During the investigation into Father Reynaldo’s murder, several letters were sent to various government agencies, the Archdiocese and a few Catholic churches that claimed that Father Reynaldo was murdered because he had something to do with the civil wars in Latin America.

Several civil wars had broken out in Central and South America during the 60s. These wars lasted well into the 90s, and Catholic priests who were ministering to various Indigenous peoples in those areas were put in the middle of those civil wars. These wars were very much about the rich against the poor. While the rich had backing by the US government, the poor had missionary priests who were only armed in faith, many of which would become martyrs for staying with the people.

Even if they couldn’t protect those people, they ministered to them.

Today we start a new mini-series focused on the unsolved murder of Father Reynald Rivera. 

Father Reynaldo John Rivera answered the phone at St. Francis Cathedral church one night to hear a man on the other end asking him to meet him at a rest stop so he could perform Last Rites on the man’s grandfather who had had a heart attack. Father Rivera went to perform the sacrament and was found in the desert shot to death two days later. This murder has remained unsolved for 40 years. 

For most people March 3rd, 1996 would be a normal Sunday but for the employees of the Hollywood Video Store on San Mateo and Zuni in the Southeast of Albuquerque, it was going to be a horrific and bloody night. Today I am taking you through a brutal case that resulted in the death of five innocent victims. This is the case of the Hollywood Video Massacre.