Home invasion, murder suspect escaped from N.Y. police in 2000, officials say

The illegal immigrant accused of killing an elderly woman and committing a half-dozen home invasions escaped the clutches of New York City police seven years before his Montgomery County crime spree started, police said Monday.

Jose Garcia-Perlera, 33, is being held without bond as police continue to investigate his alleged connection to six home invasions and numerous other thefts in Potomac and Bethesda. He was arrested Wednesday after police discovered items stolen from the homes and cars he targeted during a search of Garcia-Perlera’s Hyattsville apartment.

The case broke earlier this month when a laptop stolen from a Bethesda home in August was found in a pawn shop where Garcia-Perlera had sold it for $400. The laptop’s owner lived just blocks from where Garcia-Perlera allegedly hog-tied and murdered Mary Havenstein, 63, in early September.

According to police, Garcia-Perlera was arrested in Queens, N.Y., in 2000. At the time, he was an electrician and stealing from the homes of his clients.

Montgomery County police Chief Tom Manger said Monday that New York police released Garcia-Perlera on bail and he disappeared. Federal officials have placed a deportation detainer on the El Salvador native.

Police said they believe Garcia-Perlera has been in the area since 2006, working as an independent electrician. But, police said, it’s not clear who his clients were and if there was any connection between his legitimate job and the people he targeted.

It is clear, however, that Garcia-Perlera targeted the elderly in Bethesda and Potomac, police said. In each case, he would hog-tie his victims, and over time, police said, he became increasingly violent.

In an early attack, police said Garcia-Perlera loosened the bindings when the victim complained they were too tight. But in February, Garcia-Perlera pistol-whipped a 78-year-old woman, and there was the Havenstein murder in September. Victims in some of the later attacks were tied so tightly that the blood ceased to flow to their limbs and they’re now permanently injured.

Police would not say how Havenstein died.

Manger said it’s likely Garcia-Perlera will be linked to more thefts, burglaries and robberies as the investigation continues. “He was a prolific thief,” Manger said.