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The 55-year-old Lancaster liar had concocted a wild story "that intruders broke into the home, killed his wife, and set fire to it out of retaliation for the victim’s brother, who had cooperated with the DEA in an unrelated case," according to a release by the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office on Friday, April 7, 2023.
Really, he started the blaze to cover up a murder that he himself had committed, authorities said.
Montalvo-Rivera's lies started on the night of the fire — Dec. 6, 2010, according to Ponessa who was assigned the case in 2019 along with ADA Christine Wilson.
Montalvo-Rivera claimed he had a "happy marriage" but a family member testified to hearing him say he’d “kill his wife like a dog” following an argument, and that appears to be what happened.
He was having "a family night with his wife and their three children, when he ran into someone he believed was having an affair with his wife on two occasions the same night of the murder and fire," the DA said.
When he got home and put the children to bed in their rooms on the third floor, and went to the bedroom he shared with his wife and attempted to kill her—attempted, because as ADA Wilson "presented testimony of Dr. Wayne Ross, an expert in forensic pathology, revealed that the wife died on the floor of a bedroom in the North Plum Street home by asphyxia and smoke inhalation"— so she was alive when the fire started.
Evidence later revealed the couple also "had recent sexual activity, but the victim never moved from her position on the floor before her death." It is unclear if the sexual activity happened before or after he thought he had killed her.
He then "poured gasoline up the steps and into the victim’s bedroom, set the house on fire while the children were (asleep) on the third floor. Then, he went out a door on the first floor, tied himself up, and attempted to create a story to cover his tracks and prove his innocence," according to the release by the DA's office.
He later claimed he was "knocked unconscious by intruders for nearly an hour although no brain or head injuries were found in a CT scan or observed by responding medical personnel," as stated in the release.
In fact, he also claimed to have jumped out of a second-floor window to escape the fire, but evidence showed the window he claimed to have jumped out of was closed and further testimony revealed Montalvo-Rivera was seen "attempting to get up to the window to open it during the fire," as stated in the release.
Neighbors helped emergency crews "save the three children in the home by going on the roof of a neighboring house in order to access them," while their father was no where to be found. "Montalvo-Rivera eventually appeared from a foot alley next to the home after the children were rescued," according to the DA's office.
While emergency crews continued to battle the blaze, Montalvo-Rivera repeatedly yelled that his wife was still inside at the scene of the fire. “He knew she was in there because he left her in there on the floor where he killed her,” Ponessa said.
“All the evidence over the years, everything has ever only pointed to him, nobody else,” Ponessa said while pointing at the defendant during her closing argument.
Former Lancaster City Bureau of Police Detective Nathan Nickel who filed charges in 2019—after a length and methodically investigation took place— testified and attended the entirety of trial.
Montalvo-Rivera was convicted of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted homicide, one count of arson, and one count of risking catastrophe on Thursday, April 6, 2023. The jury deliberated for roughly an hour and 45 minutes following a trial that lasted nearly three weeks before Lancaster County Judge Dennis Reinaker. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison.
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