Victim's family, friends testify she lived in fear of her son, on trial for her murder
NEWARK − Family members and friends of Debra Perrine described a volatile relationship between the Newark woman and her son, David Perrine, who is on trial for her December 2022 murder.
The prosecution also provided testimony from police about their investigation and the evidence during the first two days of the murder trial in Licking County Common Pleas Court.
Investigators found Debra Perrine, 67, buried in a shallow grave in the backyard of her home at 207 Darlene Drive in Newark on Dec. 29, 2022, which was 12 days after the missing woman had last been seen. She had obvious signs of trauma, police said.
Licking County Prosecutor Jenny Wells said they intend to prove David Perrine killed his mother sometime between Dec. 17 and Dec. 22, hitting her in the head multiple times with an object and stabbing her 14 times in the face, neck and upper torso.
David Perrine, who was 40 at the time of his mother's death, faces murder charges in the jury trial, expected to conclude next week.
Seth Wade, grandson of Debra Perrine and nephew of the defendant, called the Licking County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 22, 2022, fearing the worst.
“I thought something was wrong when I wasn’t getting a direct answer to where she was,” Wade testified. “I called and David answered. I said I wanted to talk to granny and David said she’s not here. He said, ‘She’s no longer with us.’”
A few months earlier, Wade said his grandmother told him her biggest fear.
“She said she’s afraid David is going to kill her," Wade testified.
Tammy Ruhl, sister of the victim, testified that she talked to Debra Perrine near Thanksgiving 2022, but was unable to reach her in December. In October, Ruhl took her sister to a safe house.
“She was scared a lot of the time,” Ruhl said. “She loved David and wanted the best for him and wanted to be there even though she was scared a lot. I was so worried about her.”
The relationship between mother and son was very stressful, Ruhl testified.
“It was dysfunctional,” Ruhl said. “A lot of anger. She wanted things to be better and different. She was done. She’d been put through a lot.”
Barb Schwenke, a sister-in-law of Debra, lived in Florida, but often visited for six months, staying with the victim. In the winter, Debra often visited Schwenke in Florida.
A couple months before Debra Perrine’s death, Schwenke tried to convince Debra to come to Florida to get away from her son.
“She was afraid of him,” Schwenke said. “She’d just say how much she hated him and didn’t want him around her. In the fall of 2022, she said she needed to get out of Ohio because she was afraid, and I paid for a plane ticket for the end of October."
Perrine did not make the trip, so Schwenke wanted to try again after Thanksgiving, but David hurