Weeks after Fernando “Chino” Rivera was brutally slain on a street his son, Niko, 5, asked his mom how many balloons it would take to get his bed to float to heaven so he could visit the man who never left his side.
Five years later, Niko, now 10, had big boy words for the man who took a plea bargain offer in the West Haven killing of his dad.
Terrence Johnson was sentenced this week to 38 years in prison for Rivera’s killing, after pleading guilty to murder, said a spokesman for Superior Court in Milford.
Rivera’s fiance and Niko’s mom, Lindsee Baez, said Johnson earlier took a plea bargain and was to get between 30 to 45 years when sentenced.
From left to right: The late Fernando “Chino” Rivera, who was fatally assaulted in West Haven, his 5-year-old son, “Niko,” and Rivera’s fiance, Lindsee Baez, were a close family.
Niko was among those who gave victim impact statements at Johnson’s sentencing hearing in Superior Court in Milford. The boy gave his heartfelt statement via video.
“I didn’t get enough time (with dad)…My dad deserved to stay. My dad was taken from me too early” Niko said.
Niko talked about so many things dad taught him and said of Johnson, “I wish he would go away and stay in jail for 100 years.”
Niko said of his dad, “I want him to know I miss him so much.”
It was Halloween evening 2020 that Rivera, 35, was slain in West Haven, the city where the family lived.
He was being attacked as Niko waited in his Super Mario costume for dad to come home and take him trick or treating.
Dad never came home.
Niko wasn’t told until recently — with the buffer of a therapist — that his dad was killed in a violent assault, Baez said.
The child, so young at the time of the slaying, was told his dad died from a “boo-boo.”
Police said Rivera was attacked from behind on the corner of Washington Avenue and Elm Street in what police called a “serious assault.” He died later from a neck injury at the hospital.
Baez, who also gave a heartfelt statement about the nightmare that her fiance’s killing created for the family, said after court that in “a perfect world,” Johnson would serve “life,” but she’s aware they’re getting “a semblance of justice.”
She and supporters have followed the court case in person for five years, advocating for justice.
The couple were together for about 17 years, from the time she was 16 and Rivera 18.
“He was truly my best friend,” Lindsee Baez told the court.
“We grew up together, from our teenage years into adulthood,” she said to the judge. “The road was bumpy along the way, but we never gave up on each other. We chose our family every single day, and that choice made him so happy.”
Baez told the court even though her fiance was 6 feet tall, and over 350 pounds, and covered with tattoos, he was a gentle soul who helped anyone who needed it.
After the birth of Niko, he took on the stay-at-home dad role as she returned to work.
He was so focused on Niko from day one, nurses in the maternity ward nicknamed him “Papa Bear,’ she told the court.
Baez talked about the depression, fear and thoughts of suicide she had following the death, but that she persevered for Niko.
Baez in her statement told Johnson: “You took away someone irreplaceable, and you will have to live with that truth for the rest of your life.
“You stole a life, you stole dreams, and you stole love, and no sentence can ever undo the damage you caused,” she said.
Baez said Johnson’s father addressed the court to say he wished he had been a more involved father. Baez has noted previously, “At the end of my day, my son doesn’t have a dad.”
