Daniel Perez – Angel or Demon?

Who was Daniel Perez? He went by many names, but the people close to him knew him as one of three angels that possessed special powers. The problem was that some of them ended up dying in tragic accidents leaving behind large insurance policies.  Listen to the story of how one man conned his way to a lifestyle of leisure by convincing others that he alone had the power to bring them back to life.

Location

Wichita, Kansas is located on the Great Plains and began as a trading post up the Chisholm Trail back in the 1860s. It earned the nickname “cowtown” as it was where cowboys would bring their livestock up from Texas to the railroads.  Famous celebrities from Wichita include actress Kristie Alley, Don Johnson, and Hattie McDaniel, who was the first African American to win an Oscar for her role in Gone With the Wind. She was also the first African American to attend the Oscars.

It All Starts In Texas

We begin in Texas in the mid-1990s. Daniel Perez had been living there when he met Trish Gomez. The two had dated for a while, but ultimately remained friends. In April 1996, Perez met a woman named Marilynn along with her son and 14-year-old daughter, Michelle.  Perez allowed the small family to stay with him for a few weeks as Marilynn was getting ready to move to Amarillo. It was during that time that Perez forced Michelle to have sex with him on several occasions. The rapes continued even after the family moved. Charges would be eventually filed against Perez for the rapes, but the case was dismissed when Perez was found dead in Mexico.

However, Daniel Perez was not dead. Later Perez would state that he pled guilty to the charges and was given probation. On his way to his sentencing, he had been abducted by four uniformed men who beat him and left him for dead. He wasn’t sure if he was dumped in Texas or Mexico. He claims that Trish had found him and had taken him to some people that cared for him until he recovered. Once recovered he moved to Corpus Christi, Texas.  

Daniel Perez didn’t stay in Corpus Christi long and by the summer of 1996, he had moved to North Dakota. Perez was 46-years-old at this time.  There he met a 15-year-old girl, K.L., who believed that Perez was much younger than his actual age and the pair soon began a sexual relationship. It was during their relationship that Daniel Perez convinced K.L. that he had magical powers. He claimed that he could make it rain, or see someone’s past, present, and future lives and could communicate with “the other side.”

Who Is Lou Castro?

It was three months into K.L. and Perez’s relationship when the honeymoon ended. Law enforcement came to K.L. ‘s home and arrested him. Then they deported him to Mexico. However, Daniel Perez was a United States citizen. The couple remained in contact via phone over the next year, but K.L. did not know where Perez was living.

Daniel Perez was back in Corpus Christi, Texas, but had assumed the new identity of Lou Castro. Casto wasn’t single for long as he had met a woman named Mona Griffith who happened to live in the same apartment complex as him at the time. The two along with Mona’s 14-year-old daughter Lindsey and son Cody moved in together. Trish had also moved into a nearby apartment complex. The group didn’t stay there long and within a few months moved to Wichita, Kansas. Cody would stay behind with his father, but K.L. would soon join the group in Wichita.

K.L. only stayed for two weeks before returning to North Dakota to finish school. It was after K.L. left that the family moved on to South Dakota. It was in South Dakota that Trish met Brian Hughes and they soon started dating and would ultimately marry. Mona also met a man named Jim and the couple soon became engaged. While in South Dakota, Castro, Trish, and Mona had met with an insurance salesman. Mona took out a $750,000 policy on her life naming Lindsey as her beneficiary and Trish as Lindsey’s caregiver.

Cashing In!

Tragedy soon struck Jim and Mona. The newly engaged couple, along with Mona’s daughter Lindsey went missing when the plan they had been on disappeared. Jim had a private pilot’s license and had taken them up one day never to return. Castro and Trish attempted to cash in Mona’s policy, but the insurance company would not release the money since Mona’s body had not been recovered. Not to be deterred, Castro and Trish repeatedly visited the insurance agency while the search for the downed plane continued. Eventually, the wreckage would be found and death certificates were issued for Mona, Jim, and Lindsey. With those certificated, Trish was paid the death benefits.

In the summer of 2001, Trish, Brian, and their newborn daughter, Nicole along with Castro and K.L. moved to Lee’s Summit, Missouri. They all moved into a home purchased in K.L. ‘s name. After three months the small group moved back to Wichita, Kansas where they lived in some townhomes while looking for permanent housing. Upon settling, Trish took out a $1 million insurance policy on her life that included an accidental death rider.  Her husband, Brian was the beneficiary with K.L. named the co-beneficiary.

