Police: Man accused in girlfriend’s death said he ‘screwed up’

By Cara McCoy

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009 | 9:17 a.m.

A Las Vegas man was arrested Sunday in the death of his live-in girlfriend after calling his former fiancée in New York and saying he had "hurt his girlfriend real bad," according to a Metro Police arrest report.

Officers found Benjamin Farrey, 29, at about 3 a.m. Sunday bleeding from the head, lying on the concrete pool area below his apartment in the 3700 block of Swenson Street after he apparently jumped from the building, according to the arrest report.

His former fiancée had told police over the phone that Farrey had called her and said he “screwed up.” She told authorities she knew him to be living with a woman and a baby at the apartment.

Inside the home, police found an infant in a playpen. They also found a woman dead with apparent neck trauma, possibly caused by a sharp instrument, police said.

That woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was identified Tuesday by the Clark County Coroner’s Office as Mandi Rose Perez, 28. She died of multiple sharp force injuries and the cause of death was ruled to be a homicide, a coroner’s spokeswoman said.

Farrey was taken to Sunrise Hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition. In addition to other injuries, he had a small cut on his hand consistent with a knife wound, police said.

He was booked in absentia in connection with Perez’s death, police said.