Inset left: Thomas Perales (Westminster Police Department). Inset right: Annette Valdez (GoFundMe). Background: The scene of the Westminster police officers investigating a "suspicious" death near Willowbrook Park in Colorado (Westminster Police Department).
A man in Colorado killed the mother of his children and then pushed her body around in a shopping cart for days before disposing of the remains in a garbage can, authorities say.
Thomas Perales, 38, has been charged with first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body, domestic violence as a habitual offender, and two counts of violation of a protection order, the 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office in Colorado announced.
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On Dec. 4, the Westminster Police Department said it was investigating a "suspicious" death near Willowbrook Park in Westminster, a northern suburb of Denver. Annette Valdez, 37, was identified as the victim, and authorities announced they were investigating her death as a homicide.
Valdez's body was found in a trash can in the park, according to local outlets such as CBS affiliate KMVT. They believe she died up to six days before her body was found.
On Dec. 5, police arrested Perales, reportedly the last person to be seen with her. The defendant is Valdez's ex-boyfriend and the father of her children.
Perales, who was homeless, allegedly had been "pushing her around in a shopping cart to get her from place to place" before telling a witness he left her by a creek, leading to the discovery of the body. The defendant allegedly told police upon being arrested that he killed Valdez and then "paraded her around."
It is unclear what the victim's cause of death was.
Adam Larson, Valdez's brother, indicated his sister was the victim of years of domestic abuse.
"We tried so much to get her away from him, and every single time she went right back to him," he told KMVT. "All she could say is, 'That's my kid's father.'"
"I had a feeling it was him," Larson added.
The most recent investigation into domestic violence occurred after Valdez called her mother as she looked at Perales through a Ring camera, according to authorities. The defendant was reportedly trying to break into her apartment, damaging the door, and rubbing paint on the camera.
Perales had just been released from jail on Nov. 21, and Valdez's family saw her death as preventable and a result of the system failing.
"She didn't have the resources that she needed to be able to feel that safety," Analisa Larson, Adam Larson's wife, told area Fox affiliate KDVR. "I think they hand you a piece of paper and say, 'here is a protection order' … well what do you do with that when he keeps coming back?"
Valdez is remembered in a GoFundMe as having been "a beloved daughter, sister, mother, and friend, taken from us far too soon due to domestic violence."
"Our family is devastated beyond words, struggling to come to terms with this unimaginable tragedy," the fundraiser goes on. "Annette was a light in our lives—her kindness, laughter, and love touched everyone who knew her."
