Paso Robles man pleads guilty to murdering Trevon Perry
A Paso Robles man pleaded guilty Tuesday to the murder of Trevon Perry, two years to the day after Perry went missing in 2020, the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office announced.
Nicholas Ron, 25, entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder with the use of a firearm, formally admitting he shot Perry in the back of the neck at point-blank range while the two were riding in a car in Paso Robles on March 15, 2020.
Perry disappeared in March 2020, four months after he testified against a North County man accused of murdering Perry’s best friend in 2019.
His disappearance sparked a months-long missing persons case before investigators found the 27-year-old’s body buried in the yard of Ron’s grandmother’s Riverside home on June 18, 2020 — three months and three days after he went missing.
Ron is expected to be sentenced on April 12 to 28 years to life in state prison.
Nine other people also have been charged in connection with the murder, many of them family members of Ron.
Marie Holquin, Vivianna Rodriguez, Mario Rostro, Nyessa Ron, Valente Holquin III, Alberto Garzon, Heather Montgomery, and Adam and Hector Ledezma were charged with being felony accessories after the fact.
Marie Holquin, Nicholas Ron’s mother, was also charged with witness intimidation.
What happened to Trevon Perry?
Nicholas Ron and Mario Rostro, who are cousins, are alleged to have been drinking with Perry at Perry’s home from the evening of March 14, 2020, through the early-morning hours of March 15, 2020, according to court documents.
Ron apparently killed Perry between 3 and 4 a.m., with the murder occurring in a car Rostro was driving. The car belonged to Rostro’s girlfriend, Heather Montgomery, according to court documents.
Ron, Rostro and Perry left Perry’s house around 2:55 a.m. — the last time anyone other than Ron and Rostro saw Perry alive, court documents said. Rostro was driving Mongomery’s car, a Chevrolet HHR, while Perry sat in the passenger seat and Ron sat in the back seat.
Ron shot Perry in the back of his neck while inside the car at point-blank range, court documents said. Then, Ron and Rostro “hastily buried” Perry’s body in rural Paso Robles in the early-morning hours of March 15 before Ron and his girlfriend, Vivianna Rodriguez, drove the car to the home of his mother, Marie Holquin, in Victorville.
Two days later on March 17, investigators say, Ron dug up Perry’s body in Paso Robles and moved it with the help of Rodriguez, first to his mother’s house in Victorville then to his grandmother’s house in Riverside.
Ron buried the body under a chicken coop at his grandmother’s house with the help of his two uncles, court documents said.
The car where the crime took place was burned and found in the desert near Holquin’s house on March 22, 2020.
Holquin allegedly helped burn the car and threatened to kill family members of Alberto Garzon, who is alleged to have overheard her and Ron discussing hiding the body. Perry’s body was found at Ron’s grandmother’s house on June 18, 2020.
Prosecutors say multiple defendants have lied to law enforcement, buried Perry’s body and disposed of evidence to help cover up the murder. Court documents cite text message communications between all those involved regarding transportation of Perry’s body, cleaning the car, and getting rid of the “toy” — what the prosecution said is a colloquial term for a firearm.
Where the other defendants’ cases stand
Six of the other defendants have already entered pleas in the case.
Marie Holquin, Alberto Garzon, Mario Rostro, Heather Montgomery, Adam Ledezma and Hector Ledezma all entered pleaded no contest to the crimes they were charged with. A no contest plea functions the same as a guilty plea, but it does not admit direct guilt by the defendant.
Rostro was sentenced to a three-year split sentence, including two years in jail and one year probation. Montgomery was sentenced to one year of probation.
Adam Ledezma is scheduled to be sentenced on March 22. Alberto Garzon and Marie Holquin are scheduled to be sentenced March 29. And Hector Ledezma is scheduled to be sentenced April 26.
Judge Jesse Marino issued an indicated sentence of three years and eight months for Holquin, but the actual sentencing will not be decided until the hearing on March 29.
As for the other three, Vivianna Rodriguez is scheduled for a pre-preliminary hearing on March 22. Nyessa Ron has a plea hearing on March 29. And Valente Holquin III’s charges were moved to the juvenile court system because he was 17 at the time of the crime.
Accessory after the fact, known as Penal Code 32, applies to anyone who helped someone hide or conceal any felony after the crime was committed. This could mean lying to law enforcement or hiding evidence. Sentencing guidelines for the charge are the same no matter the felony the person charged is alleged to have helped conceal.
So someone who is charged with accessory after the fact for felony shoplifting could theoretically get the same sentence as someone who is charged with accessory after the fact for murder or rape.
The charge is known as a “wobbler” offense, with the ability to be filed as a misdemeanor or a felony. The maximum sentence for misdemeanor accessory is one year in county jail, and the maximum sentence for felony accessory is three years in county jail or state prison.
Who was Trevon Perry?
Trevon Perry’s mother, Kelli Perry, remembers him as “the type of son who never ceased to make us proud.”
Trevon was a father, son, brother, friend and so much more, Kelli Perry wrote in statement to the Tribune commemorating the two-year anniversary of her son’s death. He was the oldest of six siblings and always prioritized making sure his family knew they were loved.
Kelli Perry remembers him writing loving notes, helping his younger siblings and giving her a hug and kiss while she was cooking his favorite dinner. Her favorite memories include coaching him in basketball and watching him excel to become a star point guard.
“Trevon was the type of child who loved and respected all his peers. He had friends in every group, never turning anyone away who needed a loyal friend,” Kelli Perry wrote.
When Trevon moved to Paso Robles, he continued to talk to his loved ones every day. So when her son first went missing, Kelli Perry said she knew he was gone.
“That day began an emptiness I knew would consume me for the rest of my life,” she said. “The emptiness and devastation left behind is truly indescribable.”
“I have watched my husband begin each painful day without his first-born son, whom he shared a love of the outdoors with, especially fishing. My other children have been left to pick up the pieces of a life they never planned to have to live without their big brother.”
He was “the heartbeat of our family,” Caryssa Esquival, Trevon Perry’s sister, previously said at a vigil.
Kelli Perry said Trevon was loved by all those who were able to connect with him.
“On the two-year anniversary of our son’s vicious murder, we can now only pray that we will see some form of justice, handed down to the 10 defendants who brutally murdered and subsequently assisted in the cover-up of this crime,” Kelli Perry said.
After all of the court proceedings regarding her son’s death conclude, Kelli Perry told the Tribune she plans to connect with California lawmakers to try to change sentencing guidelines for accessory after the fact — the crime nine of the people involved in her son’s death were charged with — to better reflect the gravity of the offense someone helped cover up.
“I pray that no other mother will ever have to endure the excruciating pain brought on by such injustice,” she said.
This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 6:31 PM.
