Philadelphia DA candidate addresses woman found dead in his home

A Philadelphia district attorney candidate on his campaign website is addressing the death of a woman whose body was found in his home.

Charles Peruto Jr.’s website features multiple sections, including ones titled “Black Lives Matter,” “The Opioid Crisis” and, on his “About Me” page, “The Girl in My Bathtub.”

The lengthy section details the incident involving an ex-girlfriend who was found dead in his bathtub.

“There shouldn’t have to be a section for this on anyone’s campaign site, but because some people will not let this go away, I must address it,” he begins the statement.

Peruto goes on to explain that he was out of town when the incident occurred, which he claims can be corroborated by cell phone records.

“The evening before, I was actually texting with her which the pings corroborated as well,” he writes. “I was with several people who all gave statements or testified.”

He also states that “so many empty vodka bottles were found, it looked like there was a party in my house, but inspection of the security video of people entering and leaving showed only her.”

Her blood alcohol content was 0.45 percent at the time of her death, Peruto notes. The legal limit in Pennsylvania is .08 percent.

Peruto then details a feud with a political rival he claims tried to implicate him in a crime.

“The long story short is that I was not her only boyfriend, but it was my apartment where she expired. If it was another boyfriend’s apartment, you would have never heard of the case,” he says.

He concludes the statement by writing, “This is my complete explanation for the darkest moment of my life.”

Peruto notes that he felt compelled to address the situation because it continues to follow him throughout his political career.

Many times, “qualified people won’t get into politics because silly things in their background will come up, that they have no control over,” he added.

The Daily Beast noted that at the time of her death, the woman was 26 years old and had been a paralegal in 66-year-old Peruto’s law office.