Crime & Safety
Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Stabbing Stepson, Leaving Him to Die in Agricultural Field
Decision handed down on Thursday in Monterey County Superior Court.
A 30-year-old Salinas man was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his 13-year-old stepson and leaving the boy to die in an agricultural field in unincorporated Monterey County last year.
Severino Perez told investigators he had suspected his live-in girlfriend of cheating. In an attempt to exact his revenge on her, on the night of Oct. 16, Perez invited his stepson, who was 12 at the time, to go out for tacos with the intention of killing him, prosecutors said.
Perez and his 26-year-old brother, Domingo, took the boy to a remote area of Monterey County, where he stabbed his stepson with a knife 20 times in his upper body, and then took off, leaving the boy on Chualar Canyon Road.
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Later that night, California Highway Patrol officers found Domingo Perez walking along U.S. Highway 101 at about the same time that Severino Perez called Salinas police and reported that his stepson had been kidnapped from his home in Salinas.
Severino Perez had wrecked his truck in a ditch at Old Stage Road and Chualar Canyon Road, about one-quarter of a mile from the field where they left the boy.
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Police determined the kidnapping claim was a false report after a farmer found the boy on Chualar Canyon Road around 4 a.m., six hours after he was left there.
Deputies responded and found the boy in a weak condition. They described him as being in severe pain and dehydrated and said his internal organs were visible due to the large amount of stab wounds on his body.
The boy told deputies he used his shoe as a pillow and covered up with his shirt throughout the night as he waited for help to arrive. The boy was airlifted to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he underwent multiple surgeries until his release on Nov. 11.
On Thursday, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Mark Hood sentenced Severino Perez to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Domingo Perez was sentenced to six years in jail for failing to intervene in the stabbing or alerting authorities to the boy's whereabouts.
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