Jenni Rivera’s Brother and Son: We ‘Hope’ She is Alive

Jenni Rivera, Life and Death of a Mexican American Superstar

Mexico's music world mourned Jenni Rivera, the U.S.-born singer presumed killed in a plane crash whose soulful voice and openness about her personal troubles had made her a Mexican-American superstar. 

Jenni Rivera’s family has not lost hope that their beloved “Diva de la Banda” is still alive and in need of rescue.

Juan Rivera, one of Rivera’s four brothers, says he still believes his sister will be found alive.

"In our eyes, we still have faith that my sister will be OK. We have no confirmation of her body being recovered, dead or alive," he told reporters.

He then took to Twitter saying he will not stop looking for his sister until the body is found.

"My sister is still ALIVE! Until I have her body in my hands I will keep saying she LIVES. NOTHING has been CONFIRMED YET," he posted in Spanish.

Like Juan, Rivera’ youngest son, Johnny Angel Lopez, 11, is making it his job to find where his mother is.

On Twitter, Lopez-Rivera wrote he now has his “hope back.”

“My Mama is alive,” he posted on Monday. “I may have posted a photo. I lost hope but I got it back. She is not dead.” The tweet was followed by the hashtag “#saveJenni.”

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, confirmed Rivera’s death on Monday. They say Mexican authorities told them Rivera died in Sunday’s plane crash in northern Mexico. Recent reports say her remains were found and were taken to a forensic facility in Mexico.

Yet Lopez-Rivera’s Twitter account was flooded with what appears to be misleading reports that Rivera had tweeted from her account that she was still alive and that the incident had not been an accident but rather a planned attempt to kill Rivera and those on board.

The tweets seemed to be coming from a phony account created after her death. Yet, her son tweeted photos of the screen grabs from the apparently phony account, including one that said: “I’m alive but I don’t know where I am, there are many dead, I beg God that someone can help me.”

Rivera was at the peak of her career as perhaps the most successful female singer in grupero, a male-dominated regional style influenced by the norteño, cumbia and ranchero styles.

A 43-year-old mother of five children and grandmother of two, her music resonated with Latinos because she sang about her own difficult experiences – her battle with domestic violence, her struggle with weight, being a single mother and her failed marriages.

Rivera’s father Pedro told Telemundo on Sunday that his daughter, along with the other six killed in the crash, which included Jenni Rivera’s stylist Jorge Sanchez and her lawyer Mario Macias, had died. Soon after U.S. officials confirmed that Rivera had died on impact.

Rivera’s other brother, Pedro Rivera Jr., told E! News on Sunday that he understands “this was the way Jenni had to go.”

“We are feeling devastated," said Rivera Jr., "Life is like that. We live and we die. We may be sad, but when God has the last word for all of us in our last days, it's time to go.”

Rivera Jr., recalled his last conversation with his sister at church when they were taking a collection to buy Christmas toys for needy children.

He said his sister gave him $5,000 to give to the children. "She said, 'I just want to see them smile. I just want to see them happy.' All she wanted was to see the happiness in people. And then she gave me a big hug. She said, 'I love you, brother.'"

He said he was later watching television and wanted to send a text message to his sister to say that he loved her. "But I didn't because I thought maybe she's busy, maybe she's just barely getting out of singing or something ... You just regret those moments."

Rivera had finished performing at a concert in Monterrey, Mexico on Saturday night when she, along with her team, headed out to Toluca airport in the outskirts of Mexico City at 3:15 a.m.

Rivera was scheduled to perform in Mexico’s singing completion “The Voice Mexico” and was to meet with singers Yuri and Paulina Rubio, one of the judges on the show and also one of her close friends.

This report contains material from the Associated Press. 

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