On the evening of August 5, 1982, a phone call was placed to the rectory of St. Francis Cathedral by a man who claimed his grandfather was dying, and that he had requested his last rites. The caller stated he would be waiting for Rivera in a blue pickup truck at the I-25 Waldo rest area south of Santa Fe. Days later, Rivera’s body was found several miles from the rest stop. He had been shot once and strangled. Rivera’s brown 1974 Chevrolet Malibu was discovered parked at a rest stop on I-40 near Grants.