Tom Perez called the local police non-emergency line to report his elderly father missing. Thirty-six hours later, Perez was on a psychiatric hold in a hospital, having been pressured into confessing he killed his dad and trying to take his own life.
His father was alive and there had been no murder.
No one told Perez. Instead, police continued investigating him, looking for a victim who did not exist.
That was six years ago, in August 2018. His hometown of Fontana, California, paid $900,000 to settle his claims against the police, but Perez says no one from the city has ever apologized. Nor is there any indication there was an internal investigation into why detective after detective, supervisor after supervisor, allowed the questioning of Perez to continue for hour after hour.
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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/05/us/fontana-pressured-murder-confession/index.html