Angel of Death

An addition to the small group was Jennifer Hutson. She was their real estate agent from Missouri who moved with her two daughters Emily, age 10, and Sarah. age 17. Jennifer had sold Castro and his group property in Missouri when they had stayed there only a short time in 2001.  While working on the real estate transaction Jennifer had spent a lot of time with Castro and soon their friendship developed into something more.  Jennifer would end up divorcing her husband and moving her and the girls to Wichita, Kansas in June 2001.

Castro had gotten the girls and others to believe that he was over a hundred years old and his body was often inhabited by one of three angels – Arthur, Daniel, and Amber, who was the angel of death. Trish would tell others that when he was young Castro had died and when he came back he had these powers. Both Emily and Sarah being young and impressionable believed what the adults were telling them.  

Angel’s Landing

By the spring of 2002, the small group had purchased three homes side-by-side in Sedgwick County, Kansas which is outside Valley Center. The group referred to their collective as “Angel’s Landing.” The first house came with 10 acres of land was purchased by Trish. Jennifer soon bought the adjoining ten acres and built two homes on it. The third parcel was purchased and built upon completing what looked like a  compound due to the home’s placements.  Also on the properties were barn-like structures that housed the group’s various vehicles and Castro’s large model airplane collection.

Lou Castro seemed to meet all of the group’s needs. They were living an extravagant lifestyle with lots of material possession at their disposal.

It was in Angel’s Landing that Emily had moved into the master bedroom with Daniel Perez.  Emily was 10-years-old at the time.  He had convinced the group that he needed someone “pure” to share his bed as he was a “seer” and needed a young female virgin to take care of him or he would die.

In January 2002, Castro had forced Emily to have oral, vaginal, and anal sex with him. He also forced Emily’s older sister, Sarah into the same sexual perversions. By 2007, the acts of sexual violence increased with all three girls. On two occasions Castro threatened all three girls at gunpoint if they didn’t comply with his commands. He even threatened to kill Emily and Sarah’s father and K.L. with her own life if she didn’t in his words, “step up.”

The dynamic in Angels Landing was Lou Castro was the boss with Trish being second in command.  According to both Emily and Sarah, Trish was like a second mother to them.

Time to Go

In June 2003, Castro and Trish told Emily that it was Trish’s “time to go” and that Trish had failed to “cross over” during an earlier accident. Castro told Emily that Trish would be found dead by the pool after she fell and hit her head. He asked Emily if she would like to be there when it happened. She said she did not. Castro then told her that he would “bend time” so that she would not be there, but would be there as it happened.

He went on to tell Emily that after Trish passed that she would put Nicole into the pool then pull her out and call 911.  Emily would tell authorities that Nichole had fallen into the pool and Trish had slipped and drowned while trying to get to her daughter. Emily told the couple that she was sad about Trish dying, but Trish assured her that she would eventually come back in a new healthier body.  

Two weeks after their conversation, Castro told Emily that it was time. Only Castro, Trish, Emily, Sarah, and Nicole were at Angels Landing that day. Castro told Sarah that he would meet up with her at a local car dealership and to go ahead without him.  Castro told Emily to take Nicole into a nearby pool house and not come out.  Emily then heard a shriek from Trish and a splash. Castro then came to Emily and told her to wait until he met up with Sarah at a local car dealership and then call 911. Emily waited 20 minutes and completed the plan. Afterward, she called her sister Sarah who was at the car dealership with Castro crying telling her that Trish fell in the pool.  

Another Insurance Payout

When paramedics arrived they were surprised to see Trish floating in the shallow end of the pool, but believed the story that Emily told that Trish had rushed into the pool to save her daughter, but slipped hitting her head and drowned.  Emily tried to get her out but was unable to.  Trish, age 26, was pronounced dead with her cause of death being accidental drowning. There was an autopsy conducted with the coroner finding that Trish had a blunt force injury to her head, but based upon witness statements of her being seen slipping and hitting her head then drowning her death was ruled accidental.

In August 2003, Trish’s death benefit was paid out to her husband Brian. Soon after, new more expensive vehicles showed up on the driveway. Before Trish’s death, the group owned two Corvettes and several SUVs.  Over the years Castro would spend upwards of a million and a half dollars on lavish vehicles for the group. All the vehicles had vanity license plates with Angel 1, Angel 2, and so forth.

His extreme spending didn’t seem to stop with just the small group at Angels Landing. At one point, Castro would give the local police department $19,000 to go towards a new police vehicle. He also hosted parties at Angels Landing in which the local police were always welcome.

A New Member Joins the Group

The small group continued to live at Angel’s Landing after Trish’s death. It was during that same year that Jennifer began dating David Quiring who had joined the group in 2003. He had met the group through Brian whom he had worked construction with. David had lost his wife and didn’t really like being alone so he moved in with the happy little group. In 2004, the couple began living together and they eventually married.

