A Hispanic family was stabbed to death in a Bronx apartment on Sunday. Jonathan Rivera, 38, his girlfriend, Hanoi Peralta, 33, and their five-year-old son, Kayden Rivera, died in violent circumstances. Their bodies were found by the New York Police who responded to an emergency call at 8 a.m. in an apartment located on the first floor of 674 East 136th Street in the Mott Haven area.
A neighbor of the Riveras, Fernando Cruz, told CBS what happened. As he explained, he heard men shouting and fighting around 11 pm on Saturday but he could never have imagined what really happened:
It's a crazy scene. I never thought it would happen here and I've been living here for 11 years. I heard like an altercation going on, like a lot of the noise, like a tussle, like somebody was fighting or something. There was this last thing, where the man went ... 'ahh' and it might have been the fatal blow and then it got quiet.
The authorities continue to investigate what happened and, although they have some hypothesis of what could have happened, such as that it could be a crime of passion carried out by a member of the family, they have preferred not to completely confirm anything until they can confirm the facts. For his part, the forensic examiner is trying to determine the causes of the family's death, although all of them have knife wounds.
The Bronx community, shocked by the death of the Riveras
Meanwhile, the community mourns the loss of the Rivera family who were known and loved by the residents of the area. One of them, who preferred to remain anonymous, is the clerk at the winery where Jonathan and his family used to go. He assured Univision that the family had no enemies, at least known ones : "I have known them for a long time, they are good people, but I don't know what happened."
Jose Torres, the former caretaker of the building where the Riveras lived also regretted what happened and, like the clerk, assured that the family, who had five years living in that apartment, was very loved by everyone: "My child died, he was like my child, I played with him every day. I knew them well and as far as I know I don't know who it could be [the killer]."
The family of the deceased are also trying to clarify what happened and, like the residents of the area, they still cannot believe that the Riveras died in such a violent way. Jonathan's father, Miguel Ángel Rivera, 60, went to the Bronx building on Monday. There, the New York Times reports, he rested his head on a newspaper van and began to cry: "I want to see you, I want to see you. My son was the best father in the world. Even more than me. What happened? I don’t know. I don’t know why. I want to know what’s happened. How? Why?" he declared.
