Trial Testimony Focuses On Deaths And Life-Insurance Payouts

Feb. 10--One by one, people who lived and moved with Daniel Perez from state to state over the years died of what appeared to be accidents, resulting in large life insurance payouts, according to testimony Tuesday.

One of those who died was Patricia Hughes, a 26-year-old wife and mother. Her death in 2003, in what was first thought to be an accidental drowning in a pool where she, Perez and others lived on North Oliver, led to an insurance payout to her husband of $1.24 million. Then he died later, in South Dakota, resulting in a payout of about $730,000, according to testimony.

And there were other deaths and other payouts -- with Perez as a common denominator -- prosecutors are seeking to show.

Perez, 55, is on trial in Sedgwick County District Court, charged with first-degree murder in Hughes' death as well as dozens of other alleged crimes. According to testimony, he was the leader of a commune, the one who possessed expensive sports cars and trucks.

When Perez and others in his communal family lived on North Oliver, the person who decided who was insured on life insurance policies and who were the beneficiaries was Perez, Bill Hatton testified Tuesday. Hatton was their insurance agent.

Perez directed everything, Hatton said.

In other testimony Tuesday, Hughes' mother, Rosalinda Gomez, said she had talked with her daughter three days before her death and that her daughter was planning to move back to Texas.