The man Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera was chasing when she was fatally shot by her partner last year was indicted on charges of conspiring to traffic fentanyl and cocaine in Chicago, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Rivera and Officer Carlos Baker chased Jaylin Arnold through Chatham and into an apartment in June 2025, where Baker fired his gun, striking and killing Rivera. Arnold pleaded guilty to gun and drug charges in relation to Rivera’s death and was sentenced to eight years in prison as part of the plea deal — a sentence Rivera’s mother Yolanda Rivera called “extremely severe.”
Arnold, 28, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury for drug trafficking allegedly carried out with four other men between January and June of 2025, according to the indictment.
The U.S. government is demanding Arnold forfeit any firearms and ammunition as part of the indictment.
Yolanda Rivera has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baker and the Chicago Police Department, alleging that at the time he shot her daughter, Baker had been struggling to accept that Krystal Rivera had ended their romantic relationship. Baker had a lengthy disciplinary record with more than a dozen misconduct complaints, the Sun-Times found.
The lawsuit said Krystal Rivera threatened to tell his live-in girlfriend about their relationship, then broke up with him. The day before the shooting, Baker showed up uninvited at Krystal Rivera’s home, the lawsuit says.
After Arnold pleaded guilty to the drug and gun charges related to her daughter’s death, Yolanda Rivera said he “deserves a sentence that reflects the truth of their role — not the burden of institutional failures beyond his control.”
At the time of the plea, Arnold’s attorney, Michael Clancy, said it’s important not to conflate Arnold’s gun charges with Krystal Rivera’s death.
“I think everyone has to remember he was not charged with the death of the officer for having anything to do with causing the death of the officer,” he said.
After Baker fired a single shot that struck Krystal Rivera, he waited more than 90 seconds to render aid as she gasped for breath, according to the lawsuit and bodycam footage.
“The officer failed to render aid when it was critically needed,” Yolanda Rivera said in court when Arnold pleaded guilty. “It’s difficult to accept Arnold should bear the weight.”
Arnold was previously sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted on gun charges in 2023, and has been sentenced to prison at least two other times for gun charges.
Clancy didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the indictment.