In 2004, Brian, Jennifer, K.L., and another woman, Megan Harbert had taken life insurance policies out on their lives.  Castro was always present when these policies were taken out and had directed who would be taking policies, how much the policies would be for, and who would be named the beneficiaries. Castro was never named as a beneficiary or named in any of the policies. Megan and Castro were also dating at this time and Megan moved into Castro’s home. The two would have a child, Angelica in December 2004.

Crushed

It was on March 2,  2006, that Brian left Angel’s Landing to visit South Dakota. Castro told a friend, Phillip Young, that he didn’t think that Brian would be returning to the group. Was he clairvoyant? Tragically, Brian was killed in what would be ruled an accident in South Dakota. His death benefit was paid out to K.L.  Brian was a diesel mechanic and from those that knew him, he was always safety conscious when working under vehicles. So it surprised many when he had been crushed to death under a vehicle when his jack slipped. Years later Sarah thought that Brian may have taken his own life mostly due to him never getting over Trish’s death and Castor’s teachings on death and crossing over.

In August 2006, Sherri Cox and her 8-year-old daughter, C.C. began to visit Castro. Castro immediately took an interest in the young girl and she posed provocatively in a swimsuit as he took pictures. He also had a camera placed in the bathroom to watch her change.

On the Hunt

Ron Goodwyn, a Wichita Narcotics Detective, had been investigating Lou Castro and his group in 2003; the year Trish died. His investigation was because Castro had drawn attention to himself with his parties and unexplained wealth. In his profession unexplained wealth usually meant drugs.

Goodwyn began to do an internet search to find out what he could on Lou Castro. That is when he came across an obituary for Mona, Jim, and Lindsey that had Lou Castro’s name attached to it. So now Lou Castro has a connection to four other deaths. In Goodwyn’s mind with the group of homes being referred to as Angels Landing and all the car’s vanity plates with the angel designation he thought he might be dealing with a cult.

Although Detective Goodwyn was unable to find any record of Lou Castro, even a birth certificate, he was able to unravel the financial dealings of the group. He was able to look at bank balances for the majority of the group members. What he found was that every two and a half years or so the balances would be significantly low, sometimes with only a few thousand dollars. Then someone would die and the insurance payout would replenish the accounts.

Would Police Finally Learn Castro’s Real Identity?

Patricia Hughes had a $1.24 million dollar life insurance policy payout from her husband Brian.  When he died his assets and policies were paid out to various people he had been living with at Angels Landing.

What Detective Goodwyn theorized was that instead of dealing drugs to afford their lifestyle Castro had talked people into taking out large life insurance policies and then indoctrinating them into killing themselves. The problem was they didn’t have a crime, just suspicions. One day when Detective Goodwyn happened to come upon Castro driving down the road and he decided to follow him. Castro had gone into a restaurant to have a meal with someone and when he left Detective Goodwyn collected Castro’s water glass and silverware. The hope was that they would get a fingerprint and finally find out who Lou Castro was.

Unfortunately, the lab would be unable to get a good print off of anything the detective had collected.

Spooked

In September 2008, Detective Goodwyn was notified that Jennifer Hutson was killed in a car accident. According to the reports, eye witness statements reported that there was no way Jennifer didn’t see she was heading straight into the oncoming truck. In Goodwyn’s mind, he believed that Lou Castro had influenced Jennifer to commit suicide. This was about 2 ½ years after Brian’s death and sure enough, the bank accounts were running low again when Jennifer died leaving behind a million-dollar policy. K.L. once again received a payout from Jennifer’s life insurance policy.

Detective Goodwyn, still not giving up on finding out just who Lou Castro was, decided to try to get his fingerprints again. One day he and another detective showed up at Angels Landing with glossy photographs of made-up suspects.  They asked Lou if he could look at them and tell them if he had seen any of them around.  Lou dumped the photos on a nearby pool table and used his fingernail to move the photos around like he knew exactly what the detective was trying to do.  

After that Castro started to get nervous telling Sarah that “they were trying to get him.”  Lou took off to look at houses in Tennessee. By this time, Castro had caused a wedge between her and her sister. K.L. had initially stayed behind with Emily and Nichole so that they could finish up school, but the three eventually joined the group in Tennessee in June of 2009.

Who Is Joe Venegas?

Emily’s sister, Sarah did not move with the group as she was living on her own outside of Angel’s Landing. By this time, Sarah was 24 and on her own for the first time. She eventually began dating a man named Daniel McGrath.

