A journalist who was killed in Las Vegas was reportedly beaten to death and his body hidden in a container, according to a new report.
Matthew Kelemen, 56, a freelance writer for Las Vegas Magazine, was killed by 63-year-old Joseph Del Rivo, according to 8 News Now.
Approximately a week after the murder — which took place some time before May 15 — Las Vegas Metro Police discovered Kelemen's remains after receiving a report of a strong odor near a business on North 3rd Street in Downtown Las Vegas.
The individual who called police said that a container had a foul smell coming from it. Police removed a lock on the container and found Kelemen's body inside wrapped in a tarp. A music stand, a bottle of ketchup, a hat and shoes, and several bags were also found inside, according to police.
A coroner's report ruled Kelemen's death a homicide, and that he died by "homicide violence due to assault." Documents obtained by 8 News Now suggest that detectives who inspected the body believed that Kelemen died as a result of blunt force trauma.
Del Rivo ultimately died during a high-speed chase in Utah the day after police found Kelemen's remains. The driver listed in that crash — matching the age and description of Del Rivo — sped away from a state trooper at 140 miles per hour on Interstate 70. Police deployed spike strips to stop his car, which Del Rivo hit at a high speed. He was ejected from the vehicle and died.
A toxicology report found that Del Rivo had alcohol and THC in his system at the time of the crash, according to police documents.
Del Rivo and Kelemen were roommates, according to People. In the days before he died, Kelemen had told his family he was planning to move out of his shared apartment with Del Rivo, accoridng to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
“He’d only lived there for about six months, but he kept telling my brother what a strange guy [Del Rivo] was,” Mikki Zaferatos, Kelemen's sister, told the Review Journal. “He said he was really uneasy living there. ‘The guy was a disgusting slob,’ were his words.”
She told the paper that her brother had planned to confront Del Rivo, but was reportedly "worried about how [Del Rivo is] going to act."
Zaferatos said she believed the container her brother was found in was a storage box for his amplifiers.
“Matt played the guitar and he had amplifiers, and it was a big black box," she said.
