Prominent Philadelphia Criminal Defender’s Girlfriend Found Dead in His Home

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The death of Julia Law, the girlfriend of prominent Philadelphia criminal defense attorney A. Charles Peruto, Jr., has rocked Peruto’s law firm, where Law worked as a paralegal. Law was found face down in Peruto’s bathtub on Saturday, while Peruto was visiting his children in New Jersey. No foul play is suspected, but the results of an autopsy have not yet been released.

Law, who would have turned 27 on Tuesday, had been dating Peruto for two months prior to her death. She was spending the night at Peruto’s Center City condo on Friday night, while he was out of town, and had been texting her friends until about 1 a.m. the night of her death. She was discovered at 10 a.m. naked and face down in the bathtub by a one of the condo complex’s maintenance workers.

  

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Upon learning of Law’s death, Peruto quickly drove back to Philadelphia, where he was questioned by Philadelphia homicide detectives. He is currently considered a witness and not a suspect in Law’s death. Peruto was described as distraught at his building on Saturday. Police told Peruto’s colleague, Richard DeSipio, that they did not observe any signs of trauma or injury on Law’s body.

CBS Philly reported that, after Law’s death, Peruto posted about her on Facebook, describing her as his girlfriend and soulmate. “I found my soulmate hippy, and can never replace her. We worked and played, and never got enough life. I’m grateful we made every minute count, without a single dispute about anything ever,” he wrote.

Colleagues at Peruto’s firm described Law as fun and hard-working, and had planned a birthday celebration for her at a restaurant near the office. Law had texted some of her co-workers the night she died, and even mentioned the bathtub where she was found dead, describing Peruto’s condo as a “bachelor pad” because it didn’t have any scented bubble bath.

Philly.com reports that Law’s death is being investigated as “suspicious” until the results of the autopsy are returned by the medical examiner.