Man charged after 9-year-old son’s body found in burning car in New Jersey

SAYREVILLE, N.J. — A father is facing charges after his young son’s body was found in a burning car following a domestic dispute Thursday evening in Sayreville, New Jersey.

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The Sayreville Police Department said on Thursday just before 11 p.m., someone called 911 to report a fire near Sayreville High School. There was at the same time a call about a related domestic dispute.

Officers went to a residence and found a woman who told them about a domestic dispute with Manuel Rivera, 43, who left their house with their 9-year-old son. Rivera was found at the scene by high school officials, police said.

Rivera was found near a car that was covered in gasoline and lit on fire, The Associated Press reported. Rivera had some burns as well as a self-inflicted injury.

The 9-year-old boy’s body was found inside the car, WCBS reported.

Rivera has been charged with second-degree arson. According to WNBC, additional charges are pending due to an autopsy report that is expected to be conducted by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office.

“On this Good Friday, Sayreville is waking up to learn of a horrific incident that occurred overnight that shakes our community to its core: the loss of a nine-year-old child, allegedly at the hands of a parent. Any time such senseless violence involves one of our children, it gravely affects all of Sayreville,” Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O’Brien said in a statement obtained by WCBS.

“It is with great shock and sorrow that I report to you that a Wilson School student was tragically killed last night in a car fire behind Sayreville War Memorial High School,” The Sayreville superintendent said in a statement obtained by the news outlet. The superintendent confirmed that the student went to Wilson School and Rivera worked for Sayreville Public Schools.

The boy’s name has not been released, according to the AP. It is unclear if he died as a result of the fire or before it was started.

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