WYOMING, MI -- A man admitted he killed his girlfriend after the two argued, not long after she told him she wanted to see other people, court testimony showed.

Raul Perez, 43, told a detective they argued after her phone rang in the early morning hours of Oct. 26 in his apartment at 1484 44th St. SW.

"In his mind, the phone ringing was the other boyfriend calling," Wyoming police Detective Robert Robinson testified during a Thursday, Nov. 16 hearing.

"He was even convinced the boyfriend was possibly outside. In his mind, she was leaving to be with the other man," he testified.

Perez is accused in the strangling death of 31-year-old Karla Guadalupe-Magana, a mother of five children. He was ordered to stand trial Wednesday, Nov. 16 following a probable cause hearing.

Perez, just hours after the killing, told Robinson that "he wanted to kill her."

Testimony showed that Perez had consumed one full fifth of Bacardi rum earlier in the night and part of another bottle.

The killing happened just four days after he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Wyoming and lodged in jail for several hours.

The earlier incarceration caused controversy following Guadalupe-Magana's death because Perez is a twice-deported illegal alien.

Kent County Jail officials said they released him from custody on Oct. 22 because there was no request to hold him from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

But an ICE spokesperson said his agency did not receive notice of Perez's jailing until hours after his release.

During Tuesday's testimony, the Wyoming detective also said Perez admitted to arguing with Guadalupe-Magana over the drunken driving arrest. She had threatened to tell police that he used a fake name when he was taken into custody.

Perez's daughter, Kimberly Perez, also provided key testimony at the hearing.

She said her father called her about 4 a.m. Oct. 26 to tell her he killed someone.

"He's just telling me he loves me and he's sorry for not being there for me. He said 'I did something really bad.'" she testified.

Kimberly Perez said she didn't believe her father at first, but later called police when she saw his suitcase sitting outside of her apartment.

She ended up using a spare key to let officers inside her father's nearby apartment. They found him sleeping and Guadalupe-Magana dead in the bathroom, covered with a towel.