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Bruce Blackwood was a rental property owner, who mysteriously disappeared from 989 Hancock St. on March 6, 2006. He was a wealthy businessman, who bought old buildings, renovated them, and gave them on rent. Blackwood had several apartments across the neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens, which he managed with his employees.
Investigators from the New York Police Department soon sorted out the case as a murder. However, it took almost a decade for authorities to prove the culprit guilty. The complete investigation behind the murder of Bruce Blackwood is documented in an episode of New York Homicide season 3 episode 2, The Almost Perfect Murder.
The episode is scheduled for release on February 9, 2025, at 9 pm EST on Oxygen. The official synopsis of the episode reads:
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"When a beloved landlord disappears in Brooklyn, the NYPD is convinced it's more than a missing person's case; without a body and with limited physical evidence, a suspect roams the city for years until discovering a secret witness to the grisly truth."
Murdered by an employee, and 4 other details about the murder of Bruce Blackwood
1) Bruce Blackwood was murdered by one of his employees
As per an Oxygen article, published on February 8, 2025, Bruce Blackwood hired a man named Luis Perez, to work as a handyman for one of his apartments in 983 Hancock Street. However, Perez soon began to steal money from Blackwood, by using his checkbook to cash out money. Perez went on to steal a sum of $ 7,700 from Blackwood's accounts.
One of Blackwood's friends revealed to the investigators a crucial call that they shared a week before his disappearance. She said that Blackwood got to know about Perez's stealing, and was going to confront him the day he disappeared mysteriously.
2) Investigators retrieved 13 checks stolen by Luis Perez from the victim
As per a New York Post, published on September 21, 2015, when Luis Perez was questioned by the investigators, he came up with a different story. Perez said that one of Blackwood's friends named Mike, came to meet him. The culprit said that Blackwood gave him the keys to his Cadillac SUV to park. Perez told the detectives that Blackwood left with Mike, telling him he was going to run errands.
The investigators managed to trace Mike, but couldn't find any credible evidence. However, one of Blackwood's neighbors revealed that on the day of his disappearance, she saw him arguing with two Hispanic men. One of the men was identified to be Perez.
As per Oxygen, the investigators obtained 13 checks from Perez, which he stole from Bruce Blackwood, summing up to $ 7,700.
One of the money transactions was made to a man named Martin Rodriguez, who was identified as the second Hispanic man. It was in June 2007, when both Perez and Rodriguez were sent to prison for grand larceny. Luis Perez was sentenced to 25 months imprisonment, while Martin Rodriguez received six months in prison.
3) Luis Perez was an ex-convict and had spent 10 years in prison
As per an A & E TV article published on August 19, 2022, Luis Perez was an ex-convict who was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was found trying to abduct his daughter.
Additionally, Luis Perez tried to stab the child's mother along with a law enforcement officer. Before being appointed as an employee for Bruce Blackwood, he had served his sentencing at a prison in Massachusetts.
As per the Oxygen article, Rodriguez revealed during the interrogation:
“He said Blackwood came to Hancock St. and said he knew we were stealing money from him and that he was going to call the police.”
Rodriguez also said that Perez hatched a plan to torture Bruce Blackwood and force him to reveal the PIN for his ATM cards.
4) Luis Perez's daughter Irene recorded his conversations where he admitted to murdering Bruce Blackwood
As per Oxygen, it was in 2009, when investigators went to meet Perez's daughter Irene, who was now an adult and living in Brooklyn. Irene agreed to help the authorities to prove Perez guilty. It was in May 2011 when the culprit agreed to meet Irene, at her home in Brooklyn. She used a police device to record her conversations with Perez.
As per an article in The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, published on October 15, 2015, in the three-and-a-half-hour voice record, Luis Perez admitted to murdering Blackwood. Perez revealed that he choked the victim to death, and then used a machete to dismember his body into pieces. The remains were then disposed of into construction-grade plastic bags.
Perez revealed he used hospital-grade bleach to clean the crime scene of any evidence. He boasted:
“It’s not about committing the perfect crime, it’s just about how well you clean it up."
As per the New York Post article, Perez revealed that he killed Bruce Blackwood because he was threatened to be handed over to the police. When Irene asked why he committed a crime again, he brushed it off saying:
“It’s too late to keep dwelling on s—t that cannot be fixed. That’s how I see it. Back then, I wasn’t thinking.”
Luis Perez confronted that after butchering the victim's body, he sat down and smoked a cigarette.
5) Irene testified against her father on the jury
As per Oxygen, it was on September 21, 2015, when Irene testified against Luis Perez in his trial. She went on to confirm the authenticity of the voice records presented, which proved Perez responsible for the murder of the employer.
On September 29, 2015, Luis Perez was found guilty of the second-degree-murder of Bruce Blackwood. He received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
