Crime & Safety
Redondo Beach Man Guilty of Murder
Tony Lopez Perez, 28, is found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Cori Desmond.
Redondo Beach resident Tony Lopez Perez is guilty of first-degree murder, a jury decided Wednesday.
Perez was accused of strangling and smothering 28-year-old Cori Desmond, a Manhattan Beach bartender, while trying to rape her outside a bar in Redondo Beach in February 2009. Prosecutors believed Perez dumped Desmond's body in the San Bernardino Mountains.
According to the Associated Press, Perez said he panicked after finding Desmond on the sidewalk, and when he checked to see if she was alive, she screamed. Perez said he covered her mouth and throat to quiet her and accidentally suffocated her.
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The Daily Breeze reported Wednesday that the jury took less than a day to reach its verdict.
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