The Ruse

0:00Tonight on Dateline. They had gone into the house. There was an obvious smell of bleach. We discovered a lot of blood evidence. Maybe there was some foul play involved here. We believed that something violent happened in the house and that Mr. Perez was the one that did it to his father. Were you convinced that your friend had killed his dad? Yes. An officer indicated we have overwhelming evidence. How would blood get in those spots? I don't know. You think he's lying to you. Correct. You told him his dad was dead. Correct. You told him you had the body. Yes, correct. Thomas, that's not going to help anything.

0:38It was a really difficult thing to watch. We see you ripping at your clothes, ripping at your hair. They think I murdered my father. This can't be real. This can't be right. This was the moment that you thought maybe he was going to crack. We just looked at each other, shocked. Couldn't believe it. Still can. A father missing. A son under suspicion. and an ending that will make your jaw drop. I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline.

1:13Tonight, The Ruse.

1:20Hello, this is CSO P.O. with Fontana Police. Yes. It began in August 2018, Fontana, California. Sometimes he takes a dog for a walk. The man on the phone, Tom Perez Jr., was describing how his father, Tom Perez Sr., went out for a walk and didn't come back. What happened was he went to the mailbox last night, normal, no big deal. He went there with the dog, and the dog came back, and he wasn't around. Tom Jr. and his dad lived together here on this quiet street. Both were in real estate, though Tom Sr. was retired. Carl Peraza has known both men for more than 20 years. How would you describe the younger Tom?

2:08He's unique. He's extremely intelligent, very self-disciplined. Papa Tom, he's very quiet. He's very opposite from his son. I've known him for a long time. We would go to their house and, you know, have a little party, watch sports. And now Tom was asking police if anyone had reported seeing his dad. He told the officer he had wandered off before. You didn't hear any weird noises or anything like that? No, no type of yelling, no type of struggle. What his story is. After speaking with Tom, community service officer Joanna Pina paid him a visit. Hello. She took immediate note of his appearance.

2:53His pants are unbuckled. Dad. And he's just kind of like, not concerned, just standing here like, oh, hey. Tom told Pina he'd been awake all night, packing to move. I noticed there was a bunch of boxes, a lot of, it was the house was in disarray. I'm like, what are you doing? And then as you get deeper inside, does this thing become more curious to you? Yes. And you left his wallet and his phone here and his keys? Yeah, because he just went to the mailbox. The mailbox wasn't far, just a two-minute walk around the corner. Did you go check to see if he actually picked up the mail? Yeah, go for it.

3:34We went to the mail. And this is the mailbox right here. This is the mailbox up here. The mail's here. The mail from the day before was still there. Why didn't he get the mail? I don't know. Was he volunteering information or were you having to drag it out of him? I was asking him, and he wasn't very clear on his answers. It was very vague. He might have just walked to the metro and headed to LA. Peanut isn't a detective, but her gut told her this case needed one. Recording started. More officers and detectives arrived. Can I kind of tell you where we're at? Yeah. Obviously, we want to find your dad, so what I would like to do is I'd like for you to go back to the station with me so I can use all my resources and all that good stuff.

4:20Yeah. Let's go. Tom left with police as Sergeant Brian McClain took charge of a now-growing investigation. I noticed almost immediately when I started to go upstairs, there was an obvious smell of bleach. What was really telling to me was the shower curtain was missing. We discovered a lot of blood evidence. Blood evidence that you could see with the naked eye. and blood evidence that you could see using a mixture of spray that can show trace evidence of blood that had been cleaned up. Are you talking about smears or drops? All of the above. They brought in a cadaver dog. Was the dog successful in sniffing out human remains?

5:05It did have a positive alert to the odor of human remains within the room. And in the kitchen, investigators found a receipt from Lowe's, timestamp the night Tom Sr. vanished. Police checked surveillance footage, and there was Tom Jr. buying large trash bags. It feels like what you're describing is arrows all pointing roughly in the same direction. Definitely, yes. What was that direction? That the father may have been killed, and his son may have been responsible for it. That was only the beginning. The real surprises would come out later. Wow. I couldn't believe it. We haven't talked about the cruelest thing they did yet.

5:50Which was? I don't think we did anything wrong.

6:05Let's go. Go find it. Yeah, let's go. After reporting his father missing, Tom Perez willingly went to the police station, where he was interviewed for hours overnight, the whole time insisting he had no idea where his dad was. The next morning, two new detectives, David Janis and Kyle Guthrie, took over. We were investigating a possible homicide. Hop in, Thomas. It's wrong. We got him out of the interview room, went and got him some coffee. Now, detectives asked Tom to take them through every moment, from when his dad supposedly went to the mailbox to when he called police. How about a little drive where you drove?

