BUSHWICK — A handyman was convicted Monday of brutally murdering his boss after his daughter recorded a phone conversation in which he described cutting up the victim's body and putting it into plastic bags, prosecutors said.
Luis Perez, 50, was convicted of second-degree murder for the 2006 killing of 55-year-old local landlord Bruce Blackwood, whose body was never found, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.
Perez faces 25 years to life in prison for the crime.
Perez, who worked for Blackwood as a handyman at several properties, told his daughter in a three-and-a-half hour phone conversation that he choked Blackwood and used a machete to cut up his body after the landlord caught him stealing money, prosecutors said.
Perez then put the body parts in construction-grade plastic bags and used hospital-grade bleach to clean the crime scene afterward, according to audio of the conversation secretly recorded by Perez's daughter.
“It’s not about committing the perfect crime," Perez said on the tape, according to prosecutors "it’s just about how well you clean it up."
Perez, who lived in one of Blackwood's buildings on Hancock Street near Broadway, stole Blackwood's checkbook and cashied a total of $7,700 in checks, according to the DA.
After Blackwood confronted him, Perez killed the landlord to avoid going to prison, he told his daughter in the recording.
Defense attorney Alan Stutman previously argued that no physical evidence tied Perez to the crime, but on Tuesday he had no comment regarding the case.
Perez will be sentenced on Oct. 13.
