Jury deliberations got underway yesterday in the trial of a Murrieta man accused of killing his police officer wife and setting their house ablaze to cover up the crime.Freddy Perez Rodas, 29, could face 50 years to life in prison if convicted of the July 23, 2014, slaying of 25-year-old Laura Perez, an Escondido police officer and mother of his now-5-year-old daughter.
Following roughly two weeks of testimony, the prosecution and defense completed their closing statements before Riverside County Superior Court Judge John Monterosso, who sent jurors behind closed doors at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta to begin weighing evidence in the case.
Rodas is charged with first-degree murder, arson and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations. He’s being held in lieu of $2 million bail at the Southwest Detention Center.Murrieta police allege the defendant shot his wife in the chest three times during a domestic dispute in their two-story residence at 24562 Grand Oaks Court. He allegedly took her body to a Moreno Valley storage locker, then returned to the house and set fire to it.Firefighters arrived minutes later and quickly extinguished the flames, immediately identifying the cause of the blaze as arson, according to police Lt. Tony Conrad.
He said Rodas, who called to report the fire, had also reported his wife missing, indicating she might still be in the house. The story raised suspicions, and Rodas was detained. During questioning, he allegedly admitted killing his wife and burning the location in an attempt to cover up the crime.The defendant, who has no prior felony convictions, allegedly led detectives to where he had dumped his wife’s remains.The couple’s daughter, Suzeth, was not harmed during the shooting and subsequent fire.
She is now in the care of her maternal grandmother.Laura Perez had been a law enforcement officer for less than two years. Perez-Rodas will be sentenced December 4th.