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)

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he is “inclined” to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after its top executive was skeptical about oil investment efforts in the country after the toppling of former President Nicolás Maduro.

“I didn’t like Exxon’s response,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One as he departed West Palm Beach, Florida. “They’re playing too cute.”

During a meeting Friday with oil executives, Trump tried to assuage the concerns of the companies and said they would be dealing directly with the U.S., rather than the Venezuelan government.

Some, however, weren’t convinced.

“If we look at the commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it’s uninvestable,” said Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. oil company.

An ExxonMobil spokesperson did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment.

Also on Friday, Trump signed an executive order that seeks to ensure that Venezuelan oil revenue remains protected from being used in judicial proceedings.

The executive order, made public on Saturday, says that if the funds were to be seized for such use, it could “undermine critical U.S. efforts to ensure economic and political stability in Venezuela.” Venezuela has a history of state asset seizures, ongoing U.S. sanctions and decades of political uncertainty.

Getting U.S. oil companies to invest in Venezuela and help rebuild the country’s infrastructure is a top priority of the Trump administration after Maduro's capture.

The White House is framing the effort to “run” Venezuela in economic terms, and Trump has seized tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, has said the U.S. is taking over the sales of 30 million to 50 million barrels of previously sanctioned Venezuelan crude, and plans to control sales worldwide indefinitely.

Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Florida.

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)