New charges filed against estranged husband of murdered St. Cloud mother

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Murder suspect facing new charge

The estranged husband of a woman who turned up dead in October was in court on Tuesday facing a charge of failing to report a deceased person.

New charges have been filed for Christopher Otero-Rivera in connection to the death of Nicole Montalvo.

The new charge is for failure to report a death.

Otero-Rivera was first arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder back on October 27 after his estranged wife’s body was found on his property in St. Cloud. Nicole Montalvo was last seen at Rivera’s home on October 21 dropping off their son.

Days after his arrest, officials announced they would also be charging his father, Angel Rivera, with murder. However, the state had 21 days to file each of those murder charges and did not meet that deadline.

RELATED: New details in murder arrest of Nicole Montalvo's estranged husband

That’s when defense attorneys argued that Otero-Rivera should not be held in jail and the judge agreed saying there was not enough evidence to hold him there.
But Otero-Rivera is still in jail. He is being held on a violation of probation charge.

RELATED: Estranged husband of Nicole Montalvo and his father named as persons of interest in Nicole Montalvo disappearance

Now this new charge has the potential to keep him behind bars even longer while detectives and the state attorney’s office continue to gather more evidence in their murder case.