AUSTIN, Texas – A Texas Department of Public Safety K-9 Tracking Team arrested a man wanted for murder after a two-mile, three-hour manhunt in Frio County earlier this month.
At around 7:30 p.m. on July 11, DPS K-9 handler Trooper Landon Rabun received information from a Medina County sheriff’s deputy who was involved in a vehicle pursuit on Interstate 35 with the murder suspect.
During the pursuit, the driver, identified as Naudy Hernandez Perez, 25, eventually stopped along the interstate in Frio County and fled the vehicle on foot and into the brush.
Multiple law enforcement agencies established a security perimeter in the area and provided security cover for the K-9 Team.
K-9 Bona and Rabun tracked Perez through the brush using human odor from Perez’s abandoned vehicle. After two miles and nearly three hours later, the K-9 team found Perez attempting to hide underneath a thick tree.
Perez was arrested without incident and transported to the Medina County Jail. He faces charges of murder and evading arrest.
K-9 Bona is a 3-year-old female Belgian Malinois that joined DPS in 2022 and is among the agency’s more than 70 commissioned K-9s stationed throughout the state.
As part of the Texas Highway Patrol, DPS K-9s like Bona play an integral role in stopping criminals and detecting narcotics and explosives in communities across Texas, a news release said.