A Republican candidate for district attorney in Philadelphia is using his campaign website to explain the story of a woman who was found dead in his apartment in 2013.
Beneath an “About Me” section on Charles Peruto Jr.’s campaign page is a section called “The Girl in my Bathtub,” which he uses to explain the circumstances surrounding the death of the woman, whom he was dating at the time.
“There shouldn’t have to be a section for this on anyone’s campaign site, but because some people will not let this go away, I must address it,” Peruto begins.
Peruto says he had been dating the woman for about six weeks and was not home when she died. While Peruto does not identify the woman on his website, WCAU, a Philadelphia-based NBC affiliate, reported at about the time of the incident that the woman who died was 26-year-old Julia Law, a paralegal in Peruto’s office.
The cause of the woman’s death was determined by the medical examiner to be alcohol intoxication, according to Peruto’s account.
“In short, the best way to start with this is the medical examiner’s report stating that her [blood alcohol content] was .45 and the cause of death was alcohol intoxication. But because she was found in my tub, everyone, including myself, assumed she drowned,” he says. “So many empty vodka bottles were found [that] it looked like there was a party in my house, but inspection of the security video of people entering and leaving showed only her.”
Peruto also details his experience of being investigated and cleared by homicide detectives.
“When I was finally permitted to re-enter my apartment, there was black dust everywhere, which was residue from collecting fingerprint evidence. You will never understand how hard it is to clean that, until you are in that position,” he says.
He blames a “bitter enemy,” former District Attorney R. Seth Williams, for causing the story to make headlines by “present[ing] this case to the Grand Jury after homicide detectives cleared [Peruto] of any wrongdoing.”
“If it was another boyfriend’s apartment, you would have never heard of the case,” Peruto says.
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Peruto concludes by taking a final shot at Williams, who was recently released from prison after being indicted and sentenced in 2017 on counts of bribery, extortion, and wire fraud.
The Democratic primary for the Philadelphia district attorney’s race is pitting incumbent Larry Krasner against challenger Carlos Vega. Voters will choose a nominee for the general election on May 18. Peruto is running unopposed in the GOP primary.
