Man found sleeping with baby, toddler in storage unit near wife's body in cooler

LENEXA, Kan. -- A man whose wife's remains were found in a storage unit where he was staying with his newborn and toddler was removed from a Kansas courthouse after a screaming rant against authorities.

Justin Rey, a 35-year-old from Flagstaff, Arizona, was in court Thursday for a hearing on child endangerment charges.

The Kansas City Star reports an irate Rey yelled that Johnson County authorities were trying to take his children after his wife killed herself. A judge ordered him removed from the courtroom, saying, "That's enough."

"I don't care if it's enough because I have my children out there," Rey said, according to CBS affiliate KCTV. "Their mother just killed herself, and you guys are going to kidnap my children, our children."

Rey was arrested after he and his children – and his wife's body stuffed in a cooler – were found last month at a U-Haul Moving and Storage facility in the Kansas City suburb of Lenexa.

Family members publicly identified the remains as his wife Jessica Monteiro Rey, and the Johnson County, Kansas District Attorney's office confirmed the identity to CBS News' Crimesider.

Justin Rey has not been charged in her death.

Officers responded to the storage unit to check on the welfare of two small children Oct. 24. Lenexa police officer Danny Chavez said the public offense report showed the children had no food, diapers or place to sleep. Chavez said Rey had been sleeping at the facility with the children before he was arrested.

According to court records obtained by KCTV, Justin Rey first told officers his wife had died while giving birth to their baby. Then, he told investigators she had committed suicide after giving birth.

Officers say Just Rey then made a spontaneous statement that "his wife was inside the cooler and looked to the direction of a red and white Igloo style cooler with wheels."

That's when police made the gruesome discovery.

The woman's sister Sara Monterio told KCTV that a detective told her that the remains were dismembered.

Monterio remembered her sister as a free spirit. She said she didn't believe she would have killed herself.

"I know for a fact my sister didn't belive in suicide whatsoever," Monterio told KCTV.

It's not clear how long the woman had been dead, or where or how she died. Chavez referred additional questions to Kansas City, Missouri, police, who acknowledged an investigation but wouldn't give details.

According to the warrant, Rey, his pregnant wife and a 2-year-old child checked into a Kansas City, Missouri, hotel in September.  Hotel management told detectives that Jessica Monteiro Rey was last seen at the hotel on Oct. 20.

The warrant says a man called the front desk, disguised his voice as a woman's and checked out of the Rey's room on Oct. 23, according to hotel management.

The warrant says surveillance video footage shows the man pulling a red cooler with a black bag on top through the hotel, while pushing a stroller with a toddler walking beside him.

"We have more questions right now than answers," Kansas City, Missouri, police spokeswoman Kari Thompson said.

She said the department is awaiting a report from the Jackson County, Missouri, medical examiner. Thompson said she couldn't comment on the condition of the remains.

Justin Rey has been charged with two counts of child endangerment and two counts of contributing to a child's misconduct. During an Oct. 27 court hearing, he denied the allegations to a judge.

Rey is being held on a $1 million bond. 

He's scheduled to be back in court next week.