Silia Solis has a very different opinion about Pastor Julio Cesar Perez than court documents show.
"He's a very nice person," Solis said. "I don’t believe what he's going through."
Solis is in disbelief because according to documents from the Cameron County Magistrate's Court, Perez plotted, meticulously calculated and paid $1,300 for the murder of his wife, 39-year-old Sonia Perez.
Page after page reveals that Perez first met with a woman who had previously hired men herself to "take care" of a person who had been harassing her.
That woman apparently pointed Perez in the direction of 19-year-old Gabriel Apolinar Escalante of San Benito.
Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said, "Apparently they got together with him (and), Mr. Perez told them that he would pay them to assassinate his wife."
The documents state that when Escalante discovered the target was a woman, he agreed only to be the middle man and directed the pastor to a person named Dan.
Cameron County investigators discovered that Dan is 38-year-old Daniel Flores Lopez, the alleged trigger man.
The affidavit describes several occasions in which the pastor met with the alleged hit men to plan his wife's murder.
Sheriff Lucio said it's a rare type of case.
Sonia Perez’s family said they are still in shock both about her death and about the accusations against her husband.
Perez will be laid to rest Tuesday at Mont Meta Memorial Park in San Benito.
Perez and Escalante have both been charged with capital murder and Lopez will be arraigned Tuesday.
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