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BREAKING NEWS:
DANIEL PEREZ CAPTURED!
Read the
L.A. District Attorney's Press Release
- Anabella's Story
- Sister Diane's Story
- Brother Carlos' Story
- Hear Anabella's 911 Telephone Call
- Fontana Police Department Wanted Poster (pdf)
- Daniel Perez Handwritten Letter (pdf)
- Download DA Wanted Poster
- America's Most Wanted
On April 9, 1999, Anabella Vara was kidnapped and held at gunpoint by her estranged husband, Daniel Perez, for four hours. Her life was repeatedly threatened. Anabella was able to temporarily reach a place of safety and call 911 on her cell phone. This enraged defendant Perez who pursued her fleeing vehicle with his vehicle and ran her off the road causing her to run for her life. Perez caught up to Anabella and shot her in the back of the head, leaving her for dead.
Perez was quickly apprehended and charged with attempted murder. He bailed out on $1,000,000, probably illegally posted. Two days before the trial ended, on the day that Anabella, her sister and her father testified, August 27, 1999, Perez broke into the family home at 3:00 a.m. and opened fire hitting her father, Carlos Vara, seven times, killing him instantly. Anabella had been relocated to a "safe house" that evening. Perez has threatened to come back and finish the job on Anabella. She lives in constant fear of his return.
Daniel Perez was convicted of all counts and sentenced in absentia to 33 years, 8 months to life, plus life on Anabella’s case. Carlos Vara’s murder took place in Fontana, California and San Bernardino County District Attorney has filed one count of murder with a P.C. 12022.5(a) and 12022.53(d) allegations. Although no special circumstance has been filed to date, it is clear that P.C. 190.2(a)(10) applies.
My name is Anabella Vara. I’ve been a victim of violent crimes on two occasions, both of which were committed by my ex-husband, Daniel Perez, who is currently a fugitive at large.
I would like to share with you my story.
My family was as normal as they come. My parents were happily married for 25 years, having a total of six children, 3 boys and 3 girls. My dad was a carpenter by trade and the breadwinner in our household.
I am the 2nd to the oldest in the family. I moved out of my parent’s home at a very young age. I had become pregnant at age 15 and shortly thereafter Daniel and I got married and began raising our son together.
We had a normal marriage, I thought. We had a nice home, Daniel had a good job with the Department of Motor Vehicles as a supervisor and I stayed home raising our son. The main issue within our marriage seemed to be Daniel’s controlling ways. Basically for most of our marriage we did things his way. I excepted this because I was young but nevertheless would express to him my views on different issues that varied from his.
In December of 1998 I started my first full-time job. I was so excited! For the first time in my life I was self-actualizing. I felt like I was my husband’s equal and could contribute financially to our household. However, Daniel apparently felt like he was losing control of me. He didn’t like or respect my independence, which only amounted to my job. We began arguing constantly about little things such as my clothes, which I’d purchased for work, my make-up and the way I wore my hair. Suddenly, our relationship began to deteriorate.
On February 14, 1999 our relationship had reached the point of discussing separation. He of course wouldn’t hear of it. During the evening hours Daniel lured me to our garage, promising me a gift. I was hesitant and didn’t trust him initially, but he assured me that it would be very meaningful. To make a long story short, while in the garage, Daniel presented me with his "gift", which consisted of a rope wrapped around my neck. While choking me I pled for my life and our son’s motherless future. After several moments I calmed him down promising not to separate and work things out. The following day, fearing for my life, I saw an opportunity to flee with my son and went to my parent's house for our safety.
I didn’t report this incident to the police because I felt it was only my word against Daniel’s and he was very good with words. In the weeks to follow, Daniel pled with me to return home but I refused, and continued staying at my parent's home with our 6-year-old son. Based on this incident, I made a decision that I would not reunite with Daniel, however I did want him to continue to be a part of our son’s life.
