Cell phone audio captured sexual assault, death of missing girl

The teenage boyfriend of 15-year-old Karen Perez has been charged with murder, accused of sexually assaulting and then choking the girl and recording it on a cellphone, prosecutors said Wednesday, June 1, 2016. less The teenage boyfriend of 15-year-old Karen Perez has been charged with murder, accused of sexually assaulting and then choking the girl and recording it on a cellphone, prosecutors said Wednesday, June 1, ... more Photo: Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle Photo: Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Cell phone audio captured sexual assault, death of missing girl 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

The teenage boyfriend of a missing 15-year-old girl has been charged with murder, accused of sexually assaulting and then choking the girl and recording it on a cellphone, prosecutors said Wednesday.

In the cell phone recording with audio but no video, the girl, Karen Perez, can be heard protesting the sexual encounter then forcibly being choked, according to records read in court Wednesday.

RELATED: Body of missing teen found in South Houston

The chilling video details the girl shouting, "I don't want to, I told you I don't want to!" as she is being choked.

Confronted with the recordings, texts and other evidence, the teen was asked if he killed the girl and why, prosecutor said.

"Yes, I did," he said, according to the prosecutor. "That's all I'm saying."

The boy is a juvenile, under 17 years of age, and his name has not been released.

Prosecutors said cell phones recovered at the boy's home contained the recording as well as threatening text messages saying he would kill the girl if she didn't meet him to skip school on Friday.

Two other teens from the school accompanied the suspect and Perez to an abandoned apartment complex in South Houston around noon Friday. The rape apparently happened after the two other teens went back to school, court records show.

Perez was reported missing that day and the suspect's father drove the boy around the neighborhood to look for her.

When the boyfriend told his father, "She is not alive," the parent notified police and consented to a search of the home.

One of the teens who skipped school with the couple told police they went to an apartment in the abandoned complex in the 1600 block of Avenue N.

Investigators and Tim Miller of Texas EquuSearch said they found the girl's body inside a cabinet beneath a kitchen sink in a vacant apartment.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences is expected to perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death as well as formally identify the body.

The Pasadena Independent School District issued a statement Wednesday expressing sympathy to the girl's family. She was a ninth grade student at South Houston High School.

"Our deepest sympathy goes to Karen's family," according to the statement. "The student leaves behind a host of friends who will miss her greatly. As the South Houston High School family mourns the loss of this student, the campus and Pasadena ISD are doing everything we can to provide comfort and assistance to the family and to our students in this time of grief."

School officials said counselors were at the school.

brian.rogers@chron.com

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