Deputies believe murder-suicide was a home invasion gone wrong

ONTARIO, Oregon (CBS2) — Update

A GoFundMe has been created to help pay expenses for Daniela's funeral.

Original story

CBS2 spoke with Idaho District Attorney Josh Hurwit about a missing Ontario woman found dead in her car on Tuesday.

Hurwit says the family reported Daniela Perez missing the Tuesday afternoon. There were suspicious circumstances at their home. They did not know where she or her vehicle was and could not contact her. They contacted authorities, who agreed it was suspicious.

Within an hour, deputies entered Daniela as a missing and endangered person.

Daniela's boyfriend was able to track her phone to a garbage can at Love's Truck Stop. Deputies became more concerned, so they accessed the on-star system for her car. They located the vehicle around 7 p.m. in the parking lot of the Ontario School District office.

Hurwit says Daniela and the suspect did not have a relationship. Current information suggests they were unknown to one another, which makes it look like a possible home invasion or burglary gone wrong.

The first contact happened at Daniela's home in Ontario, where there was evidence of some violence. She and the vehicle were taken from there.

When deputies found the phone at Love's, deputies asked them for video and saw the suspect leaving the car and going into the store. Deputies did not know who he was then, but they had images of him with Daniela's car. They also had pictures of the suspect at the Burnt River dispensary.

Deputies were then able to backtrack. Once the suspect's picture was put out, some people called in to say they saw him.

Video footage from the Natural Foods store next to the parking lot where Daniela was found showed when the suspect left the car at about 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Police found it about two hours later.

After the suspect left the car, he went to the coffee shop across the street and played video poker machines, where deputies obtained stills they released to the public.

Deputies were not communicating with the suspect directly, but at least one person was in contact with him and relayed information to law enforcement. The data did not contain a location, but deputies knew the suspect was still alive and had the phone he purchased at the cricket store. By pinging his phone, deputies managed to locate him.

The suspect was hidden near sheds behind a home in an unlocked shed on the 100 block of NW 7th Avenue in Ontario. The home's residents had no idea he was hiding there.

Once police obtained a warrant, the Oregon State Police SWAT team was dispatched to the residence. When the team arrived, they started setting up their perimeter and approaching when one of the SWAT team members heard a single gunshot.

The team saw the suspect, dressed in all black, leave the shed and hide in bushes. The SWAT team confirmed the gunshot was not from any of them.

Over the next 30 minutes, the team found what appeared to be the suspect lying in the shrubs with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest and a shotgun with him. The SWAT team was hidden when they set up a perimeter to avoid a standoff, so it is possible the suspect did not know they were there when he killed himself.

The team had not been in contact with the man when they heard the gunshot. Law enforcement has no reason to believe the man knew the SWAT team was coming.

The suspect had a criminal history in Union County. He was a known property offender and violent with police, but there is no other violent crime history.

The first indication of foul play was that Daniela was found in the car's trunk. A medical examiner says she appears to have died from blunt trauma to the head, but an autopsy has not been performed.

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