On April 9, 1999 a series of events resulted in our need to meet and discuss issues. I agreed to meet Daniel in a public place where I felt safe and selected a pizza parlor in the City of South Gate. We were having what I thought was a "normal" conversation when things began to get heated. I decided to leave and began walking to my car. As I opened the drivers side door I felt a hard object pushed into my back. Daniel said, "get over to the passenger seat." I turned around and was horrified to see Daniel holding a handgun. Paralyzed with fear, I did exactly what he said. Now being kidnapped at gunpoint, he drove me to an unfamiliar area and parked the car. He began, what I call, his "interrogation". He asked me questions which made it clear to me that he’d been following me for quite some time. This went on for two or three hours til he finally asked me if I still loved him. I guess I answered the questions right because he didn’t kill me there on the spot. I finally convinced him that I’d move back in with him and we’d be together again. He drove me back to the pizza parlor’s parking lot so he could pick up his car and we could go home together. At the very moment when he got into his car I dialed 911 from my cell phone. I began explaining to the dispatcher what was happening. I was so scared! I knew that as soon as I put that phone to my ear that Daniel would know what I was doing…calling for help. He realized what was going on and began chasing me with his car. I was speeding, running red lights and at the same time honking my horn, trying to get attention from civilians to help me. I thought for sure I would end up running someone over. As this is happening, Daniel is ramming my car with his and I’m still on the phone telling the police where I am. Daniel finally manages to pin my car with another. I am now stuck in traffic and can’t drive away. I get out of my car, start running and screaming for help. He gets out of his car with a 9mm handgun and begins chasing me on foot. He finally got close enough and fired once aiming and striking me in my head. I fell to the ground and Daniel casually walked back to his car and drove off, leaving me for dead. Fortunately for me, the bullet entered just below my left ear and exited near my right, basically traveling cheek to cheek.
Hours later, Daniel was arrested and charged with attempted murder. Three weeks after his arrest Daniel posted a $500,000 bond and was released from custody. As soon as Daniel was released he immediately began looking for me which resulted in his re-arrest. Bail was now set at one million dollars, despite the District Attorney’s Office pleading for no bail. Following his 2nd release I immediately went into hiding.
Trial began Monday, August 23rd, 1999. Daniel had his entire family show up for his trial including people that I had never seen before, even so, the trial seemed to be in our favor. We had several witnesses from the April 9th shooting that came forward to testify. It seemed that we could not lose. We were getting closer and closer to the end of this long awaited trial. All I wanted was to have Daniel behind bars…where he couldn’t hurt me anymore.
It was now Thursday, August 26th, when my sister, Vanessa and my dad Carlos Vara, were called to testify. Following their testimony I was called to testify as well. During my testimony Daniel was staring at me the entire time, but not with sorrow or pity but rather a strange grimace of confidence, as if he knew something that the rest of us didn’t. It seemed like he was trying to tell me something through his stare. The court had heard compelling testimony form a number of eyewitnesses, including myself, however the judge allowed Daniel to remain out on bail. The court day ended and I, along with my family, were escorted to our cars. Everyone in my family, including my son, returned to my parent's home. I was placed in protective custody and stayed at a "safe" house. That entire evening I tried to analyze Daniel’s "stare", a look I’d never seen before. I couldn’t get that "look" out of my mind.
On Friday, August 27th, at approximately 3am, the question to Daniel’s stare had been answered. I awoke to my cell phone ringing. It would be one of the worst calls I would ever receive in my life! I stared at the phone knowing something was wrong, why else would it be ringing at this time? I answered the call and it was my mom. She was hysterical, repeating over and over, "He killed" "He killed." I could hear voices in the background, crying and screaming but I couldn‘t make out who was who. My heart sank as I pled with her to tell me what happened, but she was clearly horrified stating "call the detective, call the detective." I hung up immediately paging the detective handling my case. He called me back and I told him what was happening. Moments later, local police officers came to where I was staying and swept me away to their agency. It was there that I would find out what had happened. Daniel broke into my parent's home and shot my father to death in front of my entire family, including our son. I was numb. How could this happen! How!
In spite of everything, my trial continued and Daniel was convicted and sentenced in absentia. A couple of days later, I received a two-page letter from Daniel, which went into some deranged detail of why he killed my father. I’ve posted the actual letter that he wrote on this website.
Since the murder of my father, Daniel has been a fugitive at large. Initially, I received a few cell phone calls from him telling me, "you're next bitch." My family and I live in horror. All of us are still the hunted prey of this evil murderer and extremely dangerous man. It’s as if we’re the prisoners and he’s our keeper, preventing all of us from trying to pick up the pieces and move on with our fragmented lives.
