Father Reynaldo Rivera was a dedicated servant of God for nearly thirty years. Having been ordained a priest in 1953, the fifty-seven-year-old man of the cloth had served for seven years as an appointed rector of St. Francis Cathedral in his native Santa Fe, New Mexico. No one doubted he would one day enter the pearly gates; that day, however, came all too early.

On the evening of August 5, 1982, Father Rivera was summoned to a rest stop, believing he had been called to perform the last rights on a dying man. The call for closure was a ruse to lure a priest to the isolated area, it appeared, for the sole purpose of murdering him.

If Father Rivera performed any last rites that evening, they were on himself. Little could he have known that his trip to the rest stop would lead to his being laid to rest.

Father Reynaldo Rivera

At 8:15 p.m., Father Patrick Gerard answered a call to the rectory of Santa Fe’s St. Francis Cathedral. The caller, identifying himself as Michael Carmello, asked a priest to meet him at a rest stop near Waldo, twenty-five miles southwest of Santa Fe. The man, with seeming sincerity in his voice, said his grandfather was dying of an apparent heart attack and that he wanted a priest to administer the last rites to him. Father Gerard explained that he was partially blind and was unable to drive at night. At the time, all other priests were hearing confessions; he asked the caller to telephone again in fifteen minutes.

Promptly fifteen minutes later, the man phoned again. This time the call was answered by Father Reynaldo Rivera. After the man repeated the same story, Father Rivera agreed to meet him at the La Bajada Hill rest stop on Interstate 25 near Waldo, approximately twenty-five miles south of Santa Fe. From there, the father said the caller would drive him to his grandfather’s house.

Before leaving at approximately 8:45, Father Rivera told fellow priests the caller said he was driving a blue pickup.

Father Rivera Answered The Call . . .

Two days later, Father Rivera’s body was found on a deserted road off Interstate 25, one mile east of Waldo and three miles from the rest stop. His hands were bound and ligature marks on his neck suggested he had been tied up with a wire for several hours before being shot once in the stomach with a high-powered weapon, either a .357 caliber or greater handgun or rifle.

Although the area was secluded, it was in plain sight. Police believe the priest was killed elsewhere and that the killer or killers wanted the remains to be found because plenty of less visible locales were nearby.

The phone at the La Bajada rest stop from which the killer had said he was calling was out of order that evening. It was not determined from where the phone call had actually been made.

. . . And Is Lured To His Murder

After killing Father Rivera, his assailant(s) are believed to have returned to the rest stop to move his car, a 1974 Chevy Malibu. The vehicle was found two days later at a different rest area on Interstate 40 east of Grants, approximately one-hundred-twenty miles southwest of Waldo. The doors were locked and the gas tank was nearly empty. The car keys were never found.

Unidentified fingerprints, palm prints, and hair samples believed to be from the killer(s) were found in Father Rivera’s car.

Father Rivera’s Car

Robbery was initially believed to have been the motive for the murder because the priest’s pockets had been turned inside out. His wallet and watch, however, were not taken. The only item missing was his last rites kit, which included a prayer book, a vial of holy oil, a communion wafer, a candle, and a crucifix. Police believe the items were taken as souvenirs of the slaughter.

Robbery Ruled Out

Authorities believe at least two people were involved in Father Rivera’s murder because he was large and strong making it difficult for one person to overpower him. Because no markings related to the occult were found on his body, his murder is not believed to have been Satanism-related.

Father Rivera per se was not targeted for murder; a Catholic priest in general is believed to have been the prey. An FBI psychological profile determined the motive for the murder was revenge for a perceived wrongdoing by the church.

 The killer(s) appeared familiar with Catholic Church rituals.

Killed Because He Was A Priest

A nationwide search found no criminal suspects named Michael Carmelo or Carmello. A man with that name living in a neighboring state of New Mexico voluntarily passed a polygraph test.

A man who had stolen a car in Grants shortly after Father Rivera’s murder was initially suspected of involvement until it was confirmed he was in jail on the evening of the murder.

Thirty-nine-year-old Manuel Nieto, released from prison only three days before the murder, also seemed a promising suspect. He had failed to report to a drug rehabilitation program and was seen in Santa Fe the day before the murder. Nieto’s fingerprints, however, were found not to match those retrieved from the slain priest’s car, and two witnesses confirmed he was with them on the evening of the murder.

A transient from Beverly Hills, California, who allegedly robbed a church and threatened a clergyman in Utah was also investigated until he was confirmed not to be in New Mexico at the time of the murder.

Several days after Father Rivera’s murder, a Sacramento, California, man called police claiming an acquaintance had bragged about murdering a Santa Fe priest. The man hailed from the New Mexican capital and had a criminal record, but he was found to have been in a mental hospital on August 5, 1982.

Suspects Cleared

Father Patrick Ryan was murdered at an Odessa, Texas, hotel, nearly four-hundred miles southeast of Santa Fe, in December 1981, ten months before Father Rivera’s murder.  His convicted killer, James Reyos, was investigated and cleared of any involvement after he was determined to have working in Memphis, Tennessee, at the time.

Marcus Harris and his seventeen-year-old accomplice Lawrence Snyder killed Arizona Reverend Donald Hamilton on August 19, 1982, only two weeks after Father Rivera was murdered, but they were also cleared of any involvement. I could not find a picture of either man or of Reverend Hamilton.

