Over thirty years after a heinous crime shook Miami Beach, a woman faced her alleged attacker in court, recounting the harrowing experience that left her friend dead. On Monday, the survivor testified in the trial of Dale Ewers, accused of murdering Mercedes Perez in 1990 in her Pine Tree Drive apartment, as reported by NBC Miami. The 61-year-old took the stand and told the jury, "He turned me around, my back towards him. Put his left hand on my mouth and with his right hand put the handgun to my head."
According to law enforcement, a pivotal breakthrough occurred in 2017 when DNA evidence from a towel at the crime scene matched Ewers. The man was subsequently arrested in Jamaica, having been deported there years earlier following a 2008 arrest in Massachusetts. The Local 10 News reported that Ewers faced charges including first-degree murder, sexual battery, armed robbery and kidnapping, after being identified by the surviving victim during his time in Jamaica.
Ewers, now 60, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His defense team aims to seed doubt among jurors regarding his identification. The case was thrust back into the limelight when Ewers was extradited to the U.S. to face the litany of charges. As the trial unfolds, jurors were shown distressing evidence, including an image of a bloody mattress and a video reenactment created with the help of the survivor, as detailed by NBC Miami.
The chilling trial hinges on the memories from September 21, 1990, when Ewers allegedly forced his way into the apartment under the pretext of seeking the apartment manager's phone number. After shooting Perez in the face, he sexually assaulted her friend, the details of which have only become more vivid with time. "He finished. He told me to urinate. He took a towel that was in the bathroom and told me to clean myself off," the victim told NBC Miami. This heartrending narrative, finally brought to light, now lies in the hands of a jury, a jury that as per a tweet by the Miami Herald, must decide if Ewers was indeed the well-dressed man behind the brutal 1990 assault and murder. The trial is expected to continue Tuesday.
