Husband, father-in-law sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Nicole Montalvo

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Nicole Montalvo, a 33-year-old Florida mother, was murdered in 2019. Two men were convicted in April and sentenced to life in prison.

After being found guilty of second-degree murder, mistreatment of a dead human corpse, and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Nicole Montalvo, Otero-estranged Rivera’s wife, Christopher Otero-Rivera and Angel Rivera were sentenced Wednesday morning.

The judge sentenced the two to life in prison for second-degree murder, and 15 years and 5 years respectively for the other two crimes. Before handing down the sentence, the court stated that he could not “ignore the severity” of the murder and the grief it caused the Nicole Montalvo family as they sought for her in 2019.

Prosecutor Ryan Williams stated at the time of the trial’s conclusion that both men were eligible for life in prison.

Nicole Montalvo’s family members went out ahead of her sentencing, detailing their grief and sadness over her death. Christina Montalvo, her sister, said she is starting to feel a feeling of closure, but she isn’t sure if it will ever happen.

When people ask what happened to Nicole, Christina Montalvo always says she died as a result of domestic violence. “To say my sister was murdered by her estranged husband… and his father physically wounds me.”

“We are all victims of their chronic domestic abuse,” Nicole Montalvo’s twin brother said in a statement. Nicole Montalvo’s other brothers also spoke, emphasizing how his sister should be here and that she died with “a small piece” of the family.

Her brother, Steven Montalvo, said, “She’ll never get to convey the pain she feels, the pain she endured, what she went through, what she had to endure, she should be the one speaking today.”

Montalvo went missing in October of this year after failing to pick up her eight-year-old son from school. Her dismembered bones were eventually discovered buried on the Riveras’ property. Nicole Montalvo and Otero-Rivera had a kid together, however they were divorced at the time of her death. When she dropped their son off to her father-in-residence, law’s the two were going through a divorce.

During closing arguments, the prosecution claimed that the evidence proved the two men were guilty, while the defense claimed that more blood would have been recovered if Nicole Montalvo had been slain on the Riveras’ property on Hixon Avenue in St. Cloud.

Montalvo’s brother said justice was delivered after the guilty judgment earlier this year, but the tragic truth is that their brothers still don’t have their sister, and her kid still doesn’t have his mother.