DNA links California man to murders of his 5 infant children

WOODLAND, Calif. (KYMA, KECY, AP)-- A California man has been arrested for the decades-old killings of five of his infant children, a case a sheriff said had haunted his agency for years.

Paul Perez, 57, was arrested at a state prison in Delano, days before he was expected to be released on unrelated charges. He is suspected in the deaths of the children born between 1992 and 2001.

The case reflects an “unspeakable evil,” said Yolo County Sheriff Tom Lopez.

“I cannot think of a case more disturbing than this one,” he said. “There can be no victim more vulnerable and innocent than an infant and unfortunately this case involves five of them.”

Authorities started investigating after the decomposed remains of the child recently identified as 3-month-old Nikko Lee Perez were found in 2007 in a sealed, submerged box in an irrigation slough near Woodland, California, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.

An autopsy found he died of blunt force trauma.

The remains were identified in October after authorities used an expanded DNA database that they had not used before on the cold case.

State Department of Justice officials previously had been checking a more limited DNA database weekly for direct matches.

Perez is charged with five counts of premeditated murder with special circumstances of lying in wait, torture and multiple victims. He also faces charges for assault on a child under 8 for the same victims and criminal enhancements for his prior convictions.