When the Register a few weeks ago ran a front-page profile of Deborah Perez, the ex-Santa Ana resident who claims her father was the notorious Zodiac Killer, our Nick Schou pointed out that the Reg missed the really interesting part of the story. In addition to being a murderer's daughter, Perez was also the daughter of President John F. Kennedy!
Well, that's at least what some sources say she previously claimed. Details here.
Now, Register columnist Frank Mickadeit concedes that the Reg may have spotlighted an attention-seeking fraud. Mickadeit would have noticed this sooner, see, but he was too busy “stuck in the trials of criminals who are actually alive.” When confronted by Mickadeit, the forensic psychologist who determined Perez had been telling the truth about the Zodiac Killer sticks to his previous statements: As far as he could tell, she wasn't lying.
Perez's lawyer gives Mickadeit a quote about the Perez wanting to sue anyone who says she said she was a Kennedy. In other words, Perez never told anyone she was related to JFK, and anyone who says she did will be sued for slander. Mickadeit signs off with, “Good luck with that.” But Perez's lawyer seems to be serious about this stuff. It appears he posted a comment on the column:
Second hand allegations that Deborah Perez has claimed to be the
daughter of President Kennedy are without merit. She has repeatedly
denied ever making any such statement. The allegation is absurd. Ms.
Perez was born in 1962, was she supposedly conceived in the White
House? Such allegations are slanderous and Ms. Perez is prepared to
pursue whatever remedies she has against any person, persons or parties
generating such slander.
Threatening a lawsuit in a comment on a newspaper website: a better course of action than killing people and bragging about it in cryptic letter to a newspaper newsroom, right?
