police say suspect and victim related, couldn't stand each other

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — Police documents reveal that the man found dead in a Lower Valley canal and the man investigators believe shot and killed him were related, lived together, but couldn’t stand each other.

Benjamin Jacob Perez, 32, was arrested and booked into the El Paso County Downtown Jail on Saturday, as investigators believe he shot and killed Rogelio Guillermo Suarez, 19, after Suarez’s body was found on March 3, in a canal in the Lower Valley, on the 7500 block of Green Valley Place, near the home where the two lived.

According to police documents, Perez and Suarez were related as Perez’s dad told investigators Suarez was his daughter-in-law’s son.

Furthermore, Perez’s father told investigators that the two lived in the home but did not get along, saying that while they never got into a physical fight, the two could not be around each other.

As a result, Perez’s father explained to investigators that since Suarez started living at the home, Perez would sleep inside a 2005 grey Chevrolet Aveo that was junked outside the home.

The police documents also reveal that Perez, the suspect, was there when Suarez’s body was discovered.

According to the documents, a woman walking her dog in the canal called 911 to report that she had found a body.

The woman told investigators that she was in the canal when a man alerted her that her dog was biting or eating something, telling her,

I think it’s a body.

That man alerting, was later identified as: Perez, the suspect.

The police documents also spell out what Suarez was up to before he was murdered and how investigators came to the conclusion that Perez was their suspect.

Perez’s father told that he had last seen Suarez on Feb. 27, when he gave him $40 to go to the store and get groceries, and never came back.

That was four days before Suarez’s body was discovered near the home, shot multiple times, lying face down in a dried out canal, covered with a thin plastic tarp. with the groceries strewn about in the canal, blood splattered on the bags, the receipt still in his pocket, his cellphone shattered and his sweater ripped “possibly indicating a physical struggle” investigators deduce.

In the police documents, investigators tracked Suarez’s movements through surveillance video, describing how they could see Suarez– wearing the same clothes he was discovered in– carrying the groceries– the same one found in the canal near his body– while talking and texting on his cellphone, eventually losing him when he enters the canal.

Ultimately investigators said they obtained a warrant for Perez’s arrest after they found a black gun– Perez’s father had told them his son had a gun and a knife in the car he slept in– which was loaded with the same bullets that were used to kill Suarez, and a fingerprint belonging to Perez on the victim’s cellphone screen.

KFOX14/CBS4 spoke with Suarez’s grandmother, Jacqueline Reyes, who described him as “a good boy” and said he was “a young boy, like any other kid. Happy. Cheerful.”

She said Suarez was a constant source of support for her.

“If I was sick, he was the one who would always stay with me. If I came home late from work and fell asleep in the car, he would help me inside,” she said.

She also recalled the plans he talked about for the future. “He would always tell me, ‘Mom, we’re going to buy a beautiful two-story house with a porch in the front,’” Reyes said.

Relatives said he had no known trouble with the law, no reported drug use, and was living a normal life with his girlfriend and family.

Jail records show Perez is facing a murder charge and, as of Tuesday afternoon, he remains jailed under a $300,000 bond.

police say suspect and victim related, couldn’t stand each other

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