Guilty plea in murder case

A Thousand Palms man pleaded guilty today to killing his former girlfriend and was immediately sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Carl Richard Perdock, 47, pleaded guilty to one count of murder for the death of 33-year-old Arianna Villareal of Desert Hot Springs, whose body was found in a shallow grave in Sky Valley on Sept. 28, 2012.

Perdock also admitted to a gun use enhancement and was sentenced to an
additional 10 years in prison for that, according to John Hall of the Riverside
County District Attorney’s Office.

A felony count of assault with a gun and other sentence-enhancing allegations were dismissed, according to court records.

Around noon on Sept. 27, 2012, Villareal’s boyfriend, Robert McTaggart, drove to her residence, where Perdock answered the door with a shotgun in his hand and what looked like blood on his shirt.

Thirty minutes later, Perdock arrived at McTaggart’s residence with Villareal in the front passenger seat of his Jeep and a “sack” over her head, according to a declaration filed in support of a search warrant. The criminal complaint said Perdock used a shotgun in the killing.

McTaggart said that Perdock carried Villareal to a bed and “he then heard Perdock ask for his brass knuckles” before stabbing Villareal with a pair of scissors, according to the document prepared by Riverside County sheriff’s Investigator Isaac White.

“(Villareal) was bleeding, and was so injured she could not even speak,” White wrote. “(Her boyfriend) watched as Perdock straddled Villareal and struck her in the head several times with a closed fist, `like a cage fighter.”’

McTaggart alleged that Perdock “yelled statements like, `I’m going to kill you,”’ and the witness ran out of the residence to call 911.

According to the document prepared by White, Perdock told an investigator that he saw a man with a shotgun in Villareal’s house when he came over that day, and said the man fired at him, but missed, before running off. Villareal had a hole near her neck, according to Perdock, who said he took her to her boyfriend’s house to tend her wound and then drove her to Longvue Road — where her body was later found by authorities.

Perdock said he tried giving her CPR until he realized she was dead, then stuffed her body in a sleeping bag and buried her, according to White’s declaration.

“Perdock subsequently admitted to punching Villareal several times, and stabbing her with a pencil,” White alleged.

Sheriff’s Cpl. Angel Ramos said a man called the sheriff’s department the afternoon of Sept. 27 to report an assault with a deadly weapon and said someone was “making threatening statements and was depressed over the break-up with his ex-girlfriend.”

Deputies found blood in Villareal’s bedroom at her home on Hot Springs Road in Sky Valley, and further investigation led to a residence in the 22000 block of Longvue, where Perdock fled in a red Jeep Cherokee, breaking through a chain-link fence, according to White’s declaration.

Deputies gave chase, with a California Highway Patrol helicopter and K-9 officer joining in the pursuit and search that resulted in Perdock’s detainment about 4:30 that afternoon, Ramos said.

Perdock had what looked like blood and dirt on his clothes when taken into custody, according to the declaration, which says a detective found a shotgun and brass knuckles where Villareal’s body was found.