A 57-year-old father has been arrested for allegedly killing five of his children when they were infants in a case that stretches back to the 1990s, authorities announced Monday.
Paul Perez, of Kern County, was accused of murdering five children under the age of six months, although the remains of three have not been found, the Yolo County sheriff's office said.
The case hinged on the 2007 discovery of a baby's body by a fisherman in a waterway near Woodland. The baby was in a sealed container that had been weighed down with objects, the sheriff's office said.
It was only in 2019 that the remains were identified as belonging to Perez' child Nikko Lee Perez.
Nikko was born in 1996 in Fresno, the sheriff's office said.
Through forensic testing, authorities determined Nikko had four siblings. One sibling, born in Merced in 1992, is known to be deceased. The whereabouts of the three other siblings —born in Merced or Fresno between 1995 and 2001 — are unknown. But these three are "also believed to be deceased," the sheriff's office said.
“While I am proud of the efforts of my investigators and coroner’s office, this is not a day that will bring joy to any one of us," Yolo County Sheriff Tom Lopez said in a statement. "In my 40 years in law enforcement, I cannot think of a case more disturbing than this one. There can be no victim more vulnerable and innocent than an infant, and unfortunately this case involves five.”