Island residents surprised man is accused of local dismemberment

Monday, June 30, 2003 | 9:30 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Residents of Alameda, Calif., a quiet island just across the bay from San Francisco, said they were shocked that a local man remembered as a "good guy" and a high school athlete has been charged with killing a Nevada hotel worker.

Perry Monroe, 29, was arrested last week while sleeping in his car at a rest stop outside Fresno, Calif. He has been charged with murdering and dismembering Ladonna Milam, a 49-year-old hotel maid, earlier this month after she delivered towels to his room at the Hacienda Hotel and Casino in Boulder City.

Parts of her body were found a week ago in a fishing pond at Veteran's Memorial Park in Boulder City, several miles from the hotel.

Perry was being held without bail in a Fresno, Calif. jail.

"I don't know what happened," said Casey Mooningham, who played water polo with Monroe at Alameda High School, where Monroe graduated in 1992. "He was a good guy. I feel bad for his family."

Other former classmates and coaches remembered Monroe as a good student and athlete, although they said he was quiet and not especially outgoing.

Martin Munoz, a high school water polo coach in nearby Union City, Calif., said Monroe kept mostly to himself when he worked as a referee for water polo matches in recent years.

"In between periods, he would sit down and have his drink of water," said Munoz. "He was not someone who would stand out. It took me a while to remember him. Nothing ever stood out about him."

Residents said Monroe attended college for a while after high school, and then returned to Alameda, a mostly residential area that is actually a small island on the east side of San Francisco Bay. It wasn't clear if Monroe had been working when he left the area earlier this month, telling his family that he was going camping.

Police allege that Monroe killed Milam, then chopped up her body and dumped parts of it in the fishing pond.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.