Four years on, the murder of 13-year-old Jason Rivera in the parking lot of a South Lebanon Township apartment building remains unsolved, and police and prosecutors appear to have hit a dead end in their investigation.
Rivera, a seventh-grader at Lebanon Middle School, was shot next to his uncle’s car in what Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf has described as a targeted attack, possibly a case of mistaken identity related to a drug deal. Rivera and his uncle lived in the apartment building.
Police responded to reports of gunfire at about 9 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2022, and found Rivera in the parking lot near 3rd and Vine streets. He had been shot multiple times.
Attempts to save the boy were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at Hershey Medical Center.
Investigators initially uncovered no witnesses or surveillance video.
In the days following the murder, Graf said the shooting was not a random act, but offered no other details.
The investigation appeared to have stalled until last January, when the district attorney released additional information.
Murder weapon, possible getaway car disclosed
Three years after the murder, in a Jan. 13, 2025, media release, Graf revealed for the first time that police recovered a dozen 9 mm shell casings and multiple bullets from the crime scene – meaning Jason’s killer fired at least 12 shots that night.
Graf added that police searched the apartment where Jason and his uncle, Jose “Cooch” Colon, lived, and found drugs and drug paraphernalia. Drugs were also found in the uncle’s car, where Jason was shot.
Court records indicate that Colon was charged in Lebanon County with felony possession with intent to deliver narcotics and a misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia charge. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced by Judge Charles Jones to 6 to 23 months in prison on Jan. 30, 2023.
Graf also said that Pennsylvania State Police determined that the bullets and shell casings found at Rivera’s murder scene all came from the same weapon, which was also used in two crimes committed in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
The gun was found in 2023 when Maryland police arrested D’Andre Courtez Wint, who himself was murdered in 2024. Graf said she was able to speak to Wint before his death, but what he told her, which she did not disclose, would not be admissible in court.
Then, in a Jan. 16, 2025, LebTown interview, Graf for the first time revealed that a possible getaway car, a “dark colored Honda Civic,” had been spotted on neighborhood video traveling west on Vine Street, away from the apartment building where Jason had just been killed.
“We got the video,” she said. “You’re not able to make out number of occupants of the vehicle. You’re not able to make out a license plate. All we know it’s a dark in color Honda Civic. So we have inconclusive video.”
Graf said the video shows the Honda proceeding west on Vine Street, then turning north onto Worth Street, in the vicinity of George Strohm Plumbing at 480 Vine St., where it was last seen.
Since last January, no additional details about Jason Rivera’s murder have been revealed. South Lebanon police chief Kenneth Zimmerman told LebTown last week that there have been no developments in the investigation in the past year. Graf had not responded to requests for comment by publication time.
Know anything that might help find Jason’s killer?
Authorities are still seeking help from the public.
Anyone with information about Jason Rivera’s killing, the firearm used in the shooting, the possible getaway car, or a connection between Jason’s killing and D’Andre Wint is urged to call the Lebanon County Detective Bureau at 717-228-4403, South Lebanon police at 717-274-0481, or Lebanon County Crimestoppers at 717-270-9800.
Read More:
- Victim of Tuesday shooting was targeted, says DA; family makes impassioned plea for tips to help bring shooter to justice
- GoFundMe campaign launched for family of Jason Rivera; $4K of $15K goal raised
- Murder of 13-year-old in South Lebanon Township still unsolved 9 months later
- ‘Someone out there knows who killed this child’: new details in unsolved murder
- Jason Rivera homicide: DA says possible getaway car seen on video after drug deal
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