14-Year-Old Missing Persons Case Closed After Man Calls 911 to Confess Murder

A 14-year-old missing persons case in New Mexico has come to a close after a man called the police to confess to the missing man's murder. 

On May 1, Tony Peralta, 37, went to a local store and borrowed someone's phone so he could call Rosewell Police, according to police. He told the dispatcher he had killed someone and then gave the phone back to its owner and waited for police to come and detain him.

Peralta had confessed to murdering William Blodgett, 69, who had been reported missing in 2009, police said. At the time of the initial investigation, Peralta had been a possible suspect but the investigation stalled after there were no new leads. 

"I confess, man. I confess. I don't want to live life anymore without confessing," Peralta said, according to CBS News. 

Peralta and Blodgett had been living together at the time of the murder and Peralta told police that his body was buried in the house. 

Police pulled up the floorboards in the room and after digging, they found boots, bones, and dentures, which pointed to the remains being Blodgett's. 

Peralta was not able to give many details but he said he killed him using a screwdriver and felt he needed to confess now. Police arrested Peralta and charged him with first-degree murder, police said.

"Tell them that he was a good man, and I shouldn't have done what I did," Peralta said, CBS News reported. "He was always good to me, and I took his life for no reason, and I don't have an excuse."

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