Police brass said Tuesday that they have identified a person of interest in the grisly murder of a Bronx family Sunday.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny revealed on Tuesday the horrific details surrounding the barbaric slaying of 38-year-old Jonathan Rivera, 33-year-old Hanoi Peralta, and 5-year-old Kayden Rivera, adding that police believe a loved one committed the heinous crime.
Police found all three victims inside 674 East 136th St. at around 6:40 a.m. Sunday morning. The scene resembled something out of a horror movie.
Jonathan was discovered in the building’s first floor hallway, lying in a pool of blood with a stab wound to the chest, a slash mark to the head, and lacerations to his hands indicating that he attempted to fight off his attacker.
Inside a nearby apartment, officers located Peralta, who had suffered with 15 stab wounds to the back and seven wounds in the chest.
But their son suffered the worst fate, as Chief Kenny noted that 5-year-old Kayden “was disemboweled” on a bed, and had suffered numerous stab wounds.
Evidence recovered at the crime scene only seemed to indicate the depraved nature of the heinous triple homicide.
“At the scene we recovered a very small kitchen knife and a pot that was dented,” Chief Kenny noted, so it appears that after they were stabbed, the victims were then beaten with the pot to the point that it was dented.”
One day prior to the grizzly murders, Rivera and Peralta were spotted in Lower Manhattan at around 8 p.m. However, things apparently took a turn for the worse during the early hours of Nov. 26, when neighbors heard bone chilling yells.
“At 5 a.m. they hear someone screaming the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish in the hallway, and we have another neighbor at two o’clock in the morning state that they hear a male and female screaming,” Chief Kenny said.
‘I did something bad’
At this time in the investigation, detectives identified the person of interest as a son of Rivera from a previous relationship, who was brought to the home to babysit the night before.
Chief Kenny said the person of interest was later whisked to Westchester County Hospital for a psychological evaluation after the mother of the person of interest dialed 911, reporting that her son was hearing voices.
While at the hospital he reportedly said, “I did something bad,” while muttering about the alleged crimes. He was also found to have lacerations on his hands that are said to be consistent with stabbings.
It is suspected he attacked the family after hearing voices that convinced him they planned on “hurting him.”
While police have not yet made an arrest, Chief Kenny said Tuesday they are confident they’ll be able to do so in a swift fashion.
“We’re working with our partners in the Bronx District Attorney’s office. He’s being held right now,” he said. “We’re still building our case. We’re very confident that we will work our way to probable cause and the arrest will be made.”
