{"id":37241,"date":"2026-05-05T14:17:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=37241"},"modified":"2026-05-05T14:17:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:17:45","slug":"rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>(RIVERA)<\/p>\n<p>Vandalia resident Arnold Rivera, Jr. has been sentenced to a total of 75 years in prison for murder and criminal sexual assault.<\/p>\n<p>The 44-year-old Rivera pleaded guilty today in Fayette County Circuit Court to the murder of 14-year-old Kylie Toberman of Vandalia in November.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Allan Lolie sentenced Rivera to 60 years in prison for the murder and to 15 years in prison for the criminal sexual assault. Rivera will serve the murder sentence in its entirety and will serve 85% of the criminal sexual assault. Also, the sentences will be served consecutively for a total of up to 75 years in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(RIVERA) Vandalia resident Arnold Rivera, Jr. has been sentenced to a total of 75 years in prison for murder and criminal sexual assault. The 44-year-old Rivera pleaded guilty today in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":23081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T19:17:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/A-Rivera-640.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"507\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\"},\"headline\":\"Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T19:17:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":116,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/A-Rivera-640.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/A-Rivera-640.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T19:17:45+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/A-Rivera-640.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/A-Rivera-640.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":507},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\",\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/greg_sapp\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2026-05-05T19:17:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":507,"url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/A-Rivera-640.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Greg Sapp","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Greg Sapp","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/"},"author":{"name":"Greg Sapp","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1"},"headline":"Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl","datePublished":"2026-05-05T19:17:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/"},"wordCount":116,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/A-Rivera-640.jpg","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/","name":"Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/A-Rivera-640.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-05T19:17:45+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/A-Rivera-640.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/A-Rivera-640.jpg","width":640,"height":507},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/37241-rivera-pleads-guilty-in-fayette-county-to-murder-criminal-sexual-assault-in-death-of-14-year-old-vandalia-girl\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rivera Pleads Guilty in Fayette County to Murder, Criminal Sexual Assault in Death of 14-Year-Old Vandalia Girl"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1","name":"Greg Sapp","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/greg_sapp\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Greg Sapp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37241"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37245,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37241\/revisions\/37245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}