Reardon could not hear the conversation between Jennifer and Rivera, but Reardon could hear both Jennifer and Rivera crying at times and they were talking about the problems between them. Rivera appeared not to tell Jennifer anything about Katlyn or her whereabouts. On three occasions during the meeting, Jennifer opened the door to indicate that she was fine and asked for more time to talk. After about 1 hour, 10 minutes, Det. Reardon opened the door to check on Jennifer. At this time, Det. Reardon observed Jennifer standing on the same on the table side as Rivera in front of him. Jennifer turned to Reardon and advised that she was fine and everything was going ok. At about 1 hour, 20 minutes, Det. Reardon again opened the door and this time entered the room. Det. Reardon observed that Jennifer was now sitting on Rivera’s lap with her arms around him. Jennifer indicated that they are finished talking. At this time, Jennifer was advised to leave the room and speak with Lt. Harris outside. Det. Reardon then requested Rivera disclose the whereabouts of Katlyn. Rivera refused. He stated that in his heart, he knew Katlyn was in a safe place, being taken care of.”