Overview
- Authorities recovered the bodies of Nixon Giovanni Pérez Paz and Glendy Marisol González in a Retalhuleu sugarcane field on July 28, and their one-year-old daughter was found alive beside them and taken for medical care.
- Guatemala’s National Civil Police said the couple had been gagged and bound and showed signs of physical trauma, and the prosecutor’s office opened an on-site murder investigation and placed the children with extended family.
- Family members say Pérez was deported from the United States in 2025 and González voluntarily returned in recent weeks to reunite with him while she had an active asylum case in the U.S.
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed an Overland, Missouri arrest of Pérez and his brother but its statements about Pérez’s prior convictions could not be independently confirmed by local reporters.
- The killings come as U.N. data show deportations to Guatemala rose about 47% in the first half of 2026, and advocates in Missouri are holding vigils and calling for scrutiny of deportation policy and protection for returnees.