{"id":143183,"date":"2026-02-23T21:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T21:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/143183\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T21:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T21:53:08","slug":"mom-of-man-bashed-to-death-in-his-bronx-apartment-spoke-to-son-that-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/143183\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom of man bashed to death in his Bronx apartment spoke to son that day"},"content":{"rendered":"

The grieving mom of a Bronx man bashed to death<\/a> just outside his supportive housing building says she spoke to him just two hours before the deadly attack \u2014 and it seemed he was having a day like any other.<\/p>\n

Joel Rivera, 44, was struck in the head with a blunt object about 7 p.m. Jan. 21. It is believed his killer struck him with a two-by-four.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a regular day for him,\u201d Rivera\u2019s mother, Patricia Rivera, told the Daily News Monday. \u201cI said, \u2018What are you doing?\u2019 He said, \u2018Oh, getting my day started. I\u2019m about to feed the dog.’\u201d<\/p>\n

They said they\u2019d talk later and she heard him call out,Come on, let\u2019s eat,\u201d to his pup, a tiny Havapoo named Scarlito.<\/p>\n

Those were the last words she ever heard her son say.<\/p>\n

Though cops initially said Joel was attacked in his apartment in the Muller Residences<\/a> on Nereid Ave. in Wakefield, a representative of The Doe Fund, which runs the building, clarified that the attack happened outside and was caught on camera.<\/p>\n

A worker in the building reported what happened to cops after the victim came home hurt, said Doe Fund spokesman Christopher Luggiero.<\/p>\n

Joel died six days after the attack, and the case has been ruled a homicide. Authorities have still provided no information about motive.<\/p>\n

\"ThoughThough cops initially said he was found in an apartment in the Muller Residences on Nereid Ave. in the Bronx (pictured), a representative of The Doe Fund, which runs the building, clarified that the attack happened outside and was caught on camera. (Google)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was on blood thinners which then caused him to bleed into his brain,\u201d Patricia, 64, told The News. \u201cHe had a heart condition. He had suffered a heart attack last year and then he\u2019d suffered another heart attack later in the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was also an organ donor and was kept alive on a ventilator to make arrangements for organ donations, she said.<\/p>\n

Joel\u2019s mother sad she doesn\u2019t know anything about the suspect, Richard Vasquez, 37, who lives a few blocks away. He was arrested Feb. 14 and charged with murder. He remains held without bail.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son and I spoke daily to an extreme,\u201d Patricia said of the victim. \u201cHe shared with me everything. Sometimes too much. And I know I never heard of this individual. So it came out of left field and I\u2019m still trying to figure out why did this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he was a friend,\u201d she said of the suspect.<\/p>\n

Joel\u2019s late father was a 24-year veteran of the Marine Corps. He and his\u00a0 family lived in California, Hawaii, North Carolina and New Jersey over the years, and came to the Bronx in 2021, the same year the Muller Residences opened.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty safe haven for him,\u201d his mother said. \u201cMy son had mental health issues \u2014 severe depression. Since he was small, my son was diagnosed at the age of 5 with ADHD.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JoelJoel Rivera, a Bronx man beaten to death near his supportive housing building. (Courtesy of Patricia Rivera)<\/p>\n

Joel loved music and was an avid fan of Al Pacino, naming his dog, Scarlito, after two of the actor\u2019s films, \u201cScarface\u201d and \u201cCarlito\u2019s Way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very very smart. Very bright kid. He was able to retain things. He\u2019d read. He loved to watch documentaries on TV. He loved to cook. Watch the cooking channels,\u201d Patricia said. \u201cHe cooked himself, to try different recipes\u2026.. He shared his food with everybody in his building. His housing director said, \u201cIf Joel had food, everybody had food.’\u201d<\/p>\n

She wants to see her son\u2019s accused killer pay, whatever the motive may have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to see justice done. I want to see this individual, if he did it, to pay for his crime,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they had an issue, if they knew each other and they had an argument, whatever. Nobody has the right to take somebody\u2019s else\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The grieving mom of a Bronx man bashed to death just outside his supportive housing building says she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-143183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-county","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nyc-crime","20":"tag-sub-county-region","21":"tag-the-bronx","22":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","23":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}