Man found with dismembered wife gets 9-year prison sentence

A man who was found at a Kansas storage unit with his dismembered wife's remains and two of their children was sentenced Friday to nearly nine years in prison for charges not related to his wife's death.

Justin Rey, 26, was sentenced on three felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child, as well as misdemeanor counts of child endangerment and contributing to a child's misconduct. The exploitation charges do not involve Rey's children and instead stem from photos of teenagers found on Rey's phone after he asked law enforcement to look at it for evidence he thought would help him at trial.

Rey watched the hearing by video from a separate room after he interrupted so much that a judge ordered him removed. Rey will be required to register as a sex offender as part of his sentence.

Justin Rey, who was found in a Lenexa storage unit in 2017 with his two children and a cooler containing the dismembered body of his wife, was sentenced in Johnson County District Court in Olathe, Kan., Friday, June 28, 2019. As he was about to hear his sentence, Rey had to be removed from court after repeatedly talking over Judge Brenda Cameron. Via closed circuit television, Rey received 104 months for child endangerment, contributing to a child's misconduct and sexual exploitation of a child. His attorney Carl Cornwell sat beside him before Rey was removed. (Jill ToyoshibaThe Kansas City Star via AP)

His wife, Jessica Monteiro Rey, died after giving birth in October 2017 at a Kansas City, Missouri, hotel. Justin Rey was arrested with the two children at a storage unit in nearby Lenexa, Kansas, where he said he was making preparations to take his wife's remains to Arizona for a religious ceremony on a Native American reservation.

Rey told authorities both that his wife killed herself and that she died of childbirth complications. The coroner who performed the autopsy could not determine her cause of death.

Rey testified at his trial, but his attorney asked questions only about the images found on his phone, which prevented prosecutors from questioning him about the children and what happened to his wife. But in a series of phone interviews with The Associated Press, Rey said he didn't call police because he didn't want them to "steal more children." He said he and his wife had six children together and that police had "stolen our children before."

Justin Rey, who was found in a Lenexa storage unit in 2017 with his two children and a cooler containing the dismembered body of his wife, was sentenced in Johnson County District Court in Olathe,kan., Friday, June 28, 2019. As he was about to hear his sentence, Rey had to be removed from court after repeatedly talking over Judge Brenda Cameron. Via closed circuit television, Rey, with his attorney Carl Cornwell, left, present, received 104 months for child endangerment, contributing to a child's misconduct and sexual exploitation of a child. (Jill ToyoshibaThe Kansas City Star via AP)

Investigators allege Rey took photographs with his wife's body and his newborn and 2-year-old, then dismembered the body two days later in a hotel bathtub and put some of the remains in a large cooler. Surveillance video showed him pulling a red cooler with a black bag on top of it through the hotel, while pushing a stroller with a toddler walking beside him. Asked about her dismemberment, Rey told the AP, "What was I supposed to do? I wasn't going to leave mama behind."

In a letter to the AP dated June 23, Rey wrote, "My children had not been in any danger, I'm not a murderer, I never abandoned a corpse, never lived in a storage unit/facility, never looked up/screenshot child porn." But he added: "I did dismember a dead corpse under religious views."

Rey also is charged with abandonment of a corpse in Missouri and with murder in the death of Sean Ty Ferel, a Palm Springs, California, man.

Justin Rey, who was found in a Lenexa storage unit in 2017 with his two children and a cooler containing the dismembered body of his wife, was sentenced in Johnson County District Court in Olathe, Kan., Friday, June 28, 2019. As he was about to hear his sentence, Rey (left) had to be removed from court after repeatedly talking over Judge Brenda Cameron. Via closed circuit television, Rey received 104 months for child endangerment, contributing to a child's misconduct and sexual exploitation of a child. (Jill ToyoshibaThe Kansas City Star via AP)

Investigators in California say Ferel disappeared after vacationing with Rey in 2016. Ferel's body hasn't been found, but his blood was detected in the trunk of his vehicle after Rey was involved in an accident months after Ferel disappeared. Rey told the AP that Ferel died of natural causes and that he burned him in Arizona in the same type of ceremony he planned for his wife.

With his attorney Carl Cornwell beside him, Justin Rey (left) makes a statement at his sentencing hearing in Johnson County District Court in Olathe, Kan., Friday, June 28, 2019. Rey, who was found in a Lenexa storage unit in 2017 with his two children and a cooler containing the dismembered body of his wife, was sentenced by Judge Brenda Cameron to 104 months for child endangerment, contributing to a child's misconduct and sexual exploitation of a child. (Jill ToyoshibaThe Kansas City Star via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday that the death toll in nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 572.

Iran had no direct reaction to Trump's comments, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in remarks that blamed Israel and the U.S. for the violence, without offering evidence.

“That’s why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody to give an excuse to the American president to intervene,” Araghchi said, in comments carried by Al Jazeera. The Qatar-funded network has been allowed to report live from inside Iran, despite the internet being shut off.

However, Araghchi said Iran was “open to diplomacy.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said that a channel to the U.S. remained open, but talks needed to be “based on the acceptance of mutual interests and concerns, not a negotiation that is one-sided, unilateral and based on dictation.”

Meanwhile, pro-government demonstrators flooded the streets on Monday in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, which appeared to number in the tens of thousands, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Iran's attorney general has said prosecutors will levy such charges against protesters, which carry the death penalty.

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran, including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who weren't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

Iran, through the country's parliamentary speaker, warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if Washington uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 503 of the dead were protesters and 69 were security force members.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government hasn't offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a violent crackdown. Protesters flooded Tehran's streets and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

At 2 p.m. Monday, Iranian state television showed images of demonstrators thronging Tehran toward Enghelab Square, or “Islamic Revolution” Square in the capital. It had been airing statements all morning from Iranian government, security and religious leaders to attend the demonstration.

It called the rally an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism,” without addressing the underlying anger in the country over the nation’s ailing economy. State television aired images of such demonstrations around the country, trying to signal it had overcome the protests.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets were empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

The witness spoke on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at more than 1.4 million to $1, as iran's economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Meanwhile, video circulating online purports to show dozens of bodies in a morgue on the outskirts of Iran’s capital.

People with knowledge of the facility and the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said Monday that the video shows the Kahrizak Forensic Medicine Center.

In the footage, people are seen walking by dozens of bodies in bags laid out in a large room, attempting to identify those there. In some cases, bodies can be seen lying outside on blue tarps. A large truck can be seen in part of the footage.

Julia Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One. Melanie Lidman contributed to this report from Tel Aviv, Israel.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)