6:47Tom led them to a donation site, where he said he'd gotten rid of some things that night while packing. What's all yours? Just that box. This? What about the bed frame that matches? We came here and we found three bags with the father's clothing that he had deposited. So thinking something nefarious may have happened between the time that he said his dad went missing and the time that he called us. He also led them to a golf course where his dad sometimes played. And immediately when we got out of the car, he started looking in the bushes kind of oddly. and then he started to walk over to the water hazard and then while standing next to the water hazard he asked me, don't bodies float?

7:36Don't bodies float? No. Is this where you think he's at? Which seemed to be extremely suspicious. Back in the car, Tom began to get emotional. You're the only one that can help Daddy. If he is in trouble, that's all I want to do. We had a lot of circumstantial evidence. Because of what we had in front of us, we weren't weighing too much on his statement that he didn't do anything. They took Tom back to the station to ask him more questions. What was your first awareness that both father and son might be in trouble? I got a call. He identified himself as an officer from Fontana Police Department.

8:20He says, I have Tom here, and we're looking for his father. He said, we'd like you to come to the police station because we believe he may have committed a homicide. I explained to Carl that, you know, we're trying to get Mr. Perez to tell us what happened at the house. We believe that there was some type of struggle. An officer indicated to me, we have overwhelming evidence that there was a murder committed, and he committed this murder. Were you convinced that your friend had killed his dad? Yes. Carl rushed to the station. The freaking evidence, okay, I'm talking to them. They said they have enough evidence on murder.

9:03Yeah. On murder on YouTube. Well, I don't care. It's bull****, bull****, bull****. It's all circumstantial. So you got a body. Let's say you did. Because nah. Stupid. But what else makes sense, man? I mean, based on the evidence. And then we're really, really blowing away. They say it's his blood. Huh? He just ignored it. He says, yeah, you know what? It's the wrong, this and that. He was a little incoherent because he was extremely tired. The detectives tried something else. We brought the dog in so that he would maybe feel a little bit more comfortable and relaxed. Comfort for Tom and detectives said more evidence against him.

9:50One of the crime scene investigators did find human blood in the paws of the dog. I know where she got it. From inside your house. Where all the other blood is that we found. Detective Janice told Tom a story about another dog. One who had been so disturbed by witnessing a murder, it had to be euthanized. And the dog was so distraught and depressed like that dog is that they ended up having to put it down because of what it witnessed. They told Tom they were sure Margo had seen a murder too. You killed him. And Margo was there and Margo saw it. You're watching this interplay. Yes, yes. And I said, wow.

10:31I don't know what tactic that is. How would blood get in those spots? I don't know. But soon, the detectives had something to tell Tom. A bombshell that turned the case upside down. This was the moment that you thought maybe he was going to cry? We thought that.

11:05Tom Perez Jr. had been talking to police for more than 24 hours straight when the detectives dropped a bomb. News that finally shifted the interrogation.

11:21They told Tom they had found his father's body.

11:36Tom didn't cry. He didn't collapse. To the detectives, that said everything.

11:47dad and you don't give a f***. Not a tear, not a... I'm sorry, what? Yeah, exactly. You don't even care. You don't even care if we find your dad and he's dead. They left Tom alone in the room. He curled up on the floor, clutched his dog Margo and cried. You alright Thomas? I'm gonna jump back up, man. How can you sit there and say you don't know what happened? And your dog is sitting here looking at you, knowing that you killed your dad. Look at your dog. That's when Tom started to unravel. Would it be easier to write it than say it out loud? Oh, no, no. Oh, no, no.

12:52Thomas, that's not going to help anything.

12:57Thomas. Thomas.

13:11We see him literally pulling his hair out, pulling his buttons off. Did moments like that give you pause? Not completely. I've had other homicide suspects admit to murder in the past, and there is a lot of release of emotion. This was the moment that you thought maybe he was going to grant? We thought that.

13:29After nearly two more hours of denials, Tom's story slowly began to change. He stood up, and he came toward me, and then he said, I'm tired of you. No. Tom agreed that maybe he did fly into a rage. Is it plausible that you stabbed him?

13:54The scissors? Was it the scissors? So how many times do you think when you were in that rage you stabbed him with the scissors? If that were the case with scissors or some other knife, I wouldn't have stopped. He went through motive. He talked about a fight they had in a kitchen, him stabbing his dad. Did he fall down?

14:19I don't know. Yes, you do.

14:24Because, oh, he went upstairs to shower and he did fall down. He mentioned his dad going up to the bathroom and potentially bleeding out in the bathtub. Was he, like, just covered in blood and you couldn't see anything? Yeah, because the shower's on and it's just all splashing and it's... There's blood everywhere? I pulled him out of the tub, I remember, yeah. How did you get him out there? What had been slid him on the carpet? And what is covering him, the carpet? Shower curtain? Maybe that's what that was, shower curtain. It was a very detailed confession that he gave us. Minutes later, Tom sat alone in the interrogation room.

