Post by HeadMarshal on Jul 1, 2021 6:10:50 GMT -5
Photo Credits: Newspapers.com & Archived South Lake Tahoe Most Wanted website
DOB: 10/21/1977
Current Age: 46 (As of August 24, 2024)
Location of Crime: South Lake Tahoe, California
Date of Crime: March 26, 2001
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Jose Rodriguez-Perez is wanted for the homicide of 11-year old Claudia Torres
Claudia had went to a party that was being hosted by Jose. Despite Claudia's age, Jose is accused of providing cocaine and alcohol to the sixth grader. After ingesting the cocaine, Claudia suffered life-threatening side-effects. Jose and a group of teenagers dropped her off at a hospital without identification at around 1:30 am. Tragically, Claudia died around 30 minutes later despite the efforts of doctors to save her life.
The day after Claudia died, Jose was interviewed. He was not arrested because toxicology reports had not come back yet. When the results were in, an arrest warrant was issued for Jose, who presumably fled to Mexico.
Claudia was described as a good girl for most of her life, according to an article found in Newspapers.com. However, she fell in with the wrong crowd at school and her life started a downhill spiral. Her parents tried everything that was legal to protect their daughter. They were wanting to leave South Lake Tahoe but could not get out of the town fast enough.
Based on crime location, it is advised to contact the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department division in South Lake Tahoe at 530-573-3000 if you have any information on Jose Rodriguez-Perez's whereabouts.
Moderator Note: If you have any news-related updates on this case, or additional vital statistics (DOB, height, weight, etc.), please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
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Thoughts? As of today, July 1, 2021, there is still an active Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution warrant for Jose Rodriguez-Perez in PACER. It was issued on May 9, 2001 and has had no movement since being issued, so we know for sure that Jose is still at large.
A lot of things to go over here. The first is that I know in cases like this, some people engage in what is called "victim-shaming". Let's make it clear that the only person who should be "shamed" here is Jose Rodriguez-Perez. It doesn't take much brain power to know that giving cocaine to an 11-year old is a REALLY horrible idea. As with other cases, people who supply fatal doses of drugs are liable for the death of the person who died.
Claudia Torres was not the first child who had issues after falling in with the wrong crowd at school, and will not be the last sadly. I am in no way blaming any member of her family for her death. This is a tragedy in every sense of the word.
Finally, America's Most Wanted was apparently looking into airing this case, according to a December 2001 article that I read. However, I do not recall ever reading about this case on the old site, otherwise I'm sure it would have been brought up here sooner. So I'm concluding that it did not make the show unfortunately.
- www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/americas-most-wanted-show-considering-airing-torres-case/
- Newspapers.com articles