We’ve spent almost three years looking for Daniel in the United States. He’s been featured in Americas Most Wanted, Montel Williams and other shows hoping that someone knew his whereabouts. It is now believed that Daniel has taken "safe harbor" in Mexico. We are faced again with yet another dead end in bringing Daniel Perez to justice.
The problem we face now is with the Mexican Supreme Court. They will not extradite for capital crimes. They suggest that our laws are "cruel and unusual" punishment. I believe that Mexico’s refusal to extradite is "aiding and abetting" and the real "cruel and unusual" punishment is my family along with other victims throughout the United States of America, either having to live in fear or know their loved one’s murderers are being "protected" by the Mexican government. This situation not only needs to change for my family and other victims but for future victims as well. Please help us stop this travesty of justice, which is currently no justice at all. The "Criminal Justice System" seems to be a system of justice for criminals. Help us help each other and join our cause.
The day my life changed for the worst was on April 9, 1999! I was returning home from my friend’s house and found a letter posted on the door knob saying that my sister was in the hospital. It simply crossed my mind that maybe she was in a car accident, because she was having car problems when she went to work that morning. Never would I have thought that this day I would receive news that my sister had been shot! At this point my entire family was together and I was the only one in my family that wasn't at the hospital with her and I really wanted to be there. Soon after, my uncle found me and was able to take me to my family.
When I arrived, my cousin didn’t tell me exactly what happened. So I figured it was more terrible than I pictured it. Because the hospital had a policy that no one under age 16 could visit her, I was taken to my brothers and cousins at my aunt's house. I was dying to know what had really happened. As soon as I stepped out of the car I saw everyone crying. My nephew ran to me and I just held him and said everything was going to be ok. He also didn't know what happened. So finally, I was told that she was shot by my brother-in-law in the head. No one was supposed to tell her son (my nephew) so we said she got into a fight. That night everyone just prayed for her to be ok. After 6 days, my sister was able to leave the hospital and return home. Now my sister and my nephew would start living with us until they found a little place for themselves.
Pretty soon my sister would begin to go to court for this. It seemed that trial was going fine everyday and that the judge could see there was enough evidence that Daniel Perez (my sister's husband) was the one who had shot her. If we would win this case, Daniel would be in jail for attempting murder. On August 26 of 1999, my dad was asked to testify. This day the judge would decide whether we would win this case or not. The results would be given the next day, which would also be the last day of trial. We were all happy that it was all finally going to be over and we could put all this passed us. So we thought!
That night my family heard noises continuously while trying to sleep. My sister Anabella was not staying with us. She was staying somewhere safe. My nephew wanted to stay with us that night, my sister didn't want that but he ended up getting his way. The noises kept scaring us that night. I heard someone trying to open the back door so I told my little brother. He said maybe it's just mom or dad checking. Later that night around 3am, a loud noise woke everyone. It sounded like if dishes were breaking. My oldest brother had seen someone coming in our home from the kitchen window. My brother then ran to my parent's bedroom to inform my dad that someone was breaking in. While my dad was getting out of his bedroom he saw Daniel Perez standing at the end of our hall way and pointing a gun. My dad yelled to all of us "take cover." I was sleeping in my little brother's room that night with him and my nephew, which ended up being a good thing. I threw my self off from the top bunk to the door. I opened the door thinking I would run to my parent's room. I looked to my left and saw my dad. Then I looked to my right and saw Daniel pointing the gun to my dad. My nephew and little brother were now awake and I asked them to hand me a bat just in case someone tried to come in our room.
We suddenly heard about 7 gunshots. It was the scariest sounds ever. After silence, I opened the door really quick and saw Daniel running out of our home. As soon as I came out of my brother’s room, I saw my dad lying on the floor bleeding to death. I was running to my mom and splashed my dad’s puddle of blood. My oldest brother, who was there and saw everything, started dialing 911 while all of us were yelling but couldn’t cry because we were in shock. I couldn't even move. The cops, firefighters, and the paramedics finally showed up. The paramedics couldn't save my dad…he was dead on arrival. So, we all burst into tears and held each other. The cops began an investigation and started questioning our neighbors. Then the firefighters came inside to my parent's bedroom and told us they were going to carry us out one by one and to please close our eyes so we wouldn’t see the scene. When the firefighter carried me out I opened my eyes and saw my dad's body lying on the floor dead and full of blood. This is how I would remember the last glimpse I had of my dad. That night we were questioned and fingerprinted. When morning arrived, our family and friends were gathered in a room at the police department and we were all watching the news. Once again tears filled everyone's eyes. I couldn't believe this had happened. I thought it was just a bad dream and I would wake up soon. But as I continued to watch more of our relatives arrive and the news coverage of my dad’s murder flashing from channel to channel reality hit me.
