Daniel Perez Autopsy Report Indicates No Foul Play

Little over five months after the body of 15-year-old Daniel Perez was found by joggers in the Concho River, the final toxicology and autopsy reports have been released, indicating no evidence of foul play and trace amounts of drugs and alcohol in the teenager’s system.

The reports arrived in San Angelo this week and were conducted at two different facilities: the autopsy at South Plains Forensic Pathology in Lubbock and the toxicology report returned from NMS Labs in Pennsylvania.

According to the autopsy report, which was conducted by Dr. Thomas R. Parsons, Perez died of a fresh water drowning. 

“There is no cutaneous evidence of trauma on the surface of the body,” the report states.

When Perez went missing on April 28, testimonies of those who had last seen him near the low water crossing on Irving St. indicated that he had become aggressive around 5:30 p.m. and began exhibiting seizure-like behavior.

Witnesses present at that time told police that Perez approached the banks of the river intent on swimming, and refused to join his friends when they decided to leave. That was the last time anyone saw the boy alive. A full-blown search began the following afternoon when a missing persons report was filed at the police department.

After two days of search that included dragging the bottom of the river between the Celebration and Irving St. bridges, Perez’s body was found in the water by joggers on the morning of May 1, three to four feet off the banks near The Bosque.

In the interim between the missing persons report, the discovery of his body and today, rumors and speculation surrounding his death have circulated on social media and school campuses.

Allegations of foul play, gang violence, a video corroborating an assault, and even subsequent crimes alleged to have been committed in connection to the teenager’s death have surfaced time and again, many seeking answers in the absence of an official report.

“The rumors of him being beaten or hit…the important thing in [the autopsy report] is that there is no apparent or obvious trauma to the body,” said Lt. David Howard of the San Angelo police Criminal Investigations Division. “There is no video of anything that we’ve been made aware of. And we’ve been in contact with the family on this subject—close contact with the family—from the beginning.” 

Prior to the release of the final reports, rumors of foul play in the Daniel Perez case again began to circulate when sources close to the family asserted that Perez’s mother, Michelle Gilbert Perez, had been the victim of an aggravated kidnapping on Sept. 22.

While police have not confirmeded the woman as the suspect, word spread quickly via social media that she had been unlawfully restrained by suspect Jimmy Perez at a residence in the 700 block of Preusser Street.

The kidnapping, it was purported, had been the result of the suspect’s alleged gang affiliation, and that same gang was cited as being involved in the death of Daniel Perez.

Due to the lack of evidence relating to trauma in the autopsy, a tie to gang violence in the Daniel Perez case has been ruled out. Whether or not Michelle Gilbert Perez was kidnapped in relation to gang-affiliated matters has not been indicated in investigative reports.

Despite the official cause of death being listed as a drowning, many have asked how a physically fit 15-year-old boy drowned in water he could stand in, and why his friends left him in the water after he began exhibiting seizure-like behavior.

Those to last see him alive related to police that they believed he may have been under the influence of synthetic marijuana, and on the basis of these reports, the SAPD’s Nixle Alert listed Perez as endangered due to possible drug use.

Controversy surrounded the reports of Perez’s use of K2, a common name for synthetic marijuana, as soon as word hit the streets, and the toxicology report provides little information as to whether or not the teen was under the influence at the time of death.

Trace amounts of barbiturates, cannabinoids, alcohol and salicylates are listed in the analysis conducted by NMS Labs, however because Perez’s body was not found for three days, it is difficult to say what those measurements were at his time of death.

Dr. Robert Middleberg, who conducted the toxicology examination, could not be reached in reference to the results. His report does state, however, that “Examination of the specimen(s) submitted did not reveal any positive findings of toxicological significance by procedures outlined in the accompanying analysis summary”.

Blood synthetic cannibinoid levels could not be tested, however, due to body decomposition.

Daniel Perez was missing for nearly three days before his body was found at approximately 6:57 a.m. on May 1, 2014. Up until now, no evidence has surfaced to suggest that his death was caused by foul play.