No arrests or suspects named in 6-week-old homicide

Investigators waiting for crime lab test results for man found dead in girlfriend’s apartment

Just past midnight April 2, Barbara Perez called 911 and frantically told an emergency dispatcher that someone had “beat up” her boyfriend, 44-year-old James Fernandez. Police found the Dixon man dead when they arrived at the woman’s apartment on Calle Amanda in Santa Fe.

Perez told investigators Fernandez had stepped out of the house and was beaten by someone who also stole his wallet.

But the officers later found the wallet on a couch, Santa Fe police Detective Tony Trujillo said.

Investigators found blood stains on the living room floor around the area where Fernandez’s body was lying, as well as on the sofa, the kitchen floor and a counter, according to an affidavit for a search warrant.

“I can tell you right now there’s no indication anything happened outside of the apartment,” Trujillo said in an interview this week.

Police arrested 48-year-old Perez that night on a warrant stemming from a 2009 drunken-driving case, court and police records show, but nearly six weeks later, no one has been charged in Fernandez’s slaying, and no suspects have been named.

Trujillo, the lead investigator in the case, said conflicting statements from Perez and her adult son, who also was in the home that night, have delayed an investigation into the homicide case, preventing prosecutors from making an arrest and filing charges. An autopsy has confirmed that Fernandez’s death was a homicide, and that he died from injuries to his stomach that caused internal bleeding.

But none of the witnesses will say who killed Fernandez, a man who neighbors said was kind and respectful, and walked with a limp.

Now, investigators are waiting for crime lab test results on bloodstains and other items seized from the apartment so they can reconstruct Fernandez’s violent death.

A court document says officers responding to the call took swabs of blood from various parts of the apartment, including a blanket, carpeting, the kitchen floor and a kitchen counter. The document says police also seized a bat from a laundry closet.

Trujillo said the crime lab test results should help them determine what weapon was used to kill Fernandez.

“We have all these conflicting stateDr.

ments, so we’re depending a lot on the forensic stuff,” he said.

After investigators found Fernandez’s wallet inside the apartment, Perez changed her story, saying Fernandez had fallen, Trujillo said. During a police interview at the station, he added, she refused to give officers a formal statement.

Perez’s son, who lives in the home with her, told police the couple had been arguing while he was in his bedroom. His mother, who was “extremely intoxicated,” may have injured Fernandez, he said, but he didn’t witness any violence because he wasn’t in the room. At the time, he didn’t know Fernandez had died.

The only other person in the apartment at the time was the son’s 10-year-old niece, who was in another bedroom. Trujillo said officers have interviewed her, but he declined to comment on her statements.

Investigators also have scheduled interviews with people who say Perez told them what happened that night, Trujillo said.

Police released 911 calls about Fernandez’s death earlier this week, but they offer few clues. In one call, Perez told a dispatcher that someone got “beat up” and needed an ambulance. “Help us, please help us,” she said before the call was dropped.

In another call, Perez said, “I can’t do this by myself.”

The son is “pretty much saying that whatever happened to Mr. Fernandez happened while he was in the bedroom,” Trujillo said, “so it couldn’t be anybody else except his mom, but he won’t come out and say that.”