A chilling case has reached its conclusion as a California man was convicted of murdering several of his infant children over a span of nine years, more than two decades ago.

Paul Allen Perez, now 63, faced a jury on January 6, where he was found guilty on multiple murder charges, as announced by the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office in a news release.

According to reports from the Sacramento Bee and Davis Enterprise, Perez was convicted on one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder. However, the jury acquitted him of murder charges related to a fifth child’s death and could not reach a unanimous decision on an involuntary manslaughter charge.

The district attorney’s office also confirmed that Perez was convicted of assaulting a child under the age of eight, with force likely to cause great bodily harm, resulting in death.

The murders, as highlighted in the news release, took place between 1992 and 2001 across various locations in Central and Northern California.

Perez’s crimes began to be uncovered in 2007, when a fisherman discovered the remains of an infant in a cooler weighed down and submerged in a waterway in Woodland, Calif., according to a Yolo County Sheriff’s Office news release.

It wasn’t until 2019 that the infant was identified by forensic DNA comparison as Nikko Lee Perez. Familial DNA found that Paul Allen Perez was the baby’s father, and that the baby had four siblings—one of whom was known to be dead, and three of which were believed to be dead, with their bodies never found.

In January 2020, authorities arrested Perez on suspicion of the murder of each child, saying all five had died under the age of six months.

“These crimes involved pure evil,” Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in a statement following the verdict. “The defendant should die in prison. May the souls of his murdered children rest in peace.”

Perez faces life in prison without parole, according to the news release. His sentencing is scheduled for April 6.

has reached out to Perez’s public defender for comment.