Trial date set for father charged with infant homicides

The investigation began years earlier, in 2007, with a fisherman's discovery of a weighted-down metal cooler in a slough east of Woodland. Inside were the remains of an infant believed to be less than 6 months old when he suffered blunt-force trauma and died, Yolo County coroner's officials said.



Later in 2007, the coroner's office turned over the femur bones from the infant — then known as Baby Doe — to the California Department of Justice's Richmond lab for DNA testing.

But a break in the case didn't come until August 2018, when the DOJ made a familial match that identified Perez as the biological father.

From there, investigators looked for birth records connected to Perez, ultimately finding six children fathered with his second wife, Yolanda: Brittany, born in 1990; Kato, born in 1992; Mika, born in 1995; Nikko, born in 1996; Nikko Lee, born in 1997; and another Kato, born in 2001, Yolo County Deputy Coroner Laurel Weeks testified at Perez's 2021 preliminary hearing.



DNA testing ultimately identified the infant's remains as belonging to the Nikko born in 1996. His genetic material linked him to blood samples taken at birth from Yolanda Perez's other five children, including the elder Kato who died in the Sacramento area in 1992.



All five children were born in Fresno and Merced counties, authorities said. Like Nikko, all are believed to have been less than six months old when they died.



Of the six, only Brittany is known to be alive today, according to court testimony. Both she and Yolanda Perez underwent multiple interviews with Yolo County sheriff's detectives during which they confessed to witnessing the infants' abuse and disappearances, but never reported them because Perez allegedly threatened them with physical harm and death.



Yolana Perez also told detectives that the remains of other children also were sunk into Conway Slough, but searches of the area yielded no results.

The DA’s Office later charged Yolanda Perez with murder and child endangerment in connection with four of the deaths. She pleaded guilty to the child endangerment counts in September 2022 and still awaits sentencing, but is free on her own recognizance until then.

Attorneys in the case estimate Paul Perez’s trial will last eight weeks with Judge Daniel Wolk presiding. The DA’s Office announced in May 2021 they would not seek the death penalty.

— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net