A woman and her suspected hired gunman accused of killing her ex-boyfriend in his Murrieta apartment in what authorities said was a financially motivated conspiracy were charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and other offenses.
Ignacia Cadaos Perkins, 40, of Murrieta and James Lawrence Petri, 43, of Birmingham, Alabama, allegedly killed 30-year-old Aaron Parr last month.
Along with murder, both defendants are charged with special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and killing for financial gain. Petri is additionally charged with sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
Perkins, who is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside, was slated to make her initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
Petri is being held without bail in the Jefferson County Detention Center in Bessemer, Alabama, pending extradition to California.
Murrieta Police Department Capt. Jeremy Durrant said Parr was found dead on the morning of Jan. 13 in his residence at the Arbors at California Apartments on Jackson Avenue.
Patrol officers were summoned after discovery of the body and immediately identified signs of foul play, turning the investigation over to homicide detectives, Durrant said.
“Detectives worked tirelessly to gather evidence and pursue all available leads to identify those responsible, and because of their investigative efforts … the two individuals were arrested in connection with this murder,” the captain said.
He said Parr and Perkins were involved romantically at one time, but there was no word on the duration of the relationship or how it ended. The police spokesman and court documents indicated that the homicide was motivated by money, but specific details were not disclosed.
According to Durrant, Perkins and Petri were known to one another, but nothing else was divulged about how the woman allegedly enlisted his help in carrying out the alleged attack on the victim.
Perkins, who was taken into custody without incident Thursday night, has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County. Petri was also arrested uneventfully last week by Birmingham Police Department personnel, who executed a warrant signed by a Riverside County judge. Background information on him was unavailable.
Durrant credited the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and Birmingham Police Department with providing vital assistance throughout the investigation.