Man Claims 'It Felt Like A Dream' After Killing Partner With Hammer

A man reportedly told the authorities that "it felt like a dream" after he beat his male partner to death with a hammer in their Bronx apartment on Saturday, Sept. 24.

Officers responded to an apartment in the Adams Houses in Melrose on early Saturday afternoon after Felix Perez, 49, called 911 for medical help, telling the dispatcher that he had attacked his partner Andres Huertas, 37, with a hammer. He reportedly told the officers that the assault was the result of years of abuse and that it felt like “a dream,” New York Post reported.

After assaulting his partner, the suspect also allegedly texted the victim’s mother and told her that he did “something horrible."

When the officers responded to the scene, they found Huertas alone and unconscious with bruises and deep cuts on his head and face in the East Bronx apartment on Wallace Avenue around 12:45 p.m. Cops then looked around for Perez and found him 15 minutes later near the Prospect Avenue subway stop. Perez was reportedly in emotional distress and told the responders that he wanted to kill himself.

Perez was taken to Lincoln Hospital for treatment. When police officers tried to interview him over Huertas’ death, he requested a lawyer, the Daily News reported.

According to their neighbor Crystal Rivera, 31, the couple frequently engaged in heated arguments with each other.

“Maybe every other month,” Rivera said. “At one point [it] started to get really really bad. I think they got into a really bad dispute. Looked like the [partner] was miserable.”

Even though Rivera told cops that the couple fought constantly, she said that she didn’t hear any arguments on the day of the murder.

“I’m in shock. No banging, no stuff getting thrown,” she said. “I’m spooked. It’s really sad.”

“He was really nice, help anybody,” Rivera said about the victim. “Clean up the building. He was resourceful. Good community man.”

Surveillance footage obtained in the area showed Perez leaving the building shortly after making the 911 call. When the officers searched the apartment, police found what they believe was the murder weapon, a bloodstained hammer, inside the bathroom of the flat. Forensic tests are being conducted to confirm whether the blood residue on the hammer belongs to the victim.

Following the incident, Perez was charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon. Perez has no prior arrests or criminal records.