Man who told police he chopped up wife's body now charged in child pornography case
KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ A man jailed since he was found last year with his dead wife's body parts at a Lenexa, Kan., storage facility was accused Friday of possessing child pornography.
Justin Todd Rey allegedly had the pornographic images on his cellphone. He was charged Friday in Johnson County District Court with three counts of sexual exploitation of a child.
Rey, 36, had been scheduled to go to trial next week on child endangerment charges, but the trial was canceled as a result of the filing of new charges.
Authorities had recently found the alleged child porn images after Rey asked them to look at his phone for evidence that he thought would help him in his pending trial, according to court documents.
Last October, Lenexa police were called to a storage facility to investigate someone staying there with two small children.
They found Rey with his two small daughters, including a newborn, and discovered several containers full of body parts.
He told them that his wife had given birth a few days earlier inside a Kansas City hotel room and then committed suicide.
Rey said he dismembered her body so he could transport her home to Arizona. He did not seek medical help or call police because he was afraid the children would be taken away, he testified earlier in court.
He was charged with two counts of aggravated child endangerment and two counts of contributing to a child's misconduct.
Jackson County prosecutors also charged him with abandonment of a corpse.
_The Kansas City Star
