State prosecutors have dropped charges against Wanda Rivera, mother-in-law of slain St. Cloud mother Nicole Montalvo. Rivera was arrested in May of 2020 in connection with the St. Cloud woman’s death and dismemberment, according to court records.

In October 2019 Nicole Montalvo was determined to be missing after failing to pick up her 8-year-old son from school. Her dismembered remains were later located on Hixon Avenue in St. Cloud where her estranged husband Christopher Otero-Rivera and his parents lived. Otero-Rivera, and his father, Angel Luis Rivera, are still in jail waiting for their murder trial to take place, which was delayed amid the coronavirus pandemic. They are both charged with second-degree murder and abuse of a body in Montalvo’s killing. Their trial is expected to commence in April.

Chris Otero-Rivera’s mother, Wanda Rivera, was arrested on charges of tampering with physical evidence, accessory after the fact to a felony of the first-degree and providing false information to law enforcement during an investigation. However, prosecutors have received new cellphone evidence that has created reasonable doubt in the charges Wanda Rivera was facing.