‘I’ll see you in afterlife’ — NJ dad’s disturbing video before killing son, cops say

🔴 Manuel Rivera sent a video to his wife and left a note apologizing to his wife

🔴 Video captured him setting his car on fire with his son inside

🔴 Rivera and his wife were having 'marital issues'

The death of a 9-year-old boy found inside a car on fire at a school parking lot was a murder/attemped suicide, according to the affidavit in the case.

Manuel Rivera, charged with first-degree murder in the death of his son Christian Rivera, threatened to kill the boy before he left the house on Thursday evening. His stepdaughter called police to report that they were missing.

The affidavit did not answer the question of why Manuel Rivera threatened to kill his son.

According to the affidavit, video surveillance footage captured Manuel Rivera pulling into a parking space at Sayreville War Memorial High School, pour "a large amount of gasoline" on his car and set it on fire.

Manuel Rivera's clothes were found to be "drenched" with gasoline. He had a cut around his neck.

The video showed Manuel Rivera made no effort to save his son from the flames, according to the affidavit.

A spokeswoman for the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said Rivera remains hospitalized and has not yet been processed through the system.

ALSO READ: Sayreville, NJ dad charged with killing son in car he set on fire

"Today is the day that death does us part"

Rivera's wife told police that she and her husband were having "marital issues." He sent her a video apologizing for his actions and suggested he be cremated. He also told his wife he would "see her in the afterlife."

A handwritten suicide note with a similar message was found in the garage of his home.

“This is how it ends for me and (redacted). I know we couldn’t live without each other,” Manuel Rivera wrote. “Today is the day that death does us part.”

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