Wichita Falls, TX — More than five years after Johnny Perez was found shot to death inside his apartment, Wichita Falls Police Department detectives have arrested Daniel Sauceda on a murder charge following a multi-year cold case investigation aided by advances in digital forensic technology.
Sauceda was arrested Wednesday, September 2, in Wichita Falls for the murder of Perez, according to WFPD.
The case dates to July 15, 2021, when officers were called to the Avalon Meadows apartment complex at 2610 Iowa Park Road for a welfare check after Perez had not been heard from for several days.
Perez was found sitting in a chair with gunshot wounds to the back of his head and right thigh area. Detectives recovered a spent .40-caliber shell casing behind the chair, but Perez's cellphone and the weapon used in the killing were not found at the scene.
An autopsy determined his death was a homicide.
Investigators obtained Perez's phone records and identified Sauceda as one of his most frequent contacts leading up to his death. Police said Sauceda was interviewed several times in the days following the killing and allegedly provided different accounts about his involvement.
The investigation gained new momentum after WFPD detectives became certified in 2024 to use CellHawk, technology that allows investigators to analyze call-detail records and digital location evidence.
According to WFPD, investigators mapped the movements of Perez's and Sauceda's phones and determined both devices connected to the same cell towers on the night of the murder and appeared to travel away from Perez's residence together.
Detectives re-examined Sauceda's phone in March 2026 using newer digital forensic recovery methods and said they recovered his web search history from the period before Perez's body was discovered.
Police reported finding 24 crime-related searches, including a search for “Johnny Perez Obituary” that investigators said was made before officers discovered Perez's body.
When detectives interviewed Sauceda again in March, police said he could not explain why the two phones appeared to be traveling together away from Perez's apartment or why the obituary search allegedly occurred before Perez was found.
On September 2, detectives secured an arrest warrant for Sauceda on a murder charge and took him into custody in Wichita Falls.
The charge is an allegation. Sauceda is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.