In a tragic turn of events, a Colorado mother of three was discovered deceased in a trash can, over a week after she was reported missing. Her children’s mother is now facing homicide charges linked to her death.

The individual charged with the murder of 37-year-old Annette Marie Valdez is Thomas Parales, according to KUSA.

Valdez disappeared on November 28, after failing to return home following Thanksgiving celebrations. Her body was subsequently located on December 4 in the vicinity of Willowbrook Park, situated in Westminster, a suburb located to the north of Denver.

The following day, Perales was taken into custody. The arrest affidavit reveals that he transported her body, concealed in blankets and placed in a shopping cart, for several days.

During a police interview, he allegedly confessed to having “blacked out” during a Thanksgiving argument, during which he covered her mouth and put her in a chokehold. Upon finding her unresponsive, he said he panicked and attempted to dispose of her body by placing it in a trash can to remove it from his apartment.

“You know I killed my wife and paraded her around?” he reportedly told detectives.

According to court records and police reports, Perales had a history of domestic violence involving Valdez and her children, most recently on October 24 in Northglenn, when Valdez telephoned her mother and said she was “scared” as Perales tried to pry open her door with a knife or kick it in. She watched the events on a Ring camera.

When officers responded, they found the deadbolt “so damaged they believed it was slightly ajar” and the Ring camera and peephole smeared with red paint. They found Perales nearby, carrying a red paint marker.

He was arrested and charged with domestic violence, violation of a protection order, criminal mischief, and obstructing a peace officer. But he was handed probation sentence and released from jail, leaving him clear to murder Valdez two weeks later.

Police records showed “multiple recent domestic-violence related cases” — 67 in the last two years — relating to Perales and Valdez, who family said had been trying to separate from her eventual killer for years.

“We’ve tried so much to get her away from him,” her brother, Adam Larson, said. “Every single time she went right back [saying,] ‘That’s my kids’ father.’”

Valdez’s three daughters are now staying with family, which is raising money for a funeral and to help support the children.

“We miss our mom more than anything … and she got taken from us … by him,” her daughter, Ace Valdez, told KDVR.

“She is a domestic-violence victim …,” Valdez’s sister-in-law, Analisa Larson, told KUSA. “It changes your brain, so she would let him back.”

But still she filed for protection orders — and court kept letting him back out on the streets.

Perales has now been charged with second-degree murder, violation of a protection order/domestic violence, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. He’s been given a $100,000 bond, according to Adams County jail records.