Authorities say Dean Peruta delayed disclosing an overnight fall before his 2-week-old son was hospitalized with catastrophic head injuries.
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. — The account Dean R. Peruta gave investigators began with a 3 a.m. feeding: He took his 2-week-old son downstairs, settled onto a couch with the newborn and fell asleep, then awoke to the baby crying on the floor near his feet, according to an arrest warrant.
What happened after that reported fall became as important to investigators as the fall itself. Peruta, 40, told police that the infant appeared to settle after being picked up and that he did not initially think the child was badly hurt. He acknowledged waiting before telling the baby’s mother what had happened, and the warrant says he initially resisted calling 911. By the time medical personnel evaluated the newborn, doctors found extensive head and brain injuries that they said could not be explained by the short fall Peruta had described. Months later, police charged him with murder, murder of a victim under 16 and risk of injury to a child.
According to accounts of the 24-page warrant, Peruta said the baby had seemed well enough after the alleged fall that he was not immediately alarmed. He said the child stopped crying and went through what he considered a normal diaper change. He also told detectives he was frightened to tell the baby’s mother about the incident. Investigators learned that he initially represented the night as having passed without a significant problem before later acknowledging the fall after the mother noticed bruising. The warrant further alleges that when the possibility of calling emergency services arose, Peruta argued against doing so.
Emergency crews ultimately responded Dec. 21, 2025, to a home on Church Street in Willimantic. A firefighter who later spoke with investigators said the reported explanation was that the infant had fallen about 3 feet the previous night while Peruta was caring for him. Responders found the baby unresponsive, according to reports on the warrant. He was taken to Windham Hospital, where the seriousness of his condition led doctors to transfer him by LifeStar to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. At that point, a domestic account of an accidental fall had become a medical emergency and a police investigation.
The hospital findings changed the direction of the inquiry. Doctors identified swelling near the infant’s left ear, bleeding inside the brain, a fracture on the left side of the skull and a stroke. The baby was intubated and could not breathe independently. A Department of Children and Families social worker later told police that the child also had retinal hemorrhages in both eyes and no brain-stem reflexes, according to WFSB’s report on the warrant. Medical staff said the pattern was consistent with inflicted trauma rather than the brief household fall that had been described to them.
Investigators returned to Peruta’s account as doctors provided additional opinions. A trauma physician said the force involved was inconsistent with a fall of roughly 3 feet and would have required a substantially greater height or another significant source of force, according to the warrant. Other medical professionals described the injuries as nonaccidental and cited abusive head trauma among the possible mechanisms reflected in the findings. Police did not publicly claim that doctors had witnessed the injury occur. Instead, the medical conclusions were used to challenge whether Peruta’s explanation could account for the newborn’s condition.
Peruta was interviewed again several days after the hospitalization. He continued to say that he had fallen asleep with the child and did not know precisely how the baby ended up on the floor. Investigators confronted him with the medical assessment that the injuries did not match his version of events. He also acknowledged drinking alcohol that night, describing the amount as ordinary for him while denying that he was an alcoholic, according to the warrant. His alcohol use was included in the investigative record, but the publicly reported material does not establish that alcohol itself caused the child’s injuries.
The infant never recovered. As his condition declined, doctors discussed end-of-life measures with the family. He was pronounced dead Dec. 27 after medical testing showed that he had lost brain function. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner subsequently determined that the cause of death was blunt-force injury to the head and classified the manner as homicide. That determination established that the death resulted from another person’s action in the medical examiner’s classification system; determining whether Peruta committed a criminal homicide is a separate question for the justice system.
The police investigation continued for more than eight months after the child died. During that period, detectives obtained information beyond the medical record and Peruta’s description of the night. His former wife gave investigators an audio recording in which he allegedly discussed harsh physical discipline of children. According to reports on the warrant, Peruta talked about making children fear a parent and about using physical or psychological harm as a means of control. Police also said he admitted having struck his daughter in the back of the head and compared his approach to discipline with beating a dog during house training. The statements were included in the warrant but do not substitute for proof of what occurred in the newborn’s death.
The lengthy infant investigation unfolded while Peruta became the defendant in another serious case. Willimantic officers arrested him in May after responding to a third-party report involving a woman at a home in the city. Police said officers approaching the residence heard the woman repeatedly yelling for help and made an emergency entry. Authorities alleged that Peruta had entered without permission, tackled the woman and assaulted her, including by strangulation. He was charged with offenses including attempted murder and home invasion. He later faced allegations that he violated a protective order. Each of those accusations is separate from the infant case.
By September, Peruta was already incarcerated when investigators completed the homicide warrant. Police obtained it Sept. 10 and served it Sept. 15 when Peruta was in Danielson Superior Court for proceedings connected to the other criminal case. The new charges formally moved the infant investigation into the prosecution stage. A judge set bond at $2 million in the homicide matter. Other reporting on state court records indicated that additional bonds applied in Peruta’s other pending cases, bringing the total amount associated with the separate proceedings above the bond set in the infant case alone.
The chronology leaves a series of questions that will be addressed through the court process rather than the arrest warrant. Prosecutors would have to prove the homicide charges beyond a reasonable doubt, including the required elements of the offenses, while the defense may challenge the state’s interpretation of the medical evidence, statements or other records. No trial testimony establishing the precise sequence that produced the fatal injuries has yet been reported. The warrant represents investigators’ probable-cause case, not a verdict.
Currently, Peruta remains accused, not convicted, in connection with his son’s death. The most recent publicly reported scheduling information listed a Nov. 17 appearance in Danielson Superior Court for the murder and related proceedings. Until the case is resolved by plea, dismissal or trial, the allegation that he caused the newborn’s fatal injuries remains one the state must prove in court.
Author note: Last updated November 6, 2026.