{"id":29997,"date":"2025-10-31T21:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T21:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/29997\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T21:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T21:43:10","slug":"dna-solves-2009-lubbock-cold-case-murder-of-perez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/29997\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA Solves 2009 Lubbock Cold Case Murder of Perez"},"content":{"rendered":"

16 years ago, a man in Lubbock <\/a>was\u00a0murdered\u00a0on a night out on the town. After more than a decade and a half, police have finally learned the identity of the cold-blooded killer.<\/p>\n

2009 Murder of Christopher Perez<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0a recent\u00a0news release<\/a> from the Lubbock Police Department (LPD)<\/a>, Christopher Perez was spending time at a bar in town on July 31, 2009.\u00a0At roughly 1:58 in the morning, LPD responded to a call at the very same bar.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0Lubbock, Texas, Gets an ‘F’ for Crime\u2014See Why<\/a><\/p>\n

When the cops arrived, they discovered Perez’s body. He had died after being stabbed multiple times by an unknown assailant inside the bar located at the 500 block of E 34th Street<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Witnesses were immediately questioned, and police learned valuable information that set them on the path of justice. LPD learned that the culprit was a Hispanic male between 35 and 45 years old.<\/p>\n

DNA Leads to Surprising Twist<\/p>\n

DNA was also collected from the scene and sent to LPD’s Forensics Unit<\/a> who passed it along to the Texas Department of Public Safety for further evaluation.<\/p>\n

A DNA hit was finally made, bringing closure to Perez’s family after 16 years. In a shocking twist, the match, 52-year-old Mexican national Javier Pando<\/a> died in Mexico some time after the murder.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0Texas Autopsy Process Explained Step-by-Step<\/a>DNA Matches in Texas<\/p>\n

Perez’s murderer was able to be caught thanks to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS)<\/a>. Created back in 1995, this system helps law enforcement across the state identify criminals whenever DNA is present at the crime scene\/last known location.<\/p>\n

The main purposes<\/a> that CODIS is used for include identifying human remains, locating missing persons, identification research, and DNA lab quality control.<\/p>\n

13 Notorious Serial Killers Linked to Texas <\/p>\n

Many consider America’s first serial killer came from Austin and may have left to become the world’s most famous killer.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Michael Gibson \/ Townsquare Media<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas Inmates Stitch Love and Redemption Behind Bars<\/p>\n

Inside the William P. Hobby Unit, inmates are learning new skills and giving back by sewing handmade quilts for children in Texas foster care.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Lori Crofford<\/p>\n

Biggest Lawsuits in Texas History<\/p>\n

Here is a look at the biggest lawsuit payouts in Texas history with some of the details surrounding the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Billy Jenkins<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"16 years ago, a man in Lubbock was\u00a0murdered\u00a0on a night out on the town. After more than a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169,2630],"class_list":["post-29997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}