25 March 2017 :

A Riverside County jury recommended the death penalty for David Rey Contreras, 29, Hispanic. The man was convicted of 3 counts of murder in the random slayings of a man and 2 women in the Perris-Nuevo area. Contreras is scheduled to return before Superior Court Judge John Monterosso on May 12 for his sentence. During the penalty phase, the defense argued that mental illness played a role in the slayings and that unusual behavior Contreras had exhibited before and after the murders was the result of paranoid schizophrenia. The 1st victim, Jose Apreza, 53, was killed on Dec. 29, 2012 while taking his dog out for a walk. Maria Gonzalez, 51, and her daughter, Consuelo Gonzalez, 25, also were on a walk near their home when they were stabbed repeatedly Feb. 4, 2013. When charges were filed in August 2013, then-Riverside County sheriff's homicide Lt. Joe Borja noted that the law enforcement definition for a serial killer is 3 victims or more.