Accused Hatchet Attacker's Wages About to Be Garnished
Gamalier Reyes Rivera, 32, entered a home holding a hatchet on Upas Street Thursday and struck a 29-year-old man several times in the back and neck with the hatchet and wounded a 21-year-old woman.
Court documents reveal new details about a hostile relationship between a Border Patrol agent accused of attacking an Escondido couple in their home with a hatchet -- and his estranged wife who was in the home at the time of the attack but was not injured.
Gamalier Reyes Rivera, 32, entered a home holding a hatchet on Upas Street Thursday where his estranged wife Erika Von Der Heyde had been staying with the couple's daughter, police said. Detectives say he struck a 29-year-old man several times in the back and neck with the hatchet and then wounded a 21-year-old woman. Investigators say it's one of the most brutal crime scenes they've ever dealt with.
Rivera lived in an apartment with his wife and their 7-year-old daughter but sometime over the past few weeks his wife and daughter moved out, neighbors said.
According to court documents Rivera was a senior Border Patrol agent and joined the agency in 2003. The documents reveal that the court approved to have Rivera’s wages garnished for child and spousal support on Wednesday – the day before the alleged attack.
The documents also outline a history of trouble between the couple who met in Venezuela. Von Der Heyde was working in the American Embassy and Rivera was a Marine at the time.
A counselor stated in a parenting plan that Von Der Heyde’s mother said the couple had sought marriage counseling but it didn't help. The mother stated that Rivera was addicted to watching pornography on the Internet.
In 2005 Von Der Heyde told her mother about a list that Rivera had made itemizing items he would need in order to kill her and hide her body, according to the documents. Von Der Heyde apparently called her mother in Las Vegas and her mother called San Diego police.
"The computer from the home was confiscated and there are pending investigations by law enforcement and possibly by internal affairs at the Border Patrol," the court documents said.
Police searched Gamalier Reyes Rivera’s vehicle Thursday outside his Imperial Beach home. Inside they found a backpack with zip ties and other items possibly associated with Rivera's job as a Border Patrol agent, including gun clips filled with bullets.
The male victim in Thursday’s attack is in critical condition. The female victim was treated and released. Investigators said it doesn't appear Rivera knew the victims and he might have actually been targeting his estranged wife.
"There's a couple of different scenarios and one of them is a case of mistaken identity," Lt. Bon Benton said.
