NJ Father Arrested After Cops Find Him Next To Burning Car, Dead Son

SAYREVILLE, NJ — A Sayreville man was arrested Thursday after he was found in a high school parking lot next to a burning vehicle with the body of his nine-year-old son inside, authorities said.

Manuel Rivera, 43, was charged with second-degree aggravated arson, and additional charges are pending the autopsy report from the Middlesex County Medical Examiner, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said.

On Thursday at around 10:45 p.m., authorities received a 911 call reporting a fire in the area of Sayreville High School, and while responding to the call another one came in reporting a related domestic dispute, police said.

Officers responding to Eisenhower Drive in Sayreville, found a woman who alerted them to a domestic dispute leading to Rivera, leaving the home with their nine-year-old son, according to police.

Authorities on scene at Washington Road, near the rear of the high school, found Rivera alive but with burns to his body and a self-inflicted wound, police said, adding that next to Rivera was a vehicle that was doused with gasoline and was on fire.

Rivera was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where he is being treated for his injuries, police said.

The body of a dead child was found inside the vehicle, according to police.

Rivera is an employee of the Sayreville public school system, according to Dr. Richard Labbe, Sayreville Superintendent.

"Since the matter is currently being investigated by the Sayreville police and fire departments, as well as the Office of the Middlesex County Prosecutor, no additional details can be released at this time," he said.

Rivera was hired as a part-time cafeteria worker and driver in December, according to a minutes from the Sayreville Board of Education.

Patch has reached out to the Middlesex Prosecutor's office.

Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O'Brien said that this incident "gravely affects all of Sayreville," as do others when "acts of senseless violence" involve a child.

“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," O'Brien said in a statement. “I want to assure you the community is safe, as the Sayreville Police Department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office have launched a detailed investigation this morning.

"On behalf of a shocked and saddened community, I want to say that Sayreville stands in solidarity with the child and the family and friends who are enduring this inconceivable ordeal," O'Brien continued.

Anyone with information or surveillance footage of the area is asked to call Det. Michael Pirigyi of the Sayreville Police Department at 732-727-4444 or Det. Jose Rosario of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office at 732-745-3289.