Wonderwall

Jenni Rivera's Last 24 Hours: 'I'll Be Waiting for You'

The Associated Press, Sunday, December 9, 2012, 4:00pm (PST)

Billboard -- Top-selling regional Mexican Jenni Rivera was confirmed dead on Dec. 9 after the small private plane she was traveling in crashed. Below is a chronology of the singer's last 24 hours.

-- On Dec. 8, at around 3 p.m. in Mexico, a group of girls in Monterrey sent out an excited tweet: "We are tuning our voices to see diva @jennirivera. DON'T ANYONE TALK TO US [sic]."

REMEMBERING JENNI RIVERA

•PHOTOS: The Latin Diva's Life

• Queen of Banda Dead at 43

•REACTION: Stars Shocked

•VIDEO: Our Chat w/ Her in April

JENNI CHART HIGHLIGHTS

•Regional Mexican Airplay -- 10 Top 10s (Including One No. 1) •Hot Latin Songs -- Eight Top 20s •Regional Mexican Albums -- Eight Top 10s (Four No. 1s) •Top Latin Albums -- Seven Top 10s (One No. 1)

Album Sales: Over 1.1 million sold in U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. Top: 2005's "Parrandera Rebelde Y Atrevida" (211,000)

Seconds later, Rivera retweeted the missive, with a message of her own: "Hahaha. I'll be waiting for you. Thank you."

Answers from her tweeting fans were fast and awestruck: "I love youuuuuuuuuu," wrote one. "Woooooooow We'll see you there diva, until our voices give out."

Rivera loved twitter and had 1.7 million followers. She took pains to answer tweets personally and preferred to use her twitter account to update fans rather than sending out press releases. Beginning Dec. 8, tweets from Rivera, her fans and her entourage were fast and furious. Death wasn't on anybody's mind.

"We are landing in Monterrey land," tweeted her publicist Arturo Rivera on Dec. 8. "Team @jennirivera set to triumph in Arena Monterrey which has been sold out for three weeks."

-- At 9:45 p.m., Rivera Tweeted a picture of the show. "Incredible! The lighting and stage at the Center of Arena Monterrey that @jennirivera used in her show today.

-- At 1:50 a.m. on Dec. 9, fans were still tweeting from the venue. "Thank you diva for giving us an excellent show in arena Monterrey and giving your all to your fans. Diva, you are big!" tweeted one.

-- By 2 a.m., the show had ended but the activity on stage had not. Universal executives -- including Fonovisa president Antonio Silva -- gave Rivera a plaque for sales of her albums "Joyas Prestadas" and "La Gran Señora."

Rivera then held a press conference. "Ay m'ija, I'm so happy. I'm so happy," she said. "I'm very happy […] The times I've been pushed down are the times I've gotten up. God is good and never lets my hand go. There's an audience that keeps me up, that is living with me and wants to see me do well."

-- Shortly after 3 a.m., Rivera retweeted several fan messages, adding missives of her own to each one.

-- Fifteen minutes later Rivera got on board a private LearJet owned by Starwood Management with tags N345MC. With her were her publicist, Arturo Rivera; her stylist Jorge Sanchez; her makeup artist Jacobo Llenares; her attorney Mario Macias; and the plane's pilots. The plane was bound for Toluca, close to Mexico City, where Rivera was supposed to be Dec. 9 to shoot "The Voice Mexico."

-- At approximately 3:20 a.m., 61.8 miles from Monterrey, the control tower lost contact with the aircraft.

-- 4:30 a.m.: when the aircraft didn't land in Toluca, a search party was deployed.

-- By early afternoon on Dec. 9, word got out that the aircraft carrying Rivera had disappeared.

-- By 5 p.m. local time, Mexican officials confirmed they'd found the remains of the aircraft. There are no signs of survivors. Among the remains found is Rivera's driver's license.