Jealousy, Rage Sparked Killing, Court Told

A 21-year-old woman and her sometime-boyfriend could be ordered to stand trial for murder in a femme fatale case in which a high school wrestler was allegedly lured to a local lovers lane where he was shot and then set on fire.

Diego Armando Gonzalez-Sanchez, 17, was expecting a night of romance when he agreed to meet Veronica Paz on a hilltop in Orange Park Acres, but Paz and Brandan Dante Perry had already plotted his death, prosecutors and investigators alleged Friday during a preliminary hearing.

A decision is expected Monday in Orange County Superior Court on whether the two will be ordered to stand trial for murder.

Gonzalez-Sanchez’s body was discovered Nov. 9 at a long-abandoned construction site atop the hillside community by two students who were cutting class. He had been shot twice in the head and then set ablaze in what authorities said was a botched attempt to conceal his identity.

Paz and Perry listened Friday as detectives described a crime fed by jealously, rage and infatuation.

Investigators testified that the two had planned Gonzalez-Sanchez’s death for months, revising schemes and searching for sites. Perry and Gonzalez-Sanchez, the detectives said, had a feud based in part on their mutual fascination with Paz.

Perry, and Paz -- friends since middle school -- spent at least two months developing their plan, investigators said. Perry solicited help from friends, searched for a gun and practiced shooting while Paz looked for a “good place” to lure Gonzalez-Sanchez, they said. Paz bought the ammunition at a Wal-Mart and later arranged the rendezvous with Gonzalez-Sanchez, they said.

In September, the investigators said, Perry saw Gonzalez-Sanchez with Paz at a party and the two argued. Gonzalez-Sanchez allegedly made racial slurs and one of his friends reportedly pulled a gun on Perry.

Seeking retaliation, Perry bought a pistol from a friend and ordered Paz to continue to develop a relationship with Gonzalez-Sanchez so “he could set him up later,” said Sheriff’s Investigator Thomas Dove.

On Nov. 9, Paz arranged to meet Gonzalez-Sanchez at a corner in Orange, investigators said. She drove him to a dark street in Orange Park Acres that local high school students use as a meeting spot, according to testimony, and Perry had already driven there as planned, waiting in his Mercedes.

At the top of the road, investigators said, Paz parked the car and turned off the lights. They kissed and crawled into the back seat. Within minutes, Perry pulled alongside and ordered Gonzalez-Sanchez out of the vehicle. The two men struggled. When Paz got out of the car, she told investigators, she saw Gonzalez-Sanchez walking backward with his hands up.

Paz told police she closed her eyes as Perry raised the gun. She heard one shot, opened her eyes and saw Gonzalez-Sanchez’s body on the pavement, testified Sheriff’s Investigator Dan Salcedo. Perry stood over him and fired another shot, and then drove away, Salcedo said.

Paz followed Perry to a restaurant, where Perry called a friend, seeking advice on what to do with the body, investigators said. He then grabbed a fuel can from the trunk of his Mercedes, got into Paz’s car and ordered her to drive back to the crime scene, where he doused Gonzalez-Sanchez’s body with gasoline and set it on fire, investigators testified.

Unsatisfied with the results, detectives said, he again called a friend for advice and, this time drove to the home of Kimberly Gomez. Her 16-year-old brother answered the door. “I need a favor,” Perry allegedly said. “I need you to help me get rid of something -- a body.” Paz, Perry and the boy headed back to the crime scene, poured more gasoline on the body and set it ablaze again, detectives said.

Paz’s attorney, Bill Kelly, said the slaying was not planned. It was Gonzalez-Sanchez’s idea to visit the street in Orange Park Acres and when Perry showed up, she thought the men would only be fighting, Kelly said.

“I wasn’t trying to set up no murder. It wasn’t supposed to happen,” the attorney said Paz told him. Paz was “frozen ... scared to death” after the shooting, Kelly said.