Let Me Make You A Model

​The promise of fame. The opportunity to have your picture seen by thousands of people. Reinaldo Rivera looked for young women that he thought would be excited at the chance to become a model. He would approach them and see if they were interested in taking photos for him to pass on to modeling agencies and escort services. The only true part about his story was that their picture would make it to the news… only it would not be for the reasons he promised. 

​Reinaldo Rivera was born in September of 1963 in Madrid, Spain. His father was a doctor. When Reinaldo was 7 the family moved to Puerto Rico. When he was 19, he joined the Navy. He served in the navy for a decade before his discharge. During that time he was in a pilot training program, became a lieutenant junior grade and lived in Texas, Florida, California and North Carolina. From 1986 – 1991 he worked for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington DC. He eventually pursued a degree at the University of South Carolina and settled in North Augusta. On February 14th, 1993, he married Tammy Bonnette. They had two children together and in 1998 Rivera started working at the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company as a tire inspector. 

​North Augusta is in South Carolina and right up the road from Augusta, Georgia. Both cities are classified as part of the Central Savannah River Area. The CSRA includes several counties between the two states. So in July of 1999, when 17 year old Melissa Dingess went missing, it was on the news in all of the surrounding cities. She was from Graniteville, South Carolina and there was no trace of what happened to her. Then in December of that year, 17 year old Tiffaney Wilson went missing. Only she wasn’t alone, she had her two month old daughter with her. She planned on getting pictures with Santa that day. Her car was found in a Winn-Dixie grocery store parking lot in North Augusta. Witnesses said she entered a mid-1980s white four door Ford. They said the car stopped and the driver seemed to be talking to Tiffaney then it sped off, apparently with her inside. Three days later, her baby was found alive in her carrier outside of a Georgia welcome center on the other side of the river in Augusta. A search was conducted up and down I-20 looking for the missing mother. They did find some clothes, but not Tiffaney. On December 30th, two hunters stumbled upon the body of a young female while hunting in a wooded area in Graniteville. The medical examiner confirmed her hands were tied behind her back, she had been stabbed and raped. Fingerprints confirmed it was Tiffaney Wilson. Were both women taken by the same person? That’s the question investigators needed to answer. 

​For six months, there weren’t any missing girls reported. But the nightmare wasn’t over. In June of 2000, 18 year old Tabitha Bosdell from Augusta, Georgia disappeared. Her family dropped her off at a Huddle House so she could apply for a job and she went missing. In September, it was reported that 21 year old Sergeant Marnie Glista, a soldier stationed at Fort Eisenhower (then Fort Gordon) had barely survived an attack and sustained serious injuries. Upon investigation they knew her case was related to the missing girls. She was hospitalized but died five days later. Georgia and South Carolina were working together since the victims were from both states and had also been moved across the state lines. 

​In October, 18 year old Chrisilee Barton was also attacked in her home. The perpetrator left her to die. But she was alert enough to call for help. After receiving medical attention, she was able to give the investigators the details they needed. Finally. She was approached by a man in the parking lot at a Huddle House in North Augusta. He told her he owned an escort agency and he was a modeling agent. He wanted to take some photos of her and see if he could get her some work. Chrisilee thought it seemed like a good opportunity. So she invited him back to her house to take some pictures. Although once they got to her house, she was raped. She was also stabbed in the throat three times with a knife from her own kitchen. She was able to tell the investigators what he looked like and what he drove. 

​His car was located outside of the Rainbow Terrace Motel in Clearwater, South Carolina. He didn’t answer the door when the police announced they were there. When they entered the room, they found him slashing his wrists in an attempt to commit suicide. The arresting officers prevented him from doing any further damage to himself and brought him to the Medical College of Georgia where he was put in an isolated cell under suicide watch. He eventually told them where to find the bodies of Tabitha Bosdell and Melissa Dingess. 

​Rivera’s wife wrote a letter that was published in the Augusta Journal. She expressed her faith in God and grief over the deaths. She wrote that she had been praying for the person responsible to be apprehended but had no idea that the person was her husband. 

​After Rivera’s picture was shown on the local news, investigators got over 30 calls from other women that had been approached by Rivera from 1999 – 2000. All the stories were the same. He complimented their appearance, mentioned he could help them get into modeling and tried to continue conversations. He had even followed some of them not only around stores, but to their cars. They were mostly young women with blond hair.
 

​The charges were confusing with so many counties involved. Richmond County could only charge him for the crimes that happened in their district so they could not include all the murders. On November 3rd, Rivera was charged with capital murder and thirteen other charges including rape, aggravated assault, aggravated sodomy, burglary and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime. It included the crimes against Glista and Barton. And they intended to seek the death penalty. 

​When the prosecution seeks the death penalty in the state of Georgia, the trial happens in two phases. The first part is to decide whether the defendant is innocent or guilty. If convicted, they move on to the penalty phase. The penalty phase once again includes opening and closing statements and the opportunity to present evidence. The jury may decide life in prison with, or without parole, or death. But the jury must be unanimous on their decision. 

​In the first part of the trial, Rivera was found guilty on all counts beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense had pleaded that if he was found guilty, he should also be found mentally ill, but the jury rejected that idea. And during the penalty phase, Rivera was allowed to address the court. Rivera called the process a joke. He called the district attorney a liar. He said he was a sex addict that had managed to live a double life. He even suggested that maybe it was some kind of mental illness and his ailment should be studied. Maybe he could even help find a cure… like he’s got osteoporosis or something, and not a cold blooded murderer. He went on to admit he still fantasized about the attacks, the rapes and how he killed the girls. Rivera actually warned the jury that if he was released he would do it again, after all, he claimed it was an addiction. Finally, he asked them to give him the death penalty. And they did. Not only did they sentence him to death for murder, they added seven life sentences plus 105 years for all the other charges.  

​When he was given the death penalty, he was automatically able to appeal the case. In 2006, he denied the appeals process. Rivera has been sitting on death row at a prison in Georgia since then. But in 2016, Rivera shocked the country when he claimed he was actually innocent. He said he falsely confessed to all the crimes. The families of his victims were outraged. The communities were kind of shocked by his claims, but not completely. Rivera not only confessed to the crimes, he told them where they could find the missing bodies. And in closing statements at his trial, said that given the chance, he would do it again. The fear felt by those that could have easily become one of his victims was felt all over again. The idea of running into Rivera in public knowing what his intentions had been was terrifying. 

The court however, found no merit in his new statements. The court did say they would allow the lawyers to show any errors that they felt occurred during the trial. The defense said that  the trial was brutal. They were not only in court against the prosecution and trying to persuade jurors, but they were constantly arguing with Rivera about what to say and what not to say. But they did not seek a new trial.  

​There was also a debate about whether or not a man would really start such horrific behavior in his mid-30s. It’s not really your typical midlife crisis. Had he been attacking women long before it was noticed? Some of the other places that he had lived started researching cold cases to see if he could be connected to any of the unsolved crimes in their areas. 

​Reinaldo Rivera didn’t make any of his victims models, but their pictures were seen by thousands of people. They were beautiful young women, with bright smiles and a promising life ahead of them. Whether they were already mothers, serving in the military or just starting to think about their future, they certainly didn’t plan to die so young. Their families were robbed of years that they should have had together. Sometimes when things seem too good to be true, they are. And sometimes when a strange man says that he has a life changing opportunity… stay alive and run the other way.