In the pre-dawn hours of May 30, 2024, firefighters found a vehicle fully ablaze off Route 34 (Roosevelt Drive) in Oxford, Connecticut. Inside the burned car were two men later identified as 36-year-old David Rivera of Hartford and 39-year-old Carlos Calderon, also of Hartford. The site was a gravel road near Lake Zoar, a location to which neither man had any known connection.

Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Squad investigators determined the deaths were not accidental. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Rivera’s death a homicide from a gunshot wound to the head; Calderon’s death was also ruled a homicide from homicidal violence of unknown type. Authorities say both men appeared to have been targeted and deliberately taken to the secluded spot. The state fire marshal is examining the origin of the car fire.

Rivera’s family has made public pleas for justice, with his mother Carmen Muniz and other relatives speaking about their grief and the impact on his children. If anyone has information about Rivera, Calderon, or their movements before May 30, 2024, please come forward.