A journalist from Las Vegas was discovered deceased in a container at a company earlier this week, and the man suspected to be responsible for his death passed away in Utah when he crashed his vehicle while trying to evade a state trooper.
According to Mikki Zaferatos, the sister of Matthew Scott Keleman, the Clark County Coroner’s Office notified her of her brother’s passing on Wednesday. Zaferatos mentioned that police informed her that Keleman’s housemate, known as 63-year-old Joseph Del Rivo, had delivered the container on Monday after arranging it through an application that offers short-term storage solutions.
Del Rivo allegedly informed the company that the container would be retrieved later in the week, but when a moving company came on Tuesday, staff members detected a strong smell emanating from the container and contacted the authorities, who discovered the body inside. Law enforcement officials attempted to reach Del Rivo, who then became a suspect in Keleman’s homicide.
That same day, a Utah state trooper pursued Del Rivo’s car in that state, and he was ejected and died in a rollover crash. According to KUTV, the crash happened in Sevier County late Tuesday afternoon when the trooper noticed a vehicle approaching from behind him and passing at more than 90 miles per hour.
The trooper activated his emergency lights and initiated a pursuit, and the driver topped 140 miles per hour as he fled. The highway patrol spiked the driver’s tires, but he kept going until the tires began to come apart. As another trooper prepared to set out more spikes, Del Rivo left the roadway, overturned several times, and was ejected from the vehicle.
Zaferatos said Keleman has recently told his family he planned to move out of the room he’d leased, the Review Journal said.
“He’d only lived there for about six months, but he kept telling my brother what a strange guy this was,” Zaferatos said. “He said he was really uneasy living there. ‘The guy was a disgusting slob,’ were his words. Matt said, ‘OK, I’m going to tell him. I’m just worried about how he’s going to react.’”
Although a cause and manner of death for Keleman have not yet been released, Zaferatos said investigators told her they believe he was struck from behind by some type of blunt object.
Keleman had worked in media since moving to Las Vegas in 2003, with bylines appearing in multiple local publications as well as some national outlets. Recently published pieces included a profile of Janet Jackson and a preview of Memorial Day weekend.
