The two sisters shared a pre-Thanksgiving family get-together, with shopping and a meal, before saying what became their final goodbyes.
Hanoi Peralta, 33, was brutally stabbed to death this past weekend along with her 5-year-old son, Kayden Rivera, and his dad, Jonathan Rivera, in their Bronx apartment, leaving the murdered mom’s devastated sister to wonder what sparked the savage bloodbath.
“None of them deserved it,” the sister told the Daily News. “I’ve known [Rivera] to be a good man, a good father. He cared for my sister just as much as he cared for his child. She was a loving person, caring person.”
The sister said her nephew, who celebrated his fifth birthday Nov. 3, wanted to stay and spend more time with his cousin when the family gathering came to an end last week. The sweet little boy was known as “Kit Kat,” a nickname linked to his favorite candy, and was excited about his upcoming graduation from school.
“My baby,” said his still-reeling aunt. “A ball of energy. He loved to dance. He loved him some good old cha-cha slide. I was just going through the party photos and I’m in disbelief. I’m waiting for someone to say, ‘Hey it’s a joke, it’s a prank.’ … He was the sweetest kid. He loved Ninja Turtle action figures. The kid owned the ‘Toys “R” Us,’ I’ll tell you that much.”
Family members said Jonathan Rivera’s older son checked himself into a hospital after the stabbings, with police saying the 19-year-old triple homicide suspect immediately asked for an attorney and refused to answer questions about the killings. The bodies were discovered in the slain family’s apartment building on E. 136th St. near Cypress Ave. in Mott Haven about 6:40 a.m. on Sunday.
“She did not deserve that, the sweetheart that she was,” the slain mom’s 63-year-old aunt, Olga Peralta, told The News. “Hanoi was a great girl, very sweet, lovely, hardworking girl, always smiling, always laughing. … I’m still in shock. I’m shocked, everybody’s shocked. You go to her job and … anywhere they’re going to say the same thing — she’s always there when you need her.”
Son taken in for questioning over Bronx stabbing deaths of dad, 5-year-old brother and boy’s mom
The body of 38-year-old Jonathan Rivera, dressed only in a pair of underwear, was discovered lying against a first-floor hallway wall with a deep cut to his chest, while the slain child and the mother were found in the family apartment. The little boy was discovered lying faceup with multiple stab wounds on an air mattress, while the oft-stabbed mother was found faceup in a bed.
Olga Peralta said Hanoi’s father was in the Dominican Republic and family members were trying to get him up to New York.
“I spoke with her on Thanksgiving Day, we’d always be in touch,” said Peralta. “We would like to know what happened so she can rest in peace, and the baby.”
With Thomas Tracy
