Man borrows phone to call 911, admits to 2008 killing of his former landlord, police say

Mug shot of Tony Peralta, 37. (Chaves County Jail )A New Mexico man, overwhelmed by guilt, borrowed a cellphone to call 911 and confess to the 2008 killing of his former landlord and he also told police where the body was buried, authorities said Tuesday.Police said Tony Ray Peralta, 37, of Roswell, was booked into the Chaves County jail on suspicion of murder.They said Peralta went to a store Monday afternoon, borrowed a cellphone to call 911 and told a dispatcher that he had killed someone.

Officers went to the store and Peralta was detained for questioning.Police investigators then obtained a search warrant for a house where Peralta had been a tenant of 69-year-old William Blodgett.

He told them where he buried the body, and they found a boot, bones and dentures after removing plywood floorboards from a detached room on the side of the house.A tearful Peralta told police during an interview that he didn't know why he had killed Blodgett and that he just needed to confess, according to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.Peralta told police he decided to come forward because "his heart hurts" and that the killing had been eating at him.

He told the officer to tell Blodgett's family "that he was a good man and that he didn't deserve what I did.""I don't have an excuse," he told police, according to the affidavit. "A lot of people have an excuse, I don't have one."Peralta was being represented by the major crimes unit within the public defender’s office."We are just beginning to work with Mr.