Overview
- A jury on Jan. 6 found Paul Allen Perez, 63, guilty on four murder counts and one count of assault on a child under 8 resulting in death.
- Prosecutors said the killings occurred between 1992 and 2001 across central and northern California.
- The investigation was revived after a fisherman found an infant in a weighted cooler near Woodland in 2007, and a 2019 familial DNA match identified the child as Nikko Lee Perez and tied paternity to Perez.
- Authorities report only two of the five children's remains have been recovered, with three still missing.
- Perez faces life without parole at an April 6 sentencing, and the children's mother pleaded guilty to child endangerment and testified for the prosecution.