FALL RIVER —
Andres Rivera is scheduled to appear before a parole board next month. But even if he is denied release, the former Tremont Street resident will go free no later than 2012. The family of the 22-year-old woman he allegedly killed is preparing for that day.
Rivera is in prison as part of a deal struck with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the 2004 stabbing death of Jessica Corvelo, his girlfriend and mother of their twins.
Corvelo’s parents, Tony and Donna, still live on the first floor of the triple-decker where Jessica was killed. They care for Angel and Destiny, their daughter’s children with Rivera, who are now 8 years old. And the spectra of Rivera’s release weighs heavily on their minds.
The circumstances of Jessica Corvelo’s death remain cloudy nearly six years after she was fatally stabbed. Rivera told police Corvelo was attempting suicide on Aug. 9, 2004, when he tackled her to try to wrest a knife away. Initial reports indicated that Corvelo’s throat had been slashed — perhaps lending credence to Rivera’s story.
Ever since, the Corvelos have wrestled with the question of why their daughter would try to take her own life. They waited years to fully read the full medical examiner’s report on Jessica’s death.
“We had it for awhile, but you try to block it out,” said Tony Corvelo, now 49. “It just brings all the hurt back and the more you read it, the more it hurts.”
“We knew the initial cause of death. We just didn’t read the specific details,” said Jennifer Corvelo, Jessica’s 24-year-old sister.
Those details shed new light on the family’s understanding of the night Jessica died.
The report listed multiple stab wounds found on Jessica’s body — not the single wound that was initially reported. The fatal injury was a six-inch wound in Jessica’s neck, which severed her trachea and made efforts to resuscitate her futile.
“(Rivera) always made this story like it was some sloppy suicide attempt, not an altercation or domestic violence, but he ended up changing his story three times,” Jennifer Corvelo said.
“There were inconsistencies in where he was standing, how he tackled her, and none of the wounds were consistent with being self-inflicted.”
The Herald News sent a letter to Rivera, now 28, more than two weeks ago. He did not respond.
But the case against Rivera was far from ironclad. District Attorney Paul Walsh offered the involuntary manslaughter deal instead of going to trial on a second-degree murder charge, saying he felt the prosecution would have lost the case.
Walsh cited several details working against the possibility of a successful prosecution: In her initial 911 call, Donna Corvelo said she believed her daughter had hurt herself — information she now says came from Rivera. And one of the twin toddlers said “Mommy hurt Daddy.”
A major piece of evidence — a blood-soaked shirt Donna Corvelo said she saw Rivera wearing that night — was never recovered. Tony Corvelo said he told police he would go to the dump to find the shirt, but he was told he’d be arrested. Jessica’s necklace and wristwatch were also missing from her body when the family discovered her.
Tony Corvelo said the plea is something that haunts the family to this day.
“I was mad as hell that day in court for a system that was failing us. They’re going to let him out in six (years) and he should be doing 20 to life,” said Tony. “It was a week before Christmas and nobody wanted to hear the gory details. The court system failed. It was something that should have gone to jury.”
The Corvelos have had little contact with Rivera. When he as sentenced, Rivera gave the family a letter asking them to care for the twins and place a dozen roses on Jessica’s grave. Neither the Corvelos nor the twins have visited Rivera in prison or corresponded with him.
Donna Corvelo said beside an initial letter given to their family by Rivera when he was sentenced asking them to take care of his children and put a dozen roses on Jessica’s grave, the Corvelo family or the twins have not received any correspondence from Rivera and have not visited him at the Norfolk State Prison. He has never apologized for Jessica’s death, the family said.
Destiny said neither she nor her brother want anything to do with their father.
“He killed my mother,” Destiny said.
The twins were only three at the time of the murder, but Destiny was a witness to the crime and both remember that night vividly.
“Right afterwards, they would always have nightmares that lasted for years,” said Donna Corvelo, now 45. “Even after all these years, they still cry for the mommy. They still see a counselor every week too. ”
Weeks and months after the plea, the Corvelos began hearing more about constant arguments that could be heard by the residents of the building’s second-floor apartment – which separated the Corvelos from their daughter’s third-floor space. Suddenly, bruises Jennifer had questioned her sister about just days before her death took on new meaning.
“She did tend to bruise easily, but she always had bruises on her arms and legs. And when I questioned her about it, she would just say it was the nursing home she worked at as a CNA,” Jennifer Corvelo said.
The family continues to harbor regrets about how they addressed the situation. What if they had been more aggressive in asking Jessica about her mysterious bruises? What if they had been a little nosier about their daughter’s relationship?
“My daughter never said anything,” Tony Corvelo said. “She kept her silence, and it killed her.”
Rivera was a private first class in the U.S. Army and was studying to become an EMT. He told the Corvelo family he had not graduated, but months after their daughter’s death, Donna found a document she said indicated that Rivera had indeed been certified.
“He knows how to kill you and he knows how to save you, but there was no saving that night,” Tony Corvelo said.
Jennifer said she learned that Rivera has taken a rehabilitation program in prison that includes instruction on anger management.
“I can’t believe the rehab has done any good if he still doesn’t acknowledge his responsibility in the death of my sister,” Jennifer Corvelo said. “She just loved him with everything she had, more than anything else in his life.”
Tony Corvelo said the family would end up finding more than 50 different knifes and swords in their daughter’s apartment. They assume the weapons belonged to Rivera. The murder weapon was a five-inch long steak knife from a set Tony Corvelo had given the couple as a gift.
“The thing that I hate the most is that every day, he wakes up and he breathes and eats and knows that one day he will be out doing what he wants, and he has taken that choice away from her,” said Jennifer. “She can’t laugh any more or love her kids.”
The Corvelo family said they’ve been told Rivera may be able to fight for custody of his children after his release, if he chooses to do so.
“The twins have said they won’t live with their daddy and if they are ever forced to, they will just run away,” Donna Corvelo said.
Jennifer said the twins carry much of the traits she instilled in them by their mother — including a love of books. Even now, the twins still call for her.
“There was one recent holiday when Angel was depressed, and I asked him what was wrong and he said he missed his mom,” Jennifer Corvelo said. “I said what part do you miss, and he said ‘just the way she loved me.’ It broke my heart, because who loves her children more than their mother?”
Donna said they thank God for the twins, who remind them of their daughter’s impact on the world.
Tony and Jennifer Corvelo plan to speak in front of the parole board next month. Donna, fearing she would not make it through her statement, will have a family friend read it for her. None of them are looking forward to facing Rivera for the first time in nearly six years. If he is paroled, Rivera will be out of jail by May 15.
“There will always be this emptiness that will never go away,” said Donna. “How could it?”
Jennifer said she used to call her sister’s home phone for months after her death and only stopped when the phone company disconnected it. She still sees friends of Jessica’s who now have children or have had something happen in their lives and want to rush home to fill Jessica in on every detail. But she knows she can’t. Instead, she faces a gray headstone that marks her sister’s resting place.
“Sometimes I wish she had committed suicide. At least then it would have been her choice instead of her getting beaten and tortured by someone she loved more than anything,” Jennifer Corvelo said. “It’s the thing that haunts me. How her last seconds of life were when she was being attacked by this guy she just loved so much. It has to be the scariest feeling in the world.”
