In a deeply disturbing case, a father of two was discovered inside a storage unit alongside 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.
Details of the Crime
Jessica's body parts were found scattered across several containers. Rey initially claimed she had taken her own life, before later stating she had died during childbirth. The post-mortem examiner was unable to determine a definitive cause of death.
After Jessica died following childbirth in a Kansas City motel, Rey failed to alert the emergency services, instead choosing to dismember her body in the bathtub, reports the Irish Mirror.
Rey's Justification
He attempted to justify this harrowing act by claiming he feared their two daughters would be taken into care. According to Jessica's sister, Rey spent eight gruelling hours dissecting his partner's body before placing the remains in a cooler.
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."
Arrest and Discovery
Following his arrest in October 2017, Rey confessed to his crimes at Johnson County District Court, stating his wish to keep his family together. Following reports of someone living in a storage unit with two children, police found Rey together with his newborn baby girl and his two-year-old daughter.
A police officer gave evidence the elder child "almost looked like she had cancer." Rey later told officers he was journeying to Arizona to conduct a proper ceremony for his wife. He was taken into custody and his children were placed under protective care.
Evidence Presented
Lenexa police detective Shannon Murphy presented evidence that Rey had compelled his children to be photographed next to their mother's body, with Rey acknowledging he had "skinned her like a fish." Murphy presented evidence Rey admitted to putting the body parts that 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 recovered body parts, though noted it was impossible to establish whether these had been inflicted before or after her death.
Rey's Testimony
During his disturbing testimony, Rey maintained they had only been at the storage facility for 11 hours before they were found. 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 claimed that Rey photographed himself with his wife's body alongside his newborn and two year old child, before dismembering her remains two days later in a hotel bathtub and placing them into a large cooler. CCTV footage showed him wheeling a red cooler with a black bag on top through the hotel corridor, while manoeuvring a pram with a toddler walking alongside 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."
Legal Proceedings
Rey's solicitor confined his cross-examination solely to images found on his mobile phone, which effectively barred prosecutors from questioning him regarding 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."
Charges and Sentencing
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 arising from photographs of teenagers uncovered on Rey's phone after he requested that law enforcement examine it for evidence he believed would support his case at trial. Rey was forced to observe the hearing through video link from another room following his persistent disruptions, which prompted a judge to direct his removal from the courtroom.
As part of his nine-year prison term, Rey will be added to the sex offenders' register.
