13 14 15 Qcpydo W222 pay fe JIN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION woyeEe 2) RM BE FOR AN ARREST WARRANT EDWARD RIVAS FOR AKFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF COMPLAINT AND WARRANT OF ARREST STATEOF NEVADA —) ) ss. COUNTY OF WASHOE ) Detective Allison Jenkins #9982 does hercby swear under penalty of perjury that the ascertions of this affidavit are true, 1. Your affiant, Detective Jenkins #9982, is a duly authorized and acting peace officer employed by the Reno Police Department and is currently assigned to the Robbery/Homicide Unit. While acting in that capacity your affiant has become familiar with the facts and circumstances involved in the investigation and circumstances documented under Reno Police Department case number 20-1629. Further, your affiant is informed and believes and thereupon. alleges the following to be a sufficient representation of facts to establish probable cause to believe that Edward Rivas, assigned California identification eard number BS683351, bom December 1, 1978, committed one count of the crime of Open Murder with use of a Deadly Page| 140 i 12 B 4 16 7 18, 19 20 a4 22 Weapon, a felony violation of N.R.S. 200.010, NRS 193.165 and one count of the crime of Arson in the First Degree, a felony violation of N.R.S. 205.010 on or about September 18th, 2020, in Reno, Washoe County, Nevada 2, On September 18, 2020 at approximately 5:32 pm, Reno Police officers were dispatched to . in Reno, Nevada, on a report ofa twelve or thirteen year old male who was found inside the apartment, unconscious and not breathing. ‘The caller informed dispatch that the mother of the juvenile, wino had just arrived home, located her son inside her apartment and was currently standing by outside the apartment, hysterical, The caller reported smelling a strong odor of fumes” in or around the apartment and said the mother of the juvenile said her apartment smelled like “gas.” ‘The 9-1-1 caller was later identified and interviewed by police. 3. At about 5:34 pm, officers arrived on scene and entered the apartment to check the welfare of any persons inside. Inside the apartment, in one of the two bedrooms, officers located a male juvenile laying on the floor in one of the comers of the room, on his left side. Officers reported that the juvenile was obviously deceased and had numerous lacerations to the area of his ams, back and head; some of which were photographed by them. Officers also reported that the room in which the juveniles body was found appeared to have been set fire to. mother was identified as, and identified the deceased juvenile in her apartment as her son. twelve-year-old had to be treated by Renown Medical Center for hysteria and other possible medical issues after finding her son inside her apartment. 4, On September 18, 2020 at approximately 6:27 pm, your afliant and several other Page | 210 uN 12 13 4 15 detectives were called in from home and asked to investigate the circumstances surrounding twelve-year-old death J arrived at ~ at approximately 7:08 pm, I did not enter the apartment which was being secured by uniformed officers, but was shown the photos taken by the responding offices who had previously entered, ‘The photos depicted a male juvenile, dressed only in basketball shorts and possibly underwear, laying on a carpeted floot. Visible in the photographs ‘were at Jeast three or four puncture wounds on his back, consistent with a stabbing as well as a Jarge laceration just above his right elbow and one on the back of his heacl. ‘The photos showed apparent dripping blood spatter to the wall above the juvenile’s position on the floor and also showed a large amount of blood on the basketball shorts he was dressed in, Tt appeared some sort of plastic had been wrapped around his neck, and thal some of the earpet of the bedroom, near the juvenile’s body had been burned down to the subfloor and that here was smoke damage on the painted white walls. On scene } was informed that the juvenile victim lived in apartment’ with his mother, . and a male roommate of hers by the name of Edward Rivas, born December 1, 1978. ‘This information was reportedly passed onto responding officers by _ prior to her being transported to Renown Medical Center. 5. On September 18, 2020 at approximately 7:40 pm, I drove to Renown Medical Center to speak with - explained that inthe late spring or early summer months of this year, she was introduced to @ homeless man by the name of Edward Rivas, whom she calls by his nickname “Lalo.” said she invited Mr. Rivas to reside with her at apartment Page |31 10 WW 2 13 4 15 19 20 21 22 1 1, which she shared only with her son, twelve-year-old and their German Shepherd dog. * said Mr. Rivas accepted her invitation and moved into the apartment and agreet! to help pay rent in the late spring or early summer of 2020. seid when Mr. Rivas moved in, she moved from his own bedroom (where his body was found) into her bedroom, Mr. Rivas then moved into room so he could have his own space, said Mr. Rivas had very little property or clothing, with him and carried the majority of his belongings in backpacks. described an argument between herself and Mr. Rivas that occurred (ber estimation), in which she called the police and locked herself and approximately a week inside her apartment because she believed Mr. Rivas, who was outside, had armed himself with a knife during their argument. 