Glam post-prison lifetime of lady who killed boyfriend in YouTube prank gone mistaken
A pregnant lady jailed after taking pictures her boyfriend useless in a YouTube prank gone mistaken is now dwelling a glamourous life as a mannequin and trend blogger.
Monalisa Perez, 26, pleaded responsible to the second-degree manslaughter of her associate Pedro Ruiz, 22, who she had been relationship for 5 years, again in June 2017.
Perez and Ruiz collectively had filmed a number of YouTube movies doing stunts and finishing all types of challenges, however what would turn into their final went tragically mistaken and led to dying in entrance of their younger daughter.
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Chillingly, Perez tweeted how harmful the prank was previous to the incident: “Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. His idea, not mine.”
In the footage Ruiz rambles to the digicam telling his followers what’s about to unfold earlier than displaying off his handgun, a 50-calbre desert eagle dipped in gold. “I’m going to stand behind it [the book] and Monalisa is going to shoot it,” he says.
“Let me be the one to do the crazy stuff people don’t imagine of doing. You see all my role models: Nigel Circus, Jackass, you know big name stars – that’s who I look up to. But my purpose is to be crazier than them.
“I may fail but if I fail, I want to die trying. We’re all going to die anyways, it’s just a matter of how and when.”
Minnesota lady Perez, who was seven months pregnant with their second youngster on the time, is then requested by Ruiz to fireplace the gun from 30cm away as he holds the hardback to guard himself from the bullet. The ebook then pierces by way of the 1.5-inch thick ebook and into Pedro proper in entrance of their daughter, 7.
Perez had completed a trial-run earlier than and the bullet did not utterly pierce by way of the ebook, so he thought the thickness of the encyclopaedia would shield him.
Ruiz’ aunt Claudia Ruiz instructed reporters on the time: “I wish they wouldn’t have done it. I wish he would’ve just done another prank. They were in love. It was just a prank gone wrong. It shouldn’t have happened like this. It shouldn’t have happened at all.”
In March 2018 Perez was sentenced to an 180-day jail time period, alternating between 10 days in jail and 10 days out for the primary six months, amounting to 90 days behind bars. The remaining 90 days was served in house confinement.
Lawyer James Brue mentioned it was “foolish stunt” dreamed up, deliberate and executed by Ruiz, and that Perez “wrongfully and tragically relied on his assurances that the stunt was safe”. Perez was additionally banned from proudly owning firearms for all times and the choose ordered she make no monetary achieve from the case.
But now Perez appears to be dwelling her greatest life – and it does not look low-cost both. Instagram title monalisa.perez, she now manufacturers herself as a artistic, mannequin and co-founder, and often updates her followers with trend posts and her present being pregnant – typically baring her tummy.
In an interview with InForum in 2021, Perez alongside her new fiancé Tyler Blake discuss their tough pasts, with Perez admitting she was on the verge of suicide after taking pictures useless Ruiz.
“You have to grasp, too, that I met Pedro once I was 14, and he actually moulded me into the individual he wished me to be,” she told the website. “I received pregnant at 15 with him, and I used to be pregnant in the course of the scenario, too, at 19.
“He was very impressive to me. This sounds really weird, but I looked at him like my king, anything he said I’d be like ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ Because if I didn’t do it, he would manipulate me and tell me ‘Oh, you’re not good enough,’ or ‘I can go find someone better than you’.
“I don’t think I can fully heal from that situation. I have to move forward because I have two kids who look up to me.”
Perez was threatened and referred to as a “monster” for the taking pictures however as an alternative of folding, she launched clothes model Wake with fiancé Blake as technique of empowering herself. She mentioned: “Wake is all about troubled individuals and troubled children who’ve gone by way of one thing and assume they’ll’t overcome it.
“I was that 19-year-old girl who wanted to kill myself for almost a year-and-a-half because I thought I had no purpose after what happened.”
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