Dad 'skinned wife like a fish' and chopped her up in sick ritual after she gave birth

In the hours following the birth of their baby girl, a father of two was  discovered in a storage unit with his two young daughters and the mutilated body of his wife.

Justin Rey, 35, gruesomely "skinned" Jessica Monteiro "like a fish" after she tragically passed away post-childbirth in a motel at 32, then took a chilling photograph with her remains and their two children.

Jessica's remains were found in several containers - initially, Rey claimed she had committed suicide, later changing his story to say she died during childbirth. The cause of death could not be determined by the coroner who conducted the autopsy.

The new mother had given birth in a Kansas City motel and, rather than alerting  emergency services following her untimely death, Rey dismembered her body in the bath. He justified this horrific act by expressing fear that their two daughters would be taken away from him.

He spent a terrifying eight hours dissecting his partner's body before storing it in a cooler, as revealed by Jessica's sister, reports the Mirror.

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."

After his arrest in October 2017, Rey admitted his guilt to Johnson Country District Court, stating his desire to keep his family together.

Police found Rey with the newborn baby girl and his two-year-old daughter following reports of someone residing in the storage locker with two children.

One officer testified the elder child "almost looked like she had cancer". Rey subsequently informed officers he was travelling to Arizona to give his wife a proper ceremony.

Rey was detained and his children were taken into protective custody. Lenexa police detective Shannon Murphy testified Rey had positioned his children for photographs with their mother's corpse and Rey then admitted that he had "skinned her like a fish".

Murphy gave evidence Ray confessed to placing the body parts which wouldn't flush down the toilet into containers.

Deputy Johnson County Coroner Charles Glenn informed the court there were a "number" of stab wounds on the body parts but stated it couldn't be determined whether they occurred before or after her death.

During his remarkable testimony, Rey maintained they had only been at the storage facility for 11 hours when they were discovered. He also informed the court he only flushed the placenta down the toilet and not any other body parts.

"It was not fun for me," he said.

Investigators alleged Rey took photographs with his wife's body and his newborn and two-year-old, then dismembered the body two days later in a hotel bathtub and placed some of the remains in a large cooler.

Surveillance footage showed him pulling a red cooler with a black bag on top of it through the hotel, whilst pushing a stroller with a toddler walking beside him.

Asked about her dismemberment, Rey told The Associated Press, "What was I supposed to do? I wasn't going to leave mama behind."

Rey's solicitor posed questions solely about the images discovered on his mobile, which prevented prosecutors from questioning him about the children and what became of his wife.

However, in a series of telephone interviews, Rey stated he didn't contact police because he didn't want them to "steal more children."

He said he and his wife had six children together and that police had "stolen our children before."

In a letter 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."

But he added: "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 - these were not regarding his own children but instead stem from photographs of teenagers found on Rey's mobile after he asked law enforcement to examine it for evidence he thought would help him at trial.

Rey watched the hearing by video from a separate room after he interrupted so frequently that a judge ordered him removed. Rey will be required to register as a sex offender as part of his sentence of nine years behind bars.