Perez was last seen in Seattle, Washington on March 5, 2011. She left her home in the Ranier Beach area en route of the campus of the University of Washington, where she was a freshman, but she apparently never arrived there. She was last seen at the Safeway store in the University District between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. Perez may have been carrying a denim drawstring bag with a rainbow-printed butterfly screen print, containing a Macbook Pro laptop, at the time of her disappearance.

Little information is available in Perez's case, but it's uncharacteristic of her to leave of her own accord. Her parents live in New Jersey and she lived with her aunt and uncle at the time of her disappearance. Perez's cousin is Michelle Malkin, a noted conservative journalist and author. Her disappearance remains unsolved.