In a chilling revelation, a man from California has been indicted with five counts of murder, following an investigation into the discovery of an infant's remains by a fisherman.
The Yolo County Sheriff's Office confirmed on Monday that the accused, Paul Allen Perez, is charged with the heinous crime of murdering his five infant children.
Yolo County Sheriff Tom Lopez expressed his horror at the case, stating, "This case revealed unspeakable evil. In my 40 years in law enforcement, I cannot think of a case more disturbing than this one."
Perez was apprehended just as he was on the brink of release from the Delano state prison for an unrelated case. He is suspected of carrying out the murders of his five infants over a span of several years.
The case dates back to 2007 when a fisherman stumbled upon the remains of an infant in a waterway in Yolo County and reported it to the authorities. It took over a decade to identify the child as belonging to Paul Allen Perez. "So in October of 2019, the infant was identified through DNA as Nikko Lee Perez by a DNA comparison," revealed Matt Wirick, Public Information Officer at the Yolo County Sheriff's Office.
Further investigation revealed that the infant, born in Fresno in 1996, had four siblings. One of them, Kato Allen Perez, born in 1992, is confirmed to be deceased. The FBI is currently searching for the remains of the other three infants. Investigators have disclosed that the victims, born between 1992 and 2001, were all under six months old at the time of their alleged murders.
The authorities have indicated that the infants were killed through torture and "lying in wait." In 2020, Perez was charged with five felony murders and several criminal enhancements. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Wirick expressed his distress over the case, stating, "The nature of this crime is absolutely heartbreaking and deeply troubling, and as you know, the law enforcement community struggles with cases involving children."
Perez is due to appear in court in January.
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