15:12He removed his shoelaces, tied them together, and tried to hang himself from the table. You okay, buddy? Brian McClain was monitoring it all outside of the room. Maybe he was now feeling the pressure of having to face something that he may have done to his dad. Case closed? Not even close. You may not believe who I'm about to interview next. So, Tom, who's this sitting next to you?

15:56This is Tom Perez Jr. He agreed to sit down for an interview to tell his side of the story. He says what police called a detailed confession was really just a guided fantasy directed by them. I didn't say, yeah, I killed him. I didn't say that. Did you stab him? I didn't think that I did. They said, if you were to kill him, how would you do it?

16:32So then he said, did you wrap him in the shower curtain?

16:39I mean, I just kept going with their lead. That's what they call a confession. Tom told us he was exhausted and hungry. So I'm in the 30-something hours straight with no sleep. Tom says there were innocent explanations for everything police found suspicious. Explanations he'd offered to detectives. Where did the blood come from? I'm not certain, but I do know Dad falls. He says his dad had a history of falling, and he offered another explanation. I had been telling them. They said there's no blood, and then if there were blood, It had to be probably from he checks his diabetic prick. He likes to prick the thing, and he walks around.

17:27So if there's any blood, it could be from that. I tried to give answers along the way. And they rejected them? They rejected them, yes. There was some concern about your demeanor, your behavior. My demeanor being how? The way it was expressed to us from police is that you did not appear to have a great deal of concern for your father's whereabouts? That would probably be correct, because he's done this thing before. Even though Tom called police, he says he never expected them to jump to the conclusion his dad was dead. He told us the pressure in that interview room was intense, bordering on psychological torture.

18:08I'm starting to go in a downward spiral, because now we have my father's dead, My dog's going to die. They think I murdered my father. And you wanted to end it. I wanted to stop. Painful. And why should we believe Tom's story now? Well, he didn't come to our interview alone. So Tom, who's there sitting next to you? My father. Tom Sr. Tom Sr. Yeah, I've heard a lot about you. I'm sure you have. That's right. Tom Sr. was not dead. There was no murder. There was no crime. You don't even care we find your dad. And he's dead. You don't even care. Police had lied about finding his dad's body. It's a legal interrogation tactic that the Fontana investigators call a ruse.

19:10Prior to all this, did you have any idea that police can legally lie to a suspect? No, I had no idea. What was it like to hear police tell you that your father is dead? Heart sunk. Shock. So, what really happened? I've got to ask you, where were you? When I started off my little journey to the mailbox, I said, well, it's a very nice evening. And I find myself close to the railroad tracks, and I said, oh, it'd be kind of nice. It's still early enough to take a little train ride. So that I did. That exact theory was among the first his son had suggested. He might have just walked to the metro and headed to LA.

20:01And that's what he did. That's exactly what he did. Destination unknown. Have you seen any of the interrogation tape? Oh, no. A glimpse of it. It brings tears to your eyes. They're leaning by my son. Thomas. Yeah, I don't know. I said, what are they doing? When you finally found out that Papa Tom, as you know him, was alive and well. I couldn't believe it. What else makes sense, man? I mean, based on the evidence. I said, what did I just do? His father's alive. I trusted the officers. I don't understand how they can deceive people like this. Have you ever seen a case like this one? No. No. Civil rights attorney Jerry Steering represents Tom.

20:52He's spent four decades suing police for misconduct. He says lying to suspects isn't the exception. It's common. What's uncommon is that that doesn't happen until they know there's been a crime committed. What makes it different is that there was no crime in this case. This one you could argue they had suspicion that a crime had been committed. Yeah. And they had a suspicion that this was the guy that did it. Okay. So shouldn't they, as police, have the right to follow up on that? Absolutely. Ask them any question you want. But how about when you mentally torture him so badly that they attempt suicide in the police station?

21:34How about that? You think that's bad enough? We haven't talked about the cruelest thing they did yet. Which was? After they found out that his father was okay, they put him in the mental hospital. After attempting suicide, Tom was involuntarily committed and put on a 72-hour hold. All that time, police chose not to tell him his father was alive. saying they were still investigating. So for three additional days, he believed that his dad was dead and that he's going to prison for life and that he's going to euthanize his dog for three additional days. I thought that those cops had no souls. I thought that they were cruel and vicious and creepy.

22:19What do the Fontana police have to say about that? Do either of you think you've done anything wrong?

22:40Detectives David Janis and Kyle Guthrie believed they'd solved a murder, only to learn there wasn't even a crime. Tell me when you found out that Mr. Perez was alive. We were shocked. I was shocked. Based on all of the evidence that we had, we believed that something violent happened in the house and that Mr. Perez was the one that did it to his father. Up until his father was found, I can honestly say that we thought his dad was dead, based on that evidence. Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently? I don't think we would have done anything differently. Maybe at the very tail end, if we were going to use a ruse again in the future, we would probably discuss it more in depth.