I delivered my daughter to a monster: Tragic life of girl whose body was found dumped in an RV
From the moment she arrived, Kylie Toberman never had much of a chance.
She was born into a world of addiction, instability and violence and spent her childhood ricocheting between unsafe adults.
A father who died young, a mother living in squalor and, finally, a family who was supposed to rescue her, but instead delivered her to a monster.
Kylie was found dead in an RV behind her home in Vandalia, Illinois, on November 14, allegedly murdered by her step-uncle. She was just 14.
Arnold Barry Rivera, 43, is accused of raping Kylie in his car the night before, then strangling her with jumper cables and stuffing her body into a blue tote bag.
Kylie's mother, Megan Zeller, told the Daily Mail she regrets dropping out of cosmetics school and moving in with her abusive drug addict ex-boyfriend.
'I was young and dumb... I thought I could trust somebody and now my baby is an angel,' Zeller said.
'I got isolated away from my whole family, it was such a stupid mistake. I wish I could go back and change all my actions.'
Kylie Toberman, 14, was found dead in an RV on the property she was staying in Vandalia, Illinois, strangled with jumper cables and stuffed in a blue tote bag
Kylie was said to have excelled and school and been involved in sports despite having a troubled upbringing
Zeller, 34, admits she put her three children in an unstable situation, with her 20s consumed by drugs, poverty and abusive relationships.
Kylie's father died in a car accident in 2014 and three years later, she was living in a home plagued by violence and addiction.
Her then-boyfriend's home had deteriorated so badly that police found a sewage leak in the basement after responding to a domestic violence call.
The Department of Children and Family Services removed Kylie and her two younger sisters almost immediately.
With no stable relatives of her own to take the girls, DCFS placed them with the family of Kylie's step grandmother, Donna Toberman, when Kylie was just six.
Donna is also the mother of Rivera and Zeller's abusive ex-boyfriend.
Zeller insists she was told help was coming — that the department would support her, assist with housing and guide her through the steps to regain custody.
But the support never materialized despite her doing the counseling and parenting classes she was told to complete, she claimed.
'The funds were never there and they never helped me,' she said.
Zeller (pictured) did not have custody of Kylie or her two younger daughters, aged 11 and 13, since 2017 when they were taken from her by DCFS
Kylie's body was discovered about 2.20pm on November 14, and investigators said she was strangled with jumper cables and her body stashed in a tote bag
Homeless and couch-surfing after fleeing her abusive ex, she felt helpless as her child was taken into another troubled home.
Zeller spiraled into drug abuse that derailed her life for the next few years until she got clean and turned her life around in 2021.
'I got really bad on the drugs,' she said. 'But I worked my hardest and got back on my feet myself.'
Zeller is doing better now. She has a job and has been clean for the past four and a half years - with dozens of negative drug tests to prove it - and full custody of her four-year-old son.
But Zeller hasn't seen Kylie in eight years - and now she never will.
She learned of her daughter's death not from DCFS or police, but from Rivera's sister, Jessica, who texted asking her to call urgently.
'I called and she said: "Kylie went missing last night. Kylie was found dead. Megan, BJ killed Kylie",' she recalled.
Rivera fled moments before officers discovered Kylie's body at 2.20pm and was arrested about 4pm.
Kylie and Zeller together before the girl and her sisters were removed by DCFS
He is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated sexual assault, and concealing a homicide.
'You are a sick twisted b*****d,' Zeller said. 'Why Kylie? Why, why did you have to kill her? Molesting her wasn't enough punishment? Did your mom know? Did you do anything to my other girls?'
Rivera had access to Kylie long before her death.
Donna often relied on him to look after the girls and police said he was supervising them while she was in hospital the night Kylie was killed.
Paige Stone — Rivera's ex-wife, whose own children spent much of their time in the same home — reported him to DCFS earlier this year after her daughter confided that Kylie had been molested by him since at least January.
