Overview
- The 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed counts of first-degree murder, two protection-order violations, tampering with a deceased human body and domestic violence (habitual offender).
- Valdez, 37, was found deceased on Dec. 4 inside a trash can along a Westminster trail; she was identified after an autopsy the next day, when Perales was arrested in Thornton.
- The coroner reported trauma to Valdez’s neck consistent with injuries before death, though decomposition limited the examination.
- An arrest affidavit cites video of Perales removing Valdez’s Ring doorbell, possible blood near her apartment and multiple witnesses who described a body wrapped in blankets being moved through the area.
- Perales told investigators he "blacked out," admitted covering Valdez’s mouth during an argument, and later said during booking, "You know I killed my wife and paraded her around?"; court records show he had been released on probation Nov. 21 after prior domestic-violence cases.