The Annette Valdez case is the November 2025 killing of a 37-year-old Northglenn mother of three by her former partner, Thomas Lee Perales, one week after an Adams County judge released him on probation for kicking in her apartment door with a knife. Her death exposed years of unheeded warning signs and led Colorado to pass a law requiring police to conduct lethality assessments on domestic violence calls.
What Happened on Thanksgiving 2025
Valdez was last seen alive on November 28, 2025. According to the arrest affidavit, Perales, 38, told detectives the two argued that evening, that he placed his hand over her mouth multiple times and held her in a headlock, that he “blacked out,” and that he later found her unresponsive.19NEWS. Suspect Released From Jail a Week Before Woman Went Missing
A relative who spoke with Valdez by phone that day heard a man yelling in the background, identified the voice as Perales’s, and said Valdez told her she was “scared.” Her phone stopped sharing its location, and she never returned to work.2Denver7. Man Accused of Killing Woman, Putting Her Body in Trash Can, Has Been Formally Charged
Her father filed a missing persons report on December 1. Family members went to her apartment and found the door unlocked, her keys on the ground outside, her shoes still inside, and her phone on the bed.19NEWS. Suspect Released From Jail a Week Before Woman Went Missing
On December 4, at about 3:30 p.m., Westminster police received a 911 call reporting a body inside a trash can in the 12400 block of North Delaware Street, in a wooded area near the Tanglewood Trail system close to Willowbrook Park. Perales admitted, according to the affidavit, that he had taken a trash can from behind a Safeway to remove the body from the apartment. Witnesses reported seeing him move a body wrapped in blankets through the area, and her brother said witnesses saw Perales pushing her body in a shopping cart over several days.2Denver7. Man Accused of Killing Woman, Putting Her Body in Trash Can, Has Been Formally Charged The Adams County Coroner’s Office identified the body on December 5 after an autopsy that confirmed injuries to her neck consistent with trauma sustained before death.3Broomfield Enterprise. Westminster Homicide Near Willowbrook Park
Charges Against Thomas Perales
Perales was arrested in Thornton shortly after 11 a.m. on December 5 following a brief pursuit. During booking, according to the affidavit, he told an officer, “You know I killed my wife and paraded her around?” He also told an acquaintance he had left her body where it was found and planned “suicide by cop.”2Denver7. Man Accused of Killing Woman, Putting Her Body in Trash Can, Has Been Formally Charged
On December 10, 2025, the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed the following charges in Adams County District Court, case number 2025CR003334:4Adams and Broomfield District Attorney’s Office. 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office Files First-Degree Murder Charge Against Thomas Perales
- First-degree murder, a class 1 felony
- Tampering with a deceased human body, a class 3 felony
- Domestic violence, habitual offender, a class 5 felony
- Violation of a protection order, a class 1 misdemeanor, two counts
The Release One Week Before Her Death
On October 24, 2025, Northglenn police arrested Perales after he tried to force open Valdez’s apartment door with a knife and kicked it in. Officers found the deadbolt damaged and the peephole and Ring camera covered in red paint. He was charged with domestic violence, violation of a protection order, criminal mischief, and obstructing a peace officer.5New York Post. Colorado Man Thomas Perales Allegedly Killed Ex, Pushed Body Around in Shopping Cart
On November 21, an Adams County judge sentenced Perales to 12 months of probation and released him from jail. On November 25, surveillance video captured him removing a Ring doorbell camera from Valdez’s apartment.2Denver7. Man Accused of Killing Woman, Putting Her Body in Trash Can, Has Been Formally Charged Three days later, she was dead.
A Documented Pattern Going Back Years
Court records showed multiple domestic violence cases involving Perales going back to at least 2011.69NEWS. Westminster Family Speaks Out After Mother of Three Killed Valdez’s family put the total at 15 prior cases over more than a decade.7KDVR. Family of Annette Marie Valdez Says System Failed Her Police records showed 67 calls to Valdez’s apartment in the two years before her death for trespassing, disturbances, unwanted parties, welfare checks, protection order violations, and domestic violence. Nine of those calls specifically involved domestic violence.19NEWS. Suspect Released From Jail a Week Before Woman Went Missing Perales, who had been homeless for at least two years, repeatedly violated protection orders issued for Valdez and her children.5New York Post. Colorado Man Thomas Perales Allegedly Killed Ex, Pushed Body Around in Shopping Cart
What Valdez’s Family Said
Her brother, Adam Larson, told reporters, “We’ve tried so much to get her away from him.”19NEWS. Suspect Released From Jail a Week Before Woman Went Missing Another family member, Analisa Larson, described the limits of the paperwork: “They hand you a piece of paper and say here is a protection order — well what do you do with that when he keeps coming back?”7KDVR. Family of Annette Marie Valdez Says System Failed Her The family criticized what they described as Perales’s release on a personal recognizance bond given his history, and called for stricter penalties for first-time domestic violence offenders and a state domestic violence offender registry.8KDVR. Expert: Colorado’s Domestic Violence Reform Push Aligns With Concerns Raised in Northglenn Mother’s Case A candlelight vigil was held behind Willowbrook Park, and a GoFundMe was set up for her three children and memorial expenses.9Yahoo News. Family of Annette Marie Valdez Says System Failed Her
The Colorado Law Her Death Helped Pass
Valdez’s case fit a pattern the state was already tracking. The Colorado Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board found that 13% of perpetrators in fatal cases in 2024 were under criminal justice supervision when they killed. Perales was on probation.10CPR News. Colorado Domestic Violence Deaths Rise
In the 2026 legislative session, lawmakers introduced House Bill 26-1009, the Colorado Mandatory Lethality Assessment Act, co-sponsored by House Majority Leader Monica Duran, Representative Ryan Gonzalez, and Senators Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Byron Pelton.11Colorado Politics. Colorado Lawmakers Want Officers to Conduct Lethality Assessments When Responding to Domestic Violence Calls
The law requires every Colorado law enforcement agency to use a Lethality Assessment Protocol on domestic violence calls, a set of 11 evidence-based screening questions used to determine whether a victim is at high risk of being killed by an intimate partner. If the answers flag high risk, the officer must immediately contact a community-based victim advocate and offer the victim a chance to speak with them. Participation is voluntary for the victim. As of September 2025, only about 44 of Colorado’s more than 240 law enforcement agencies used any version of the protocol.12CPR News. Police Lethality Assessment Domestic Violence Bill
The House Judiciary Committee passed the bill unanimously on February 18, 2026.13Colorado House Democrats. Duran Bill to Bolster Protections for Victims of Domestic Violence Passes Committee The full House passed it 62-2 on March 9, the Senate passed it 32-2 on April 27, and Governor Jared Polis signed it into law on June 3, 2026. Under the law, the Colorado Attorney General must make lethality assessment training available by June 1, 2027, and all agencies must ensure officers have completed it by July 1, 2027. Beginning in January 2028, the Attorney General’s office will report assessment data to the General Assembly annually, and by January 2030 the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board must evaluate whether the law is working.14Colorado General Assembly. HB26-1009 – Colorado Mandatory Lethality Assessment Act