1 staternent was corroborated by a call-for- service placed by on September 8, 2020, detailing the incident she described to me. Mr. Rivas was not on scene when officers arrived and no action was taken, After the argument, : said she kicked Mr, Rivas out of her apartment for a few days before letting him retum, In Mr, Rivas’ absence, took back his bedroom and has slept in it since, To the best of recollection, Mr. Rivas returned after three to four days and again resided at the apartment, However, this time Mr. Rivas slept in her bedroom, or on the couch, and maintained residence in his own bedroom, # said that on the evening of September 17, 2020, she,» and Mr, Rivas ate dinner at home. After eating dinner, < » said she took a walk with their dog while rode his bicycle near her. She described his bicycle as a BMX style Mongoose branded bike; the frame of which was spray painted black. When they retumed home, + said she, Page |410 W 20 21 n and Mr, Rivas hung out inside the home for the rest of the night. said both: and Mr. Rivas went to bed before she did and said Mr. Rivas slept in ber bedroom with her while slept in his own. | estimated she went to bed around 11:00 pm. When she did ‘80, she said she checked on and found him asleep in his bed. On September 18, 2020, ° said she woke carly to get ready for work, Prior to leaving the apartment to drive to work, said she saw Mr. Rivas sleeping in theit bed and also checked on _, whom she found sleeping in his own bedroom, in his bed. estimated she left for work between the hours of $:00 am and 5:30 am and told me she works atthe warehouse, located at When she left for work, she drove herself in her pickup truck, According to she Forgot her purse and wallet at home when she left for work, but did not return to retrieve either item said she stayed at the warehouse during her lunch break and clocked of? her shift at approximately 4:47 pm, the evening of September 18, 2020, : said she did not have contact with either or Mr. Rivas while at work, because neither of them have working phones, After clocking out, said she drove her truck home, alone, and ordered pizzas and other food from the Domino’s Pizza located at 83 W. Plumb Lane in Reno, with intentions of picking up dinner forerself, and Mr. Rivas. said she was told by Domino's Pizza employees that her order would take approximately ‘oventy to thirty minutes to prepare. Remembering she'd forgotten her wallet and purse at home, _ said she hurtied to her apartment with intentions of quickly picking up her wallet and so she could pick up her order. Page | 5said that as she pulled into the driveway in front of her complex, she was. hailed by two neighbors of hers, later identified and interviewed by police, who told her that there was a strong fumy smell near their common laundry room area. The couple said they could smell the fumes upstairs in their apartment as well, said she remembered walking into her apartment, through the front door and noticing it was unusually hot inside. She said she immediately smelled fumes of some sort that smelled similar to gasoline and also noticed the shower in the bathroom was running, said she looked into the bathroom and noticed the shower was running although no one was inside it. On the bathroom floor + said she saw a pair of gray shorts she knew belonged to Mr. Rivas, which he had wom the previous day and possibly the previous night. On the shorts, which were left on the bathroom floor, was what said was blood staining. © said she continued to hhedroom, leaving the shower running and Mr, Rivas’ bloody shorts on the floor. As she stepped into bedroom, said she noticed the carpet was black and bumed. She noticed a red gas can that she had previously purchased and filled with intentions of riding their ATV's the previous week. She said she did not immediately ser in his bedroom but quickly located him lying on the floor of his room, bloody and possibly burned with a purple blanket partially covering his body. said she did not see Mr. Rivas in the apartment and ran outside, sereaming for someone to help her. She said that one of the neighbors. who told her about the fumy smell when she arrived home. and another male neighbor, went into her apartment and called 9-1-1. said she knew her son was dead and could not bring herself to re-enter their apartment Page | 6 :10 " 12 20 a 22 ‘This statement was corroborated by both male neighbors who were identified and interviewed by police, It was later corroborated by video surveillance footage as well 6 said she didn’t know how her son died and asked me if he could have killed himself. | told her I didn’t think so, Tasked her if she could think of anyone who would ‘want to kill her son, she told me she could not 1, even prior to speaking with me, provided her cell phone to officers as a way to access the exterior surveillance cameras posted around the exterior of their apartment. ‘urged me to look at the surveillance footage clips and gave me all possible combinations of her username and password for each of her online aceounts. When asked to download the entire contents of cell phone as evidence, she immediately consented. Using only the photo portion of Edward Rivas’ California identification card, immediately identified the depicted photo as her roommate, }dward Rivas. 