Two years, plus pain: Bend family waits for justice, answers

One of Ed Munoz’s favorite photos of his son is the last one he took of him.

“He saw the sunset, and he just said, ‘I want to look at it a little more,’ and he climbed up on the roof,” Munoz recalled.

It was also one of the last sunsets Shane Munoz ever saw. Since then, there has been hundreds more setting skies, but few answers about how or why Shane died after he was gunned down in a northwest Bend home.

“Two years, two months and three weeks later, and this so-called ‘home invasion’ justified homicide — and the case is still open,” Munoz said.

It’s been heartbreaking for parents who are just as confused today as they where on the day that changed everything.

“We never, ever dreamed that this would happen to him,” said Shane’s mother, Kathy Gilliam. “He wasn’t that kind of person. We talked to all his friends, his boss. He was well-loved and respected.”

The latest public development in the case came in March 2013, when Deschutes County District Attorney Patrick Flaherty asked Bend police to re-examine the case.

Although police and the DA would not speak about the case or verify any details of the shooting, Shane’s family is now breaking its silence on the investigation — saying they’ve been waiting too long for the truth about that tragic night.

“My son was shot in the back with a gun pressed against his back, contact shot,” Munoz said, citing conversations he had with the medical examiner and the DA. “I’ve been disgusted, frustrated, angry — you name it. I’ve run every emotion there is to run.”

Since the shooting, little information has been released about what happened in the early morning of June 24th, 2012. Much of what’s known about the case has only come from what the shooter, 37-year-old Kevin Perry, told police — a case of self-defense ending in tragedy.

Both Flaherty and Perry declined to comment for this story.

NewsChannel 21 obtained a mugshot of Perry, who now lives in Eugene. He was most recently arrested for drunk driving in October 2013.

Perry is the son of billionaire Wayne Perry, a retired businessman in the cellular industry and a former pPresident of the Boy Scouts of America.

At the time of the shooting, Perry told police he and his girlfriend, now 35 year-old Amanda Weinman of Eugene, had come back to his Awbrey Butte home to find an intruder had kicked in the door.

A fight ensued, and that’s when Perry said he shot a stranger in self-defense.

But how Shane got to Perry’s home seems to be the biggest mystery of all. The house is located more than a mile from where Shane was last seen in downtown Bend.

Was it a random home invasion? Ed Munoz doesn’t think so. He’s got a different idea of what happened that night.

It all started on June 23rd 2012. The 33-year-old Shane went to meet friends at the Bite of Bend festival. Later that night he, went to a few bars and was last seen at Silver Moon Brewing, where he reportedly was asked to leave after eating from a customer’s plate.

Munoz said his son’s wallet and cellphone were left at the bar, and his bike was still locked up outside.

What happened next, his parents can only guess.

“He was invited into that home, or he was taken there against his will. But to have walked up there randomly is absurd,” Munoz said.

Shortly after the shooting, friends of Shane also told NewsChannel 21 that he had been spotted downtown with Weinman and Perry.

“He didn’t have a car, he didn’t have a weapon, he wasn’t fully dressed when they found him,” Gilliam said.

Munoz added that police told the family that Perry had told investigators he and Weinman had returned home to find Shane asleep on their couch before the fight broke out.

“He was found with his shirt off and shoes tucked neatly under the couch,” Munoz said. “He had scuff marks on his knees, a few bruises, and a bite mark that had her (Weinman’s) DNA in it.”

There might be only three people who’ll ever know exactly what happened that night, but Munoz is positive of two things — that Perry should be in jail:

“The man who shot my son in the back was not only under the influence of alcohol, but had five different drugs in his system, who immediately quits cooperating with police and the investigation, hires a criminal defense attorney — and expects us to want to believe him,” Ed Munoz said. “I’ve talked to a lot of people, and I’ve yet to find one person who can tell me Perry is a nice guy.”

And he says his son is innocent.

“He’s not a thief,” Munoz said. He’s never stolen anything in his life, doesn’t own a weapon, never been in a fight.”

However, court records show Shane had several run-ins with the law — including minor-in-possession charges, a DUII, possession of marijuana and two restraining orders filed by an ex-girlfriend.

Munoz admits his son was not perfect, but says he had long left a troubled youth behind.

“Shane had his problems, like most people,” Munoz said. But he was a peace-loving person. He was a good soul, a happy soul.”

Those are the memories the family keeps alive, as they fight to keep the case alive.

“Everyone’s moved on, even the DA,” Munoz said. “And here we are, two years, two months and three weeks later. For us, there’s not a day that goes by that we’re not looking at something.”

Pressing on not just for themselves, but for the son who lost a father.

“You can’t look at Makai and not think of Shane,” Gilliam said. “He loves baseball. His dad taught him how to play baseball.”

The shy 7-year-old boy with brown hair and eyes has a sweet swing of the bat. And although he no longer plays catch with his dad, he catches up with him at first base — which also doubles as a memorial headstone dedicated to Shane.

“I miss him being there for his son,” Gilliam said. “It’s important for me to know he remembers his father and that he had a father that did love him.”

For the family, he’s the piece of Shane driving hope that someday they’ll stop counting the days.

“I believe reckoning day is coming,” Munoz said.

Munoz and Gilliam believe there is somebody out there who knows what happened to Shane that night, or may have saw something. They ask anyone with information to call Bend police at 541-322-2960.