Father Patrick Ryan

Two years after Father Reynaldo Rivera’s murder, fifty-eight-year-old Father John Kerrigan of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church disappeared only four days after moving to Ronan, Montana. He was last seen leaving Deneault’s Bakery, across the street from his new church, just after 11:00 p.m. on July 20, 1984.

The following day, a local fruit peddler found a pile of bloody clothes and a coat hanger at a turnout along Montana Highway 35, thirteen miles north of Ronan. The items, a shirt, shoes, and a windbreaker jacket, belonged to Father Kerrigan but were not the clothes he was last seen wearing when leaving the bakery. Police concluded the coat hanger had been used to tie someone up and may also have been used to strangle the person. The shirt, though bloodied, contained no weapon marks. Inside the pocket was a $100 bill, seemingly ruling out robbery as a motive.

Father John Kerrigan

Eight days later, on July 29, Father Kerrigan’s car, a 1976 white and brown Chevrolet Impala, was found on the shores of Flathead Lake near Polson, five miles south of where the clothes were discovered. Blood was on the car’s front seat, passenger door, and passenger floorboard. A blood-stained shovel and a pillow were in the trunk. The car keys were found in the grass thirty yards away.

Also laying in the trunk were Father Kerrigan’s wallet, containing $1200. The money was in plain view, again ruling out robbery as the motive. Parts of his sacramental case were also missing.

Father Kerrigan’s body has never been found.

The Father’s Car Is Found, But No Body

Investigators were struck by other similarities between the murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera in New Mexico and the disappearance and probable murder of Father John Kerrigan in Montana. In both cases:

• The killer or killers seemingly wanted the public to know they had murdered a Catholic priest.
• The cars were driven from the crime scene.
• A metal coat hanger was found near Father Kerrigan’s clothes and evidence suggested a coat hanger was used in Father Rivera’s murder.
• Robbery was not the motive.
In addition, both priests belonged to the select Order of Franciscans, and Father Kerrigan had ties to New Mexico, having spent time at the Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete in Jemez Springs, seventy miles west of Santa Fe, in 1983, the year prior to his appointment in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, Montana. This congregation was used as a retreat for clergy suffering from personal problems.

No evidence has been found that Father Rivera and Father Kerrigan knew one another or even of each other. Despite the similarities, most investigators no longer believe the cases are connected.

Is There A Serial Priest Killer?

Several suspects have been ruled out in the murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera, but one person who has not been cleared is George Semkus. The former Santa Fe resident was believed to have flown into the city from New York on the evening of the murder and was suspected of involvement in several recent area burglaries and robberies, including the theft of a La Conquistadora statue from the Santa Fe Cathedral.

Semkus apparently believed the Franciscans would ask for clemency for him; when they did not, a fellow jailer says he vowed vengeance on the priests at the cathedral.

The Santa Fe Cathedral

Following his arrest in November 1982, three months after Father Rivera’s murder, the thirty-one-year-old Semkus was sent to a Las Vegas mental hospital from which he and another resident, nineteen-year-old Steve Valdez, escaped and stole a car on New Year’s Day, 1983. Semkus was captured seven months later in New York. Items taken during a New Mexico burglary were found in his car and a pistol was hidden in the glove compartment.

Semkus was convicted of being in possession of stolen property and unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon. While imprisoned in New York for additional robberies committed there, he was given a polygraph test; the results have not been made public.

Semkus was paroled from prison in March 2003. He is considered a suspect in the murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera and Santa Fe police say he fits the FBI’s psychological profile of the killer, but they have no evidence directly connecting him to the crime.

George Semkus

For many years, a cross was placed at the site where Father Rivera’s body was found. It was stolen and replaced multiple times.

Where Father Rivera’s Body Was Found

In 2009, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe dedicated a new wing at St. Francis Cathedral to Father Reynaldo Rivera’s memory. Investigators are confident they will solve his murder, predicting the scientific evidence and advancements in technology will ultimately identity the killer of the beloved priest. Periodic checks through nationwide databases over the years of the fingerprints, palm prints, and hair samples found in Father Rivera’s car have so far failed to produce any matches.

If you have any information on the murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera, please contact the Santa Fe Police Department at (505) 428-3710 or the New Mexico State Police at (505)-841-9256.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65326473/reynaldo-john-rivera

Confident Of Closure

Prior to moving to Ronan, Montana, Father John Kerrigan had served at a parish in Plains, Montana, fifty miles away. In 2015, the Diocese of Helena reported the long-missing priest was suspected of child molestation. The revelation led many to theorize he had been murdered by a sexually-abused victim or someone close to a victim.

No conclusive evidence, however, has been found to support the allegations against the absent Father Kerrigan. The results of the investigation determined the sexual assault accusations could neither be proven nor disproven.

If you have any information relating the disappearance of Father John Kerrigan, please contact the Lake County, Montana Sheriff’s Office at 406-883-7301.

The Still Missing Priest

SOURCES:

• Albuquerque Journal
• CBS Affiliate KRQU Albuquerque Channel 13
• El Paso Times
• Leon J. Poodles “The Rev. Reynaldo Rivera Murder Case Study”
• The Missoulian
• Santa Fe New Mexican
• Unsolved Mysteries