Man found staying in storage unit with kids, dismembered wife's body found guilty of child endangerment

OLATHE, Kan. (WDAF) -- A man discovered in a Lenexa storage unit with his two children and his wife's dismembered body has been found guilty of child endangerment and other charges.

Justin Rey, 36, was charged in Johnson County with two counts of aggravated child endangerment, two counts of child misconduct and three counts of possession of child pornography.

TCD: Justin Rey case

Just after 12:30 a.m. Thursday, a Johnson County jury found Rey guilty on all seven charges. The verdict came after three days of testimony and more than eight hours of deliberation on the jury's part.

In October 2017, Rey and his 2-year-old and newborn daughters were discovered in a U-Haul storage unit in Lenexa. Also in the storage unit, the body of Rey's wife, which had been dismembered and stored in a rolling cooler.

Rey told police his wife died during childbirth in a Kansas City, Missouri, hotel room two days prior.

Witnesses told the court they saw Rey leaving the hotel, dressed up as a woman, wearing a rain coat and wig. He was allegedly seen dragging a cooler with the body of his wife inside. Witnesses said he left bloody sheets behind in his room.

The manager of the storage facility testified that an alarm went off overnight because Rey and his two children were spending the night there, which isn't allowed. It was winter and the storage until was near 45 degrees, the manager said, a dangerous environment for a newborn baby and a 2-year-old.

Although there was a lot of testimony about Jessica Rey's body, Justin Rey is not charged in her death. Jessica Rey is believed to have died in the KCMO hotel room. For allegedly dismembering his wife, Justin Rey is facing an abandonment of a corpse charge in Jackson County.

Prosecutors argued that what Rey did to his wife's body and what his kids endured -- being around their mother's body in a cooler in a storage unit -- was child endangerment.

Rey will be sentenced March 27.