My family and I were taken under protective custody. After all we couldn't go back to our house after what happened. So we went from living in a 4-bedroom house to now eight people in this two-bedroom apartment. It was quite small and everything was bunched up but we managed.
I was enrolled at school and tried to make friends. We didn't know anyone and it was hard to fit in. Then I guess we all got used to it. Again, we would try to move on, but it was hard without my dad.
A year later, we all noticed that my nephew didn't look so well, so my sister took him to the doctor to get checked. He was hospitalized immediately because they didn’t know what the problem was. The doctors released him after six weeks and said he was fine. I remember that day very clearly. I was in the hospital with my nephew when the doctor came in the room and told me that he could go home today. My nephew jumped up with excitement and just started packing his things. Then he went to say good-bye to all his nurses and friends he made. He was so happy to leave. My sister and I took him home and we had a welcome home party for him. Two weeks later my sister knew that there was something still wrong with my nephew so she took him to a better hospital. He was also hospitalized there but they soon diagnosed my nephew with cancer. We all cried when we heard this. He hated being in the hospital. Four months later we all got a call from my sister saying my nephew was really sick. I was pulled out of school immediately to go to my sister and nephew. When we got to there doctors sat all of us in a room and told us that my nephew was not going to make it and that he could die anytime soon. My nephew passed away that evening. It was February 26 of 2001. I felt really bad for my sister Anabella. How could she go through all of this I asked myself! Then I came to the conclusion that she is the strongest person I know. We had my nephew's funeral right after. It was really hard for us to see that we had lost another person in our family. He was only eight years old. I know that we will always have him and my dad in our hearts.
Now I am fifteen years old. My family and I found a house where we’ve started over. We try everyday to not show our pain. We live in fear that one day or night Daniel will show up and kill another family member of mine. I am trying to go on with life but it's really hard. I just hope that one day we will get a phone call telling us that Daniel Perez has been caught, because that's what he deserves. He is a dangerous man that should be behind bars. Until the day that Daniel is caught, we will not be safe or really have a chance to move on. Until then we will learn to stand tall and be strong.My sister’s ex-husband, Daniel Perez, shot my father to death. He’s been charged for PC 187 murder, by the San Bernardino County Superior Court, and attempted murder by the Los Angeles County Superior Court. I am still in disbelief how he was able to get away. According to the police, it is believed that he has fled to Mexico. U.S. officials fear that a recent Mexican Supreme Court ruling will hinder prosecution for fugitives that are in Mexico.
The court ruled that Mexican residents couldn’t be extradited if they are charged with crimes in the U.S. that could receive a life sentence or death penalty. The federal and state prosecutors are concerned that they will have to reduce a suspect’s possible punishment to get extradition from Mexico. That means that Daniel Perez, for example, might have to be prosecuted for manslaughter. U.S. officials have always had difficulty extraditing U.S. murder suspects facing the death penalty from Mexico because the government opposes the death sentence. The federal and state prosecutors need to make some changes. They need to open their eyes to these matters and do something about it. I hate how the Mexican government acts like the big brother to these ruthless killers. They’re protecting them from serious offenses that they have been charged with. What right does the Mexican government have to interfere in these unjustified acts committed by heartless people? What makes a Mexican resident convicted of a vicious crime better than a U.S. resident or the murdered victims? It’s not fair for all of us who are families that are suffering and have been victimized. The murder suspects in Mexico that did the crime in the U.S. have to do the time and get punished for what they did. It’s not unjust to sentence someone to life in prison or give someone the death penalty for killing somebody else. Daniel Perez needs to pay for what he did to my family. We suffered so much and hope that justice will prevail someday.
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