A California man is accused of serial murders five small children.
57-year-old Paul Allen Perez was arrested in connection with a cold case in 2007 involving the death of a child, according to the Sheriff’s Department of Yolo County. The man was charged with five counts of committing a criminal offence.
According to the Sheriff’s Department and the coroner, the deceased infant was discovered by a fisherman on March 29, 2007 in the river to the East of the city of Woodland. The child’s body was sealed in the container.
Paul Allen Perez charged in killing five of his infant children over nine years — The Washington Post😳 https://t.co/IyJVfjuzyz
— Nance 🦋🌊🦋 (@solusnan1) January 28, 2020
«In 40 years of working in law enforcement I have never met a more disturbing case than this,» said the Sheriff of Yolo County Tom Lopez.
The case remained unsolved until October 2019, when the technology of DNA comparison helped to identify the murdered child as Nikko Lee Perez, born 8 November 1996, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
«Unfortunately, we learned that Nikko wasn’t the only one killed in this family, said Lopez. We learned with horror that four of his siblings suffered the same fate.»
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Investigators were able to identify four more babies-victims, all of whom were less than 6 months old when they died:
- Kato Allen Perez, was born in 1992;
- Mika Alena Perez, born in 1995;
- Nikko Lee Perez, born in 1997;
- Kato crow Perez, born in 2001.
It is believed that all were killed in infancy. The remains of three still not found, according to Lopez.
According to Wendy Wilcox from the Prosecutor’s office of Yolo County, during the arraignment on this case Perez was serving a term in state prison Kern valley for car theft and another felony. He was supposed to be released on Monday.
HERE’S THE LATEST: Cold-case arrest made in baby’s 2007 death, four other infant homicides https://t.co/smJ2AGV4ve via @alldenews pic.twitter.com/sah8Zc1J5L
— Lauren Keene (@laurenkeene) January 28, 2020
Progress in 2007 showed in 2018, when the district attorney’s office Yolo County was formed operational working group on the issue of cold cases, said the district attorney of Yolo County Jeff Reisig.
«Possibilities for DNA decoding revealed that monsters and murderers will no longer be able to hide forever,» said Reisig.
Perez was arraigned on Tuesday. He is being held in jail Yolo County. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 10.
#YoloCounty murder suspect Paul Allen Perez consults with Public Defender Tracie Olson before being arraigned Tuesday on five counts of murder with special circumstances — all stemming from the alleged killings of his five infant children. Preliminary hearing set for Feb. 10. pic.twitter.com/hU3bNwpNGY
— Lauren Keene (@laurenkeene) January 28, 2020
Public defender Perez, Tracy Olson, told CNN in a statement that in this case there are many unknowns and unanswered questions.
«While DNA evidence only helped to identifitsirovat Paul Perez as the biological father of one of the dead children. Nothing more. We are keenly interested in finding out the role the mother played in this matter, as well as in actual evidence linking Perez and the alleged crimes,» said Olson.
In the case of a guilty plea, Perez could be sentenced to death or life imprisonment under the laws of Yolo County.