As the two’s relationship deepened Sarah shared with Daniel about all of the group members’ deaths along with the group expectation that they serve Castro, but most importantly that the group was supported financially by the life insurance payouts they had received over the years. She would also tell him that Lou had raped her from the age of 17 until she was 24. Daniel reported all of this to the FBI in January 2010. Soon both Detective Goodwyn and Jon Sullivan of the FBI interviewed Daniel about what he had reported.

Jon Sullivan, it turns out, had been investigating Castro since 2007.  Through their investigation and Daniel’s tip, they found out that Castro had assumed a new identity – Joe Venegas – and was now residing in Columbia, Tennessee. With this new name investigators were able to see that Joe Venegas had opened a new bank account in Tennessee. When they looked at bank surveillance tapes they could see him on film and knew they had him committing bank fraud.

Daniel Perez Is Finally In Custody

On April 21, 2010, a search warrant was executed for Venegas’s Tennessee residence.  There was a sense of urgency since it was getting to the 2 ½ year mark. From that search, investigators discovered 11 firearms, 2 wallets that contained identification for Lou Castro and Joe Venegas along with a social security card and birth certificate for Joe Venegas. Castro/Venegas was taken into custody that day. After being formally fingerprinted investigators discovered that Lou Castro/Joe Venegas was in fact, Daniel Perez.  

In the meantime, Castro/Perez/Venegas was sentenced to two years in jail for aggravated identity theft and social security fraud. The investigation continued into March 2011 with authorities interviewing Sarah and Emily on several occasions. Sarah would tell investigators about the abuse she suffered for years from Lou Castro. Emily would tell investigators about Trish’s drowning and that would end up being enough to put Castro away.

On Trial

On September 11, 2011, Perez/Castro/Venegas was charged in Sedgwick County District Court in Kansas with one count of first-degree murder for Tricia Hughes’s death, ten counts of rape, ten counts of aggravated criminal sodomy, three counts of aggravated assault, eleven counts of making false information, and one count of criminal threat.  However, by the time Perez’s trial rolled around charges had been amended to one count of first-degree premeditated murder; one count of sexual exploitation of a child; eight counts of rape; seven counts of aggravated criminal sodomy; three counts of aggravated sexual assault; and eight counts of making false information.  

The trial took place in February 2015 and several witnesses from the group testified for the prosecution including Daniel, K.L., Emily, Cody, Michelle, Marilynn, David, Megan, Sarah, C.C., and C.C. ‘s mother. The witnesses testified to the group’s transient movements over a 15-year period that included a number of states (Texas, South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee, and Mexico). 

They also testified to the ongoing sexual violence by Daniel Perez and the deaths of six people connected with the group (Mona, Lindsey, Jim, Tricia, Jennifer, and Brian). The various group members would tell the jury about the control that Perez/Castro had over the group. Emily testified as to what happened on the day Trish had drowned. Trish’s death was the only one Daniel Perez stood trial for. Insurance agents and car salespersons also testified.

It’s Time for Your Mom to Die

Sarah would later state on the show Deadly Cults that Lou Castro told her he had to “fix her” so that she would be able to get married and have babies someday. The fix her part of his plan was to have sex with her on an ongoing basis. He also would tell her that if she told anyone he would kill her dad. In Sarah’s mind, she would do anything to protect her dad so she kept quiet about the abuse.

She would also disclose that one day Lou had sat her and her sister, Emily down and told them that it was time for their mother to die. Sarah had gone to her mom to tell her what Lou said and Jennifer told her not to worry about it, but she had cause to worry. Jennifer would die in a car accident when she ran into a fully loaded hauling truck and was killed instantly.

It’s Not My Fault!

Daniel Perez testified in his defense along with three other witnesses. He claimed that he was not home the day Trish Hughes drowned and he had no part in her death. On the stand, he denied having any sort of magical powers and contended the sex was always consensual. He seemed to always place the blame on others.

As for his crimes in Texas that he had pleaded guilty to, but admits he never served any time for. On the stand, he said the beating he received in Mexico had caused him to have amnesia for years. He also claimed upon cross-examination by district attorney Marc Bennett, that he had no idea where the money had come from that paid for his lifestyle and that of the other group members. He claimed that the women of the group held the money and had the final say in all matters.

Daniel Perez was convicted on all counts and sentenced to two life terms with a consecutive sentence of 80 years. He is currently being housed at the Lansing Correctional Facility.

Resources

• State v. Perez, 396 P.3d 78
• Daniel Perez takes stand in murder trial
• Daniel Perez Now: Where Is Cult Leader ‘Lou Castro’ Today in 2020? | Heavy.com 
• Watch Angel’s Landing | Deadly Cults 
• Wichita, Kansas – Wikipedia
• State v. Perez – CourtListener.com
• Watch Dateline: Secrets Uncovered Episode: Angels and Demons – NBC.com