KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After nearly a year-and-a-half, Justin Rey, who admitted to dismembering his wife, Jessica, in 2017, was convicted after a three-day trial this week.
"It didn't really change any feelings, to be honest. There's no justice for Jessica so it didn't affect me the way it might've affected others," Sarah Monteiro, Jessica's sister, told 41 Action News after the verdict came down.
Early Thursday, a Johnson County jury found Rey guilty of seven charges that included child endangerment, child misconduct and sexual exploitation of a child. The child pornography charges were added after investigators found naked images of underage girls on his phone.
But Rey was neither charged nor convicted of the act of dismemberment, which took place in front of Rey's newborn and toddler.
"He forbid her any chance of survival, so he's responsible for her death. He needs to be held accountable," Monteiro said.
Police arrested Rey in October 2017 at a storage unit where he and the two children had spent the night with Jessica Rey's remains. Rey claims his wife died in childbirth days prior at a WoodSpring Suites hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. During the trial, investigators said that Rey propped up the newborn to nurse on Jessica's dead body in the hotel room.
Rey still faces charges in Jackson County for abandoning a corpse and child endangerment. He's also facing a murder charge in Palm Springs, California, in the death of Sean Ty Ferel.
But Sarah Monteiro thinks Rey should also be facing other charges.
"There's no laws in Kansas or Missouri for dismemberment, mutilation or fleeing with a corpse, which all are things he should be charged with," Monteiro said.
That's why she created a petition, "in hopes someone can pick it up and turn it into federal law to make dismemberment and mutilation of a human body illegal," she said.
She's reached out to lawmakers on both sides of the state line, including Missouri Rep. Jason Holsman and Kansas Sen. Dinah Sykes.
"It can prevent this injustice on another family," Monteiro said.
While she continues to advocate for Jessica, she also has hope for her sister's children, who are being fostered by a first responder from the scene and his wife.
"They're doing amazing. They're happy and cheerful," she said.
Later this month, a judge could take away Rey's parental rights.
"He can't hurt Jessica or them anymore," Monterio said.
Monteiro said she took offense at how Rey's defense attorney, Scott Toth, portrayed the case during the trial. In opening statements, Toth called it "goofy," "spooky" and "weird."
"He disrespected Jessica by saying, even referring to the case as 'goofy.' What if this was his own mother, his own daughter? How would you feel if they called your case 'goofy'?" Monteiro said.
Rey will be charged in Johnson County on March 27. He could then be transferred to Jackson County to face charges there. Officials from neither county could say how that process might play out.