1. cell phone was given to Detective M, Edelen to download and to begin combing through surveillance data; which he did, Detective Ldelen found that there were two plug in, intemet based cameras that pointed, one each, toward the front door and the rear sliding, door of the apartment. According to Detective Edelen, the camera pointed toward the front door recorded leaving for work at approximately 05:25 am. ‘They also catch several instances, shortly after that, where it appears Mr, Rivas steps outside the apartment, onto the front porch to smoke a cigarette, before returning to the apartment; however, that camera lost its connection at approximately 06:47 and does not reconnect According to Detective Edelen, the camera pointed toward the rear sliding door of the Page |710 uw 15 16 \7 18 20 21 22 apartment showed Mr. Rivas exiting the apartment onto a small private patio, outside sliding door, On at least one occasion, he had with him German Shepherd dog, Unlike the front camera, this camera did not lose connection and showed that no one left the back patio of the apartment, or entered the apartment through the rear apartment door, after saw sleeping in his bed before she left for work, 8 Across the driveway from apartment is another small apartment. complex located at Posted to the outside of this complex are four security cameras; one of which points at the front entry way into apartment. Detective Watson and | responded to this address and watched that particular camera angle from the hours of 4:00 am on September 18, 2020 until the police arrive after being called on September 18, 2020 and asked to respond! to the apartment by neighbors. On September 18, 2020 al approximately 5:21 am, is seen leaving her apartment to go to work. She does not return to the apartment until about 5:25 pm (shortly before discovering _—_dead inside the apartment). On September 18, 2020 at approximately 8:58 am, Mr. Rivas is seen exiting the apartment and standing on the front stoop to smoke a cigarette, During this time, Mr. Rivas is dressed in a black shirt and gray shorts, consistent in appearance with the bloody gray shorts seen by oon her bathroom floor. It is clear in this Footage that neither the front nor back of the gray shorts worn by Mr. Rivas were stained with blood at this time. On September 18, 2020 at approximately 10:48 hours, Mr, Rivas is seen exiting the front door of the apartment again, this time wearing baggy blue jeans and a baggy blue hooded sweatshirt, Mr. Rivas leaves the apartment on a black framed BMX bike and never retums, Page |83 to 2 1B 14 15 16 20 2 22 On September 18, 2020 at approximately 11:06 hours, a resident of : - ¢ ), contacts their apartment manager at Reno County Properties, and reports the strong odor of gas emanating from somewhere near her apartment. From the time is scen leaving the apartment, after seeing her son sleeping in his bed, no one other than Mr. Rivas is seen entering or exiting the apartment, From the time Mr. Rivas is seen leaving on the black bieyele, until . retums home at 5:25 pm, no one is seen entering or exiting the apartment through the front door or the sliding rear door. Mr. Rivas was identified on this video by who pointed out that the bike he is seen riding away from the apartment belonged to and was not something he'd ever ridden before, She also identified herself on video leaving to and retuming from work. identified Mr. Rivas as the man in the gray shorts and said the shorts depicted in the clip were the same blood stained shorts she later found on the bathroorn floor, just before finding dead inside his bedroom. 9. On September 18, 2020, Detective Barnes obtained a warrant to search for evidence of murder. During the search of apartment, Detective Bames confirmed that bedroom (and only bedroom) had recently been set on fire | that asa result ofthe fire, the carpet near his body had burned through tothe subftoor and the | walls were smoke damaged. Found inside bedroom, on top of one of his mattresses was a red gas can that was nearly empty and smelled strongly of gasoline. Unclerneath one of mattresses was his German Shepherd dog, deceased, possibly from smoke inhalation. On the walls above”, in his bedroom, was a large areas of blood spatter. ankles were found bound with clear packing tape. His wrists were bound in Page [912 13 14 15 7 18 20 21 2 front of his body, also by clear packing tape. Clear packing tape was bound around neck and chin area as well and he was found to have numerous lacerations and puncture wounds (that appeared consistent with sharp force trauma) to his head, chest, abdomen, arms and hands. According to Detective Barnes. also had obvious bruising to the backs of his upper lees and his feet had been partially burned by the fire, while it burned. Detective Barnes informed your affiant that inside the bathroom of the apartment, on the floor, he located the men’s sized gray shorts, which wete significantly stained with blood. He also found inside a small garbage can inside the bathroom, a large fixed kitchen knife with a gray handle. Detective Bames said there were observable amounts of red staining on the knife. On the floor of the bathroom, tucked in the comer and wrapped in a towel was a second large kitchen knife with obvious red staining visible on the blade of the knife and the towel around it. A roll of clear packing tape with a smudge of blood on it was found inside the bedroom Mr, Rivas had shared the night prior with near the closet. 10, On September 19, 2020, Dr. Callahan of the Washoe County Medical Examiner's Office, conducted the autopsy of Dr. Callahan counted fifty-five “sharp force trauma” caused injuries all over body. Dr, Callahan preliminarily ruled death a homicide by stabbing. uM Mm Hl Wt Page| 1011, Based on the facts that reported leaving twelve-year-old home alone with her adult roommate, Mr, Rivas, on the morning of the murder after finding her son sleeping alone in his bed and being able to definitively rule out the presence of anyone inside the apartment other than Mr, Rivas and your affiant avers there is probable cause to arrest Mr. Rivas for one count of Open Murder, a Felony Violation of N.R.S. 200.010 NRS 193.165 and one count of Arson in the First Degree, a Felony Violation of N.R.S. 205.010. WHEREFORE, your Affiant prays that a warrant of arrest issue for Edward Rivas, DATED this_19" day of _September__, 2020 __. Detective Allison Jenkins Subseribed and sworn to before me this, 14 day of. Sel aay oe Justice of the Peace Page | 11