Let Me Make You A Model

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Discretion is it vised ten minute murders, the promise of fame and the opportunity

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to have your picture seen by thousands
of people. Raynaldo Rivera looked for young

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women that he thought would be excited
by the chance to become a model.

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He would approach them and see if
they were interested in taking photos for him

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to pass on to modeling agencies and
escort services. The only true part about

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his story was that their picture would
make it to the news, only it

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would not be for the reasons he
promised. Raynaldo Rivera was born in September

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of nineteen sixty three in Madrid,
Spain. His father was a doctor.

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When Rainaldo was seven, the family
moved to Puerto Rico. When he was

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nineteen, he joined the Navy and
he served in the Navy for a decade

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before his discharge, and during that
time he was in a pilot training program.

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He became a lieutenant junior grade and
lived in Texas, Florida, California,

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and North Carolina. From nineteen eighty
six to nineteen ninety one, he

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worked for the Joint chiefs of Staff
in Washington, d C. He eventually

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pursued a degree at the University of
South Carolina and settled in North Augusta.

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On February fourteenth, nineteen ninety three, he married Tammy Bonnett. They had

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two children together, and in nineteen
ninety eight Rivera started working at the Firestone

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Tire and Rubber Company as a tire
inspector. North Augusta is in South Carolina

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and right up the road from Augusta, Georgia. Both cities are classified as

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part of the Central Savannah River Area
or the CSRA. The CSRAY includes several

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counties between the two states. So
in July of nineteen ninety nine, when

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seventeen year old Melissa Dinghis went missing, it was on the news in all

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of the surrounding cities. She was
from Granetville, South Carolina, and there

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was no trace of what happened to
her. Then, in December of that

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year, seventeen year old Tiffany Wilson
went missing, only she wasn't alone.

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She had her two month old daughter
with her. She planned on getting pictures

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with Santa that day. Her car
was found in a Winn Dixie grocery store

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parking lot in North Augusta. Witnesses
said that she entered a mid nineteen eighties

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white four door Ford. They said
the car stopped and the driver seemed to

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be talking with Tiffany, then it
sped away, apparently with her inside.

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Three days later, her baby was
found alive in her carrier outside of a

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Georgia welcome center on the other side
of the river in Augusta. A search

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was conducted up and down Eye twenty
looking for the missing mother. They did

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find some clothes, but not Tiffany. On December thirtieth, two hunters stumbled

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upon the body of a young female
while hunting in a wooded area in Graniteville.

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The medical examiner confirmed that her hands
were tied behind her back and she

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had been stabbed and raped. Fingerprints
confirmed it was Tiffany Wilson. Were both

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women taken by the same person,
That's the question investigators needed to answer.

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For six months, there weren't any
missing girls reported, but the nightmare was

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not over. In June of two
thousand, eighteen year old Tabitha Bosdel from

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Augusta, Georgia, disappeared. Her
family dropped her off at a huddle house

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so she could go inside and apply
for a job. When she went missing.

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In September, it was reported that
twenty one year old Sergeant Markie Gilsta,

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a soldier stationed at Fort Eisenhower at
the time, called Fort Gordon had

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barely survived an attack and sustained serious
injuries. Upon investigation, they knew that

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their case was related to the missing
girls. She was hospitalized but died five

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days later. Georgia and South Carolina
worked together since the victims were from both

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states and had also been moved across
state lines. In October, eighteen year

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old Chrisly Barton was also attacked in
her home. The perpetrator left her to

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die, but she was alert enough
to call for help. After receiving medical

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attention, she was able to give
the investigators details that they needed. She

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was approached by a man in the
parking lot at a huddle house in North

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Augusta. He told her he owned
an escort agency and he was a modeling

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agent. He wanted to take some
photos of her and see if he could

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help her get some work. Christly
thought that it seemed to be a pretty

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good opportunity, so she invited him
back to her house to take those photos.

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Although once they got to her house, she was raped. She was

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also stabbed in the throat three times
with a knife. From her own kitchen.