'I feel disgusted in myself for the guy being my dad and I hope he dies in jail,' Stone's daughter wrote online. 'I miss her so much, the whole family is ruined.'
Stone said DCFS told her nothing could be done unless Kylie herself reported the abuse. Donna, she claimed, refused to believe it.
After Donna adopted Kylie in 2018, DCFS considered her no longer a youth in state care and wasn't actively monitoring her.
Rivera fled just before Kylie's body was found at 2.20pm on February 14 and was arrested about 4pm. Pictured is the scene of his arrest
Kylie 'loved anything with wheels' as a child, her mother said
Zeller said Donna received $4,500 a month in social security after adopting them — money Zeller claims became the driving force behind keeping custody away from her.
'My children were a check and they were never safe, DCFS failed them,' she said.
The department said it could not comment while the criminal case continues, but clarified Rivera 'was not Kylie's guardian, nor did he live in the same home as her.'
But Rivera was always around and has a long history of sex-abuse allegations, including a 2000 case involving a minor that was dismissed.
For Stone, the agency's inaction was predictable. She told the Daily Mail she used to lie awake wondering what it would take to be believed.
'Either she's going to get pregnant or she's going to end up dead,' she remembered thinking. 'Now she's dead.'
Stone claimed she was also a victim, as Rivera groomed her while he was her babysitter and took her to Utah to marry her at age 17.
She had her three eldest children with Rivera before she was 18 and claimed she endured a hellish years-long battle to get away from him.
Zeller has hired a lawyer as she fights to regain custody of her surviving daughters. It is not clear whose care they are in since Kylie's death.
Kylie was on the wrestling team of her school before she was killed
Donna could not be reached for comment. She was later arrested on unrelated firearms charges and is yet to enter a plea.
What happened the night Kylie died is laid out in chilling detail in court filings and in a recorded phone call Rivera made to Paige Stone while on the run.
Kylie was seen around 9pm on November 13 and reported missing by Rivera at 6.30am the next day — despite allegedly knowing precisely where her body lay.
He told Donna that Kylie 'didn't come home last night.' The pair then went shopping at Walmart while police searched for the missing teenager.
When officers arrived at the home just before 2pm, Rivera panicked and called Stone as he went on the run.
'When I answered he said "hey you need to go get the kids",' Stone said. 'I said why? He said "I killed Kylie." I dropped to the floor and said "you said what?"'
In a recording of the call obtained by the Daily Mail, Stone sobbed as she tried to understand.
'What do you mean "lost it"?' she asked him. 'I just lost it,' he repeated.
'I told you not to do anything stupid, my kids need you, BJ,' Stone pleaded, using the nickname his family knows him by.
Rivera replied that he would be in prison, and the children were 'better off collecting my social security' - which Stone took to mean he planned to kill himself.
'Just please stress to them that I am totally sorry and I know they'll never forgive me,' Rivera said. 'Tell them I love them, for what it's worth.'
Rivera was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation to determine if he is fit to stand trial. He returns to court in January.
Kylie as a child with her mother Megan Zeller and younger sister
Kylie's step-uncle Arnold Barry Rivera, 43, was arrested after her body was found, and charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault
Locals said the home where Kylie lived with Donna and Rivera was filled with dogs and feces, forcing the girls to sleep in an RV outside. Despite this, Kylie excelled at school — joining the wrestling team and sports clubs.
'It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that we lost one of our wrestlers, Kylie Toberman,' her club wrote.
Zeller often wonders whether getting clean sooner would have saved her daughter's life. Whether Kylie's fate was set from the start, or whether different choices — hers, Donna's, DCFS's — might have kept her safe.
She remembers her little girl playing with her mom's makeup and pushing the family kitten around in a stroller like a baby.
'Kylie was bubbly and did anything her heart desired. She loved her sisters. She loved animals. She was so talented and smart,' she recalled.
'I will not shut up or stop until my child gets justice. I will not stop until my other girls are home.'
