(Continued from page 18)

tions and sexual exploitation of a child. Wednesday was the last day for witness testimony for the hearing, and closing arguments are set for June 7.
• Police first thought Hughes, 26, drowned while trying to rescue her daughter from swimming a pool at the commune's complex in Valley Center, a suburb of Wichita.
• But the young woman came forward last year, telling a Sedgwick County sheriff's detective a different version of what happened that day.
• "I decided that I wasn't as scared anymore," she testified.
• She told the court that she walked to the pool with Perez, Hughes and Hughes' 2-year-old daughter, Nicole. The adults unfurled the pool vacuum, so that Hughes' death would look accidental. The woman said Hughes told her, "I will be back, don't worry about me. Just take care of Nicole."
• Hughes and Perez then told the woman to wait with the toddler inside a nearby

shop. She recalled hearing a splash and a scream.
• When Perez came inside, his forearms were wet and he was out of breath.
• "He seemed kind of flustered, kind of sad," she testified.
• Perez had told her to wait 20 minutes before going into the pool with the toddler, and she asked why she needed to get into the pool. She said Perez told her it was so their clothes would be wet.
• Hughes was floating face-down in the shallow end, the woman testified, and despite the toddler's

(Continued on page 20)