Authorities Await Toxicology Results After Lawyer's Girlfriend Found Dead
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Authorities say they are now waiting on toxicology results as they try to determine the cause of death of the girlfriend and paralegal to well-known Philadelphia defense attorney A. Charles Peruto, Jr.
Julia Law was found dead in the tub in Peruto's Center City home on Saturday (see previous story).
Attorney Rich DeSipio, a friend and associate of A. Charles "Chuck" Peruto Junior, who rushed to the scene after getting a frantic call from Peruto Saturday morning, says police have told him there were no signs of a struggle or foul play. DeSipio says Peruto was down the shore when he got a call from a maintenance man who discovered the body, and Peruto called DeSipio.
"Chuck just wouldn't stop crying, at all. I mean, he is just devastated. I was worried he was going to get into an accident. I then rushed back, rushed over to his house, found out it was true, because the police were and they let me know. I called Chuck back, and he lost it when it was confirmed this really was happening," DeSipio recalls.
In a texted statement, Peruto says, in part, "Julia was a beautiful, caring, free spirit hippy," and he was blessed to have known her.
