Milwaukee fatal hit-and-run crash; Xavier Perez made initial appearance in court

MILWAUKEE - Xavier Perez, the 20-year-old Milwaukee man charged in connection with a fatal hit-and-run crash that happened on the city's south side in August 2024, made his initial appearance in court on Monday, July 21. Cash bond was set at $100,000. 

Perez is charged with the following criminal counts: second-degree reckless homicide and hit-and-run resulting in death. He is due back in court on July 28 for his preliminary hearing. 

Fatal hit-and-run crash

What we know:

According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee police were dispatched on the morning of Aug. 26, 2024, to Muskego and Rogers on the city's south side for a crash. When officers arrived on the scene, they found a gray Toyota SUV with substantial front-end damage up on the sidewalk. The Toyota had made contact with a building. The driver of the SUV was unresponsive. Paramedics took the woman to Froetdert Hospital for treatment of her injuries, but she was pronounced deceased a few hours later.

Another officer located the striking vehicle, a white Cadillac SUV, which was listed as stolen, the complaint says. When officers arrived on the scene, the people inside the Cadillac had already left the scene. The Cadillac was near the Toyota -- and the vehicle's "engine had been dislodged from the vehicle, and came to rest" about 20 yards from the Cadillac, the complaint says.

Surveillance recovered

What we know:

Investigators were able to locate surveillance video of the collision from a variety of angles. In one version, the Cadillac is "observed traveling southbound on S. Muskego Ave. at an extremely high rate of speed. Approximately 370 feet north of the point of collision, the Cadillac can be observed swerving into the northbound lane of traffic to pass another vehicle on the left. After passing that vehicle, the Cadillac can be observed beginning to turn from the southbound lane into the northbound lane just prior to colliding with the Toyota head on," the complaint says. The complaint goes on to say the "video shows a fireball, later observed to be the Cadillac's engine, slide further south on S. Muskego Ave. to the point where it later comes to rest in the middle of the street." The video then shows a man and woman jumping out of the Cadillac and run.

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A crime scene investigator swabbed the Cadillac for blood and DNA. An officer also reviewed the Cadillac's computer system and learned the SUV "was traveling approximately 70 miles per hour in the moments just prior to the collision," the complaint says. The wreck happened in a zone with a 30 mph speed limit.

Anonymous tip

Dig deeper:

On Sept. 10, 2024, Milwaukee police received an anonymous tip that the defendant, Xavier Perez, was the driver of the Cadillac in the crash -- and that his girlfriend was the passenger.

On Nov. 5, 2024, a detective interviewed the woman who stated that the phone located in the Cadillac was hers. She said the phone had been stolen and "she was never in the Cadillac," the complaint says.

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DNA samples

What we don't know:

Another detective got DNA samples from the girlfriend, and later the defendant. Those samples were sent to the state crime lab for comparison against the DNA samples swabbed from the Cadillac.

On May 23, 2025, Milwaukee police received notice from the state crime lab that "swabs collected from the Cadillac's windshield contained DNA that was consistent with the defendant's DNA profile," the complaint says. Other samples swabbed from the Cadillac were a match as well.