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She was able to tell the investigators
what he looked like and what he

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drove. His car was located outside
of the Rainbow Terrace Motel in Clearwater,

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South Carolina. He didn't answer the
door to the motel when the police announced

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that they were there. When they
entered the room, they found him inside,

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slashing his wrists in an attempt to
commit suicide. The arresting officers prevented

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him from doing any further damage to
himself and brought him to the Medical College

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of Georgia, where he was put
in an isolated cell under suicide watch.

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He eventually told them where to find
the bodies of Tabitha Bosdel and Melissa Dingis.

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Rivera's wife wrote a letter that was
published in the Augusta Journal. She

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expressed her faith in God and grief
over the deaths. She wrote that she

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had been praying for the person responsible
to be apprehended, but had no idea

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that that person would be her own
husband. After Rivera's picture was shown on

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the local news, investigators got over
thirty calls from other women that had been

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approached by Rivera. From nineteen ninety
nine to two thousand. All of the

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stories were the same. He complimented
their appearance, mentioned that he could get

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them help into modeling, and tried
to continue conversations. He even followed some

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of them not only around stores,
but out to their cars. They were

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mostly young women with blonde hair.
The charges against him were so confusing with

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many counties involved, Richmond County could
only charge him for the crimes that happened

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in their district, so they could
not include all the murders. On November

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third, Rivera was charged with capital
murder and thirteen other charges, including rape,

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aggravated assaults, aggravated sodomy, burglary, and possession of a knife during

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a commission of a crime. It
included the crimes again Aainst Glista and Barton,

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and they intended to seek the death
penalty. When the prosecution seeks the

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death penalty in the state of Georgia, the trial happens in two phases.

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The first part is to decide whether
the defendant is innocent or guilty. If

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convicted, they move on to the
penalty phase. The penalty phase once again

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includes opening and closing statements and the
opportunity to present evidence. The jury may

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decide life in prison with or without
parole or death, but the jury must

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be unanimous on their decision. In
the first part of the trial, Rivera

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was found guilty on all counts beyond
reasonable doubt. The defense had pleaded that

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if he was found guilty, he
should also be found mentally ill, but

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the jury rejected that idea, and
during the penalty phase Rivera was allowed to

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address the court. He called the
process a joke. He called the district

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attorney a liar. He said he
was a sex addict that had managed to

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live a life. He even suggested
that maybe it was some kind of mental

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illness and that his ailment should be
studied. Maybe he could even help find

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a cure, like he's got osteoporosis
or something and not a cold blooded murderer.

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He went on to admit that he
fantasized about the attacks, the rapes,

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and how he killed the girls.
Rivera actually warned the jury that if

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released, he would do it again. After all, he claimed it was

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an addiction. Finally, he asked
them to give him the death penalty,

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and they did not. Only did
they sentence him to death for murder,

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they also added seven life sentences plus
one hundred five years for all of the

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other charges. When he was given
the death penalty, he was automatically able

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to appeal the case. In two
thousand and six, he denied the appeal's

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process. Rivera has been sitting on
death row at a prison in Georgia since

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then. But in twenty sixteen,
Rivera shocked the country when he claimed that

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he was actually innocent. He said
he falsely confessed to all the crimes.

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The families of the victims were outraged
and the communities were kind of shocked by

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the claims, but not completely shocked. Rivera had not only confessed to the

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crimes, but he led the police
to where they could find the missing bodies,

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and in closing statements at his trial, he said that if given the

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chance, he would do it again. The fear felt by those that could

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have easily become one of his victims
was felt all over again. The idea

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of running into Rivera in public,
knowing what his intentions had been was terrifying.

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The court, however, found no
merit in this new statement. The

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court did say that they would allow
the lawyers to show any errors that they

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felt occurred during the trial. The
defense said that the trial was brutal,

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they were not only in court against
the prosecution and trying to persuade jurors,

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but they were constantly arguing with Rivera
about what to say and what not to

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say. What they did not seek
a new trial. There is also a

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debate about whether or not a man
could really start such a horrific behavior in

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his mid thirties. It's not really
your typical midlife crisis kind of activity.

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Had he been attacking women long before
it was noticed? Some of the other

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places that he'd lived started researching cold
cases to see if he could be connected

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to any of those unsolved crimes.
Rinaldo Rivera did not make any of his

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victims models, but their pictures were
seen by thousands of people. They were

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beautiful young women with bright smiles and
a promising life ahead of them, Whether

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they were already mothers, serving the
military, or just starting to think about

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their future, they certainly did not
plan to die so young. Their families

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were robbed of years that they should
have had together. Sometimes when things seemed

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too good to be true, they
are. And sometimes when a strange man

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says that he has a life changing
opportunity for you, day alive and run

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the other way. WHOA that's ten
Minute Murder for today brief and binge able

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true crime. I'm Joe, the
host, and I really appreciate you listening.

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If you're new to ten Minute Murder, welcome, settle in, make

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yourself comfortable, and please subscribe now
so that you can more easily catch up

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on all the back episodes. Connect
on social media. See the pictures of

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what we talk about here in the
podcast. And if you like this episode.

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If you like this podcast, leave
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Spotify or any place that's possible,
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helps this show grow more and more. Go to ten minute Murder dot com

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for all things related to ten Minute
Murder. Quickly to an email, Hi

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Joe, love your show. Thank
you for doing what you do in a

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more tactful way than some and then
she goes on to describe an interesting story

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she wants me to cover. And
for my question, I just always wondered

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what you edit out of your podcasts, if there's the ums and the hums

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and coughs or whatever. We're all
human and probably want our best selves displayed,

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especially as a podcaster. I was
wondering if you could do a raw

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and uncut version. Even if it's
a bit longer, I'm sure people would

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find it entertaining. Just a thought. Well, happy holidays to you and

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yours hugs, April. Thank you
for your email, April. You didn't

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leave a country name, city name, state name, or anything, so

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I have no idea where you're from, but I do appreciate you sending the

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email, taking the time to do
that. And yeah, I edit a

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lot out of this podcast. Mostly
it's mistakes, the coughs and the sneezes,

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the taking a drink of my drink, all of that I edit out

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as well. Also, I say
names wrong pretty often. If you've been

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listening to this podcast for any length
of time, you know that I struggle

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with names for literally no reason,
like that should be something that I get

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pretty easily. Like, for instance, in this episode today, Rinaldo Rivera,

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I said Horaaldo Rivera at least a
half a dozen times, So that

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is going to be one of the
things that I go you'll never hear it,

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because I'm going to go back and
edit that part out. But I

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called this man Heeraldo at least six
times. There are also times when I'll

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go off on a tangent about how
the police are handling a case. I'll

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go off about the murderer themselves.
And then there are times when I'll go

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really deep into a certain part of
the story, and then later on I'll

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realize, first of all, this
isn't fifteen minute murder, so I need

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to cut some stuff out. And
the stuff that I went into big detail

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about doesn't really add to the story, so I'll cut that out. And

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then occasionally I'll say something kind of
funny during a podcast episode, and later

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on, listening back to it,
I'll decide that's probably not a good place

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for me to be funny, or
it wasn't the best joke to begin with,

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so I'll cut that out and you
never hear that what I do an

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episode unedited. But for the reasons
I just listed, that's going to be

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a no for me. Dog It
would make me so uncomfortable to put out

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an episode where I had tons of
screw ups and things like that that in

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it, So I don't think I'll
do that. However, the closest I

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could come to doing it is if
I did Facebook Live or Instagram Live,

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and I just did an episode on
live, and I recorded it and went

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back and edit it for release on
my regular podcast. But if you were

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watching the live you would see it
in real time where I'm making all the

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mistakes and doing all the things that
could be a possibility. But I don't

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know, maybe that's a strong maybe. Okay, thanks for listening to another

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ten minute Murder Podcast episode. I'll
see you soon on the next one.

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Bye, got Chau