Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Police Tried To Destroy Him - The Thomas Perez Jr. story

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

This is the story of Thomas Perez Jr. and his interrogation with the Fontana California police department that went horribly wrong.

This is your fix. I am your host, Stasi Schroeder. Welcome to Tell Me Lies, the official podcast. What's the most unhinged thing of season three? Stephen, because he's so evil. I do think he is misunderstood. You see everyone base consequences. It's intoxicating.

The writers just know how to trick you. There's always a twist in this show. Tell Me Lies, the official podcast, January 6th, and stream the new season of Tell Me Lies, January 13, on Hulu, and Hulu on Disney Plus. So one night, this guy, his name's Thomas, and Thomas is chilling at home with his dad. And dad, he decides to take the dog out for a walk and go get their mail. Like, I'll be back soon, son. A few minutes later, Thomas notices the dog is back in the house, but dad isn't with him.

So Thomas is like, that's weird. Wonder where he went. Then a day passes, and dad still hasn't come back home. And Thomas hasn't heard from him. So he gets worried. And he calls the police and he lets them know his dad is missing. And then officers drive over to Thomas's house and they talk to him about it a little bit. And they start getting suspicious of Thomas. So they bring him in and they question him. And while he's there being questioned, police go and they search his house.

And there, in his house, police find a potential blood stain on the stairs. Plus, the police dog signals that there could be human remains somewhere in the house. Meanwhile, back at the station, they tell Thomas about the evidence they just found at his house. And they start pushing him to confess and just admit that he unalived his dad. And Thomas is like, but I didn't unalive anyone. But police, they don't believe him. And they continue interrogating him all night long. Here's the thing about Thomas, though.

He's got some mental stuff going on, and he normally takes medication for anxiety and depression. But because he's been with police for a while now, he hasn't been able to take it. So he begs them to give him some of his medication, but they don't. They just ignore his requests. Then one officer starts suggesting that maybe it was the medication that caused Thomas to snap and unalive his dad. And they keep pushing him to just show them where the body is. And at one point they even put him in a patrol car and they drive him around trying to get him to show them where the dad's body is. And this whole time, while they're driving him around, Thomas keeps telling him he didn't unalive anyone and he's pleading with them to take him to the hospital because he feels sick and he needs his meds.

But still, police just ignore his pleas and they take him back to the station. And poor Thomas, he's confused and his medication withdrawal is hitting and he's starting to. to have a very obvious mental breakdown. But even still, officers just don't believe him. And that is when they decide to bring his dog in. And they're like, look at your dog. Don't you see how traumatized she is? Because she watched you unalive your own dad?

And they tell him that the dog is so mentally messed up from what he did that they're going to have to euthanize her. And this makes Thomas feel even worse. But still, he maintains. He maintains that he had nothing to do with his dad's disappearance. And after 17 hours of interrogation, police just can't get a confession out of him. But they don't give up.

They decide to change tactics and lie. And they tell Thomas they've just found his dad's body and that it's all covered in stab wounds. And they tell him he just doesn't remember unaliving his dad because the medication he takes made him forget that he did it. And at this point, Thomas is so mentally worn down and he's just exhausted. And finally, he looks at them and he says yes. And he admits to unaliving his dad. And officers, they're like, sweet, because they just got their guy. And so they leave the room.

They're done. But Thomas isn't done. He's there and he takes his shoelace out of his shoe and he ties it into a slip knot and he attaches it to the desk and he puts his head into the loop and he tries to unalive himself. But lucky for him, the shoelace breaks before anything bad happens to him. But police, they hear the commotion,

and they rush in, and they see what's happening. And finally, they're like, okay, we're just gonna send you to the psychiatric hospital, and there, at the hospital, they lock Thomas in a psych ward. I mean, God, this has really been the worst day of his life. Until... At this point, 30 hours have passed since Thomas

originally called to report his dad missing. And that's when suddenly, bam, police get a phone call. And it's Thomas's sister. And she's like, uh, we actually found dad alive. It turns out he was never missing. And this is all just a big miscommunication. So here's what really happened to dad. When dad left the house that night to walk the dog

and get the mail, he also went over to visit his girlfriend. And he didn't have his friend. have his cell phone with him. Then later he went to the airport to fly to Northern California to visit his daughter. I guess he just didn't tell anyone. So he's been alive this whole time. He just forgot his cell phone. And I have no idea what the alleged bloodstain on the stairs was. But the point is, Thomas didn't unalive his dad. Here's the messed up thing though. After police get that call from Thomas's sister, they don't immediately go and get Thomas out of the psych ward. They leave him in there for three more days.

And during those three days, the poor guy is still convinced that both his dad and his dog are dead. Anyway, eventually they let him out, and he finds out his dad is okay, and he gets his dog out of the pound, and he sues the fuck out of the police department. And ultimately, he gets a settlement of around $900,000. Good for him.