Dad 'skinned wife like a fish' after she died giving birth - then took photos
WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT: Justin Rey, 35, was found in a Kansas City storage unit with his two young daughters and the dismembered remains of his wife, Jessica Monteiro, just hours after she died giving birth
In a deeply disturbing case, a father of two was found in a storage unit with his daughters and the skinned and dismembered remains of his wife, just hours after she had given birth to their baby girl.
Justin Rey, 35, horrifically "skinned" Jessica Monteiro "like a fish" following her death at just 32 in a motel, before taking a chilling photograph with her body and their two children.
Jessica's body parts were discovered scattered across multiple containers. Rey initially maintained she had taken her own life, but subsequently stated she died during childbirth.
The post-mortem examiner was unable to establish a definitive cause of death.
After Jessica passed away following childbirth in a Kansas City motel, Rey did not alert emergency services, instead opting to dismember her body in the bathtub, reports the Daily Star.
He justified this horrific act by claiming he feared their two daughters would be taken from him.
Rey spent eight harrowing hours dissecting his partner's body before storing it in a cooler, according to Jessica's sister.
During his preliminary hearing, Rey testified: "It's something I had to do. My family is very dear to me. It's something I had to do to protect my family."
Following his arrest in October 2017, Rey admitted to his crimes at Johnson County District Court, expressing his desire to keep his family together.
After reports of someone living in a storage unit with two children, police discovered Rey along with his newborn baby girl and his two-year-old daughter. An officer testified that the older child "almost looked like she had cancer".
Rey then told officers he was travelling to Arizona to give his wife a proper ceremony. He was subsequently arrested and his children placed into protective custody.
Lenexa police detective Shannon Murphy presented evidence that Rey had forced his children to pose for photographs alongside their mother's corpse, with Rey admitting he had "skinned her like a fish".
Murphy further revealed that Rey confessed to placing body parts that wouldn't flush down the toilet into containers.
Deputy Johnson County Coroner Charles Glenn told the court there were a "number" of stab wounds on the recovered body parts, though he stated it was impossible to determine whether these had occurred before or after her death.
During his disturbing testimony, Rey claimed the family had only been at the storage facility for 11 hours before they were discovered. He also maintained to the court that he only flushed the placenta down the toilet and no other body parts.
"It was not fun for me," he said.
Investigators alleged that Rey photographed himself with his wife's body alongside his newborn and two-year-old child, before dismembering her body two days later in a hotel bathtub and storing some of the remains in a large cooler.
CCTV footage captured him wheeling a red cooler with a black bag on top through the hotel, while pushing a pram with a toddler walking beside him.
When questioned about the dismemberment, Rey told The Associated Press, "What was I supposed to do? I wasn't going to leave mama behind."
Rey's solicitor solely cross-examined him regarding the images discovered on his mobile phone, effectively preventing prosecutors from questioning him about the children and the fate of his wife.
Nevertheless, during a series of telephone interviews, Rey maintained he had not contacted the police as he did not want them to "steal more children."
He claimed that he and his wife had six children together and that officers had previously "stolen our children before."
In a letter addressed to AP dated 23 June, Rey wrote, "My children had not been in any danger, I'm not a murderer, I never abandoned a corpse, never lived in a storage unit/facility, never looked up/screenshot child porn."
Yet he conceded: "I did dismember a dead corpse under religious views."
Rey faced charges including two counts of aggravated child endangerment and two counts of contributing to a child's misconduct — unrelated to his own children but stemming from photographs of teenagers discovered on Rey's phone after he requested that law enforcement examine it for evidence he believed would support his case at trial.
Rey was compelled to follow proceedings via video link from a separate room after his repeated outbursts led a judge to order his removal from the courtroom. As part of his nine-year custodial sentence, Rey will be placed on the sex offenders register.
