Fontana Police Told Tom Perez His Dog Could Be Euthanized if He Didn't Confess to Murder

In August 2018, Fontana, Calif., resident Tom Perez called local police to report his father, Tom Perez Sr., was missing. In body cam footage shared by ABC7, Perez is seen looking agitated while speaking with police, who later said his behavior seemed suspicious.

Investigators also found blood in the home shared by Perez and his father. Crime scene photos show there was a small drop on the stairs, a wall, and a larger smear on one of the doors in the house. Perez was asked by Fontana police to come to the station, where he would be brutally interrogated for the next 17 hours. What happened next is the stuff of nightmares. Where is Tom Perez now? Here's what we know.

While Perez was being investigated, Fontana police learned that the elder Perez was alive. He had visited his brother, then stayed with a friend, and was at the airport when investigators approached him. "They picked me up, they read me my rights, and my mind’s going, 'What’s going on,'" said Perez Sr. to CNN. Earlier that day, Perez's sister told Det. Robert Miller that her father was alive and was coming to visit her. Police continued with the interrogation despite knowing there was no murder.

Six years after the Perez family was traumatized by members of the Fontana Police Department, Perez was awarded $900,000 as part of a settlement. According to the Los Angeles Times, his case resulted in major changes within the department. That didn't stop Fontana Police Chief Michael Dorsey from saying, "There are times where it’s extremely valuable to solve crimes and to, you know, get to the end of a case." This situation went well beyond that.

During the 17 hours that Perez was brutally interrogated by members of law enforcement, there were times when he felt so crazed that he tried to pull his own hair out. He recalled the first 90 minutes being relatively reasonable, with police officers asking him where he thought his father might have gone. Perez offered up suggestions that turned out to be true, telling police his dad might be with a friend, or perhaps with his brother or sister.

After 24 hours had passed, their demeanor changed. This was after crime scene investigators searched the house. Detectives David Janusz and Kyle Guthrie took over questioning Perez several hours into the interrogation. They took Perez to a coffee shop, then drove around the city looking for spots where a person could dump a body. The detectives berated Perez and suggested medications he took for high blood pressure, depression, stress, and asthma could have caused him to hurt his father.

When Perez asked for medical attention, the officers refused to help. The two detectives began suggesting things Perez could have done to his father. A friend was brought in to help elicit a confession from Perez. At one point, Perez's dog was in the interrogation room. Police told Perez the dog was distraught because she saw Perez kill his father. They told a story about another dog who was so traumatized by witnessing a murder, it had to be euthanized.

Perez tried to hang himself with a shoelace. After that, he was committed to the psychiatric unit of a hospital. "Their continual attack on me came to the point where I no longer wanted to tolerate it," recalled Perez to the Los Angeles Times. "I felt, 'I have to end this.'"