Columbia County indicts Rivera

Grand jury issues formal murder charge in Bosdell death
Web posted Wednesday, November 1, 2000

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By Ashlee Griggs
Columbia County Bureau

Reinaldo J. Rivera, 37, has been charged in the strangling death of Tabatha Bosdell, 18, on June 29. FILE/STAFF

A Columbia County grand jury indicted Reinaldo J. Rivera on murder charges Tuesday in the slaying of 18-year-old Tabatha Bosdell.

The indictment accuses the 37-year-old father of two of strangling Ms. Bosdell on June 29. Authorities found her skeletal remains Oct. 14 in a wooded area off Wrightsboro Road near Interstate 20 in Columbia County.

Officials aren't sure where she was killed.

Mr. Rivera's attorney, Peter Johnson, was in court Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

Ms. Bosdell was employed by Futurecall as a telemarketer when she vanished in June. Family members had dropped her off at a Huddle House in Augusta to fill out an application, and she was expected to go to work and then return to her Timberwoods apartment, where she lived with her boyfriend. But she never made it home.

A Richmond County grand jury indicted Mr. Rivera last week on charges of rape, aggravated sodomy and aggravated assault in connection with the attack on Ms. Bosdell.

Tabatha Bosdell. Reinaldo Rivera was indicted on Tuesday for her murder. SPECIAL

According to the Richmond County indictment, the 18-year-old woman had been raped and sodomized, and strangled by hand and by a shirt June 29 in Augusta.

Mr. Rivera also was indicted last week on charges of murder, rape and two counts of aggravated sodomy in the attack on Sgt. Marni Glista, who died Sept. 9.

The Richmond County indictment further accuses Mr. Rivera of rape, aggravated sodomy and three counts of aggravated assault in connection with the Oct. 10 attack on an 18-year-old south Augusta woman, who survived.

In addition, Mr. Rivera faces charges in Aiken County, where the remains of two other women - Tiffaney Wilson and Melissa Dingess, both 17 - were found.

Mr. Rivera was arrested Oct. 13 in connection with the Oct. 10 attack on a south Augusta woman, leading to his implications in the deaths of Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Dingess and Sgt. Glista. The next day, Columbia County officers found Ms. Bosdell's remains after Mr. Rivera provided information about the location of her body to Richmond County investigators.

Reach Ashlee Griggs at (706) 868-1222, Ext. 109.

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