Suspect Dies in Crash After Writer's Body Found in Crate

The remains of a longtime freelance writer in Las Vegas were found last week inside a container at a downtown business, authorities said. Las Vegas police said they discovered the body of Matthew Kelemen, 56, on May 20 while responding to a report of a "foul-smelling odor" coming from the container. Police said they identified Kelemen's 63-year-old roommate as the suspect in his death, the AP reports. But the suspect, Joseph Del Rivo, died last week after crashing during a high-speed car chase involving the Utah Highway Patrol. Kelemen's sister, Mikki Zaferatos, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that her brother had been planning to move out of the room he was renting in a house also occupied by the suspect, but was worried about how Del Rivo might react.

Zaferatos said her brother "was really uneasy living there" and that he had described his roommate as "strange" and a "disgusting slob." Zaferatos said police told her that Del Rivo used the Bounce luggage-storing app to leave a large crate at a business earlier this month and hired a moving company to pick it up last Tuesday. The business contacted police because of the foul odor. Del Rivo died the same day after he sped off from a trooper at 140mph, KLAS reports. The trooper turned on his siren and lights after he saw Del Rivo going more than 90mph on Interstate 70. Police said Del Rivo crashed when he tried to avoid a spike strip, reports Fox 13.

Zaferatos said she believes the container was one of her brother's amplifier boxes. She said that according to her conversations with police, Kelemen was hit from behind with a hammer or blunt object. For two decades, Kelemen contributed film reviews, profiles, feature stories, and more to local publications, including the Las Vegas Weekly. A short story he wrote about Donny Osmond's Strip residency was published over the weekend in Las Vegas Magazine. Kelemen moved to Las Vegas in 2003 and had been a staff writer for several years at the now-defunct 944 and City Life magazines, the Review-Journal reports.

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