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Friday, July 19, 2002

Medical examiner rules woman's death a suicide

By ANGELA K. BROWN
Associated Press Writer

FORT WORTH (AP) - Two of the three children killed in their Hudson Oaks home were probably awake when they were shot, and the shooting death of their mother was a suicide, the Tarrant County medical examiner said Thursday.

Dr. Nizam Peerwani ruled that the deaths of Sergio Perez, 10; Diego Perez, 9; and Bianca Perez, 4, were homicides. He also ruled that Dee Etta Perez, 39, died from a single gunshot wound to the left temple and she had "large quantities" of gunpowder on her hands. Toxicology tests are under way.

A preliminary probe indicates that Dee Perez killed the children Tuesday morning, critically wounded her husband when he arrived for a scheduled visit then killed herself, Hudson Oaks Police Chief Ray Riley said.

Her estranged husband, Manuel "Manny" Perez, 38, a captain with the Fort Worth Fire Department, remained hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his back.

Sergio and Bianca were "crosswise" on their bunks, indicating they had been awake because they moved. Diego was lengthwise, Peerwani said.

"Diego was shot as he lay there" on his bed, Peerwani said. "The position of the other kids shows that perhaps they were aware of what was going on."

Investigators have not determined when they children were shot, but it appears mother and children all died about the same time. The children probably died quickly, he said.

Peerwani said he could not determine who shot the children. The police investigation would make that conclusion, he said.

According to the transcript of a 911 tape, Manuel Perez called about 1:20 p.m. from a neighbor's house, saying, "I've been shot in the back by my wife. The children are there and possibly dead."

Police found him lying in a pool of blood inside a house directly behind the home of his wife.

Perez said he'd been shot in the back at his house at 10:30 a.m., but there wasn't much blood on his wife's living room floor _ or enough blood for the man to have been in his neighbor's house for three hours, Riley said.

Despite the puzzling time lapse, Riley said Manuel Perez is considered a victim and not a suspect.

A .357-caliber revolver was found near Dee Perez's body. Fifteen .38-caliber shell casings, which can be fired from a .357, were in the house, Riley said.

When Peerwani received the gun, there were five live rounds in it.

The couple's marriage had apparently been disintegrating for about two years, and Manuel Perez had attended a hearing Tuesday morning for the finishing touches on a divorce agreement. Dee Etta Perez was not at the hearing.

Riley said authorities had been called to the couple's house five times since Dec. 26, 1999. On Sept. 26, 2001, they were arrested and charged with assault by contact. They were booked into the Parker County Jail and released after each paid a $227 fine.

Hudson Oaks is about 20 miles west of Fort Worth.

from the Reporter-News