Trial date is set for Ayon homicide
By Dean Lesar Tribune Record Gleaner
The first-degree homicide jury trial for the Mosinee man accused of killing 27-year-old Cassandra Ayon of Loyal in 2020 has been scheduled for Jan. 23-27, 2023. Jesus Contreras Perez remains in custody in the Clark County Jail under a $1 million cash bond as court proceedings in the case against him progress.
The trial dates were set during a March 25 scheduling conference with Judge Daniel Diehn, who was appointed to preside after Contreras Perez asked for a substitute for Clark County Circuit Court Judge Lyndsey Brunette. A Nov. 7 motion hearing date has also been scheduled for the court to consider any pre-trial motions that may be filed by either the defense or the prosecution in the case.
Contreras Perez, 42, was charged in June 2021 with first-degree intentional homicide even though Ayon remains missing. Prosecutors believe she was murdered and are proceeding with the homicide charges even though her remains have not been located. Contreras has officially been charged with firstdegree intentional homicide/as party to a crime, hiding a corpse/as party to a crime, and stalking-resulting in bodily harm/domestic abuse.
Ayon was first reported missing by her family in early October 2020. She was last seen at the home of a friend in Unity in the early morning hours of Oct. 3, but never returned home nor showed up for work. Authorities conducted an extensive search for Ayon, but were not able to find her or any remains. They concluded through an extensive check into her life and background that she had likely been killed.
Witnesses told detectives investigating Ayon’s disappearance that her former boyfriend, Contreras Perez, had been stalking and threatening her in the weeks prior to early October 2020. The couple, who had a child together, had reportedly broken up shortly before her disappearance, and she had told friends that Contreras Perez was angry that she may have been seeing other men. On the night she vanished, witnesses said Ayon was watching out the window of a friend’s home to see if Contreras Perez was following her.
As detectives closed in on Contreras Perez in their investigation, they tried to contact him, but he had traveled to Minnesota. When he returned, he was interviewed as to his whereabouts on the night of the disappearance and his possible connection. In contacting Contreras Perez’ employer, investigators learned that he had shown up for work at about 6 a.m. on the morning of Ayon’s disappearance. Later that morning, he visited a local telephone store to get a replacement for a cell phone he claimed he had lost.
Contreras Perez made an initial appearance in court on June 15, 2021, when cash bond was set at $1 million. A preliminary hearing was held on July 2, when Diehn ruled there was enough evidence to bind Contreras Perez over for trial in the case.
He was initially represented in court by a public defender, but now has a private attorney from a Milwaukee law firm as counsel. Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Annie Jay and Clark County District Attorney Melissa Inlow are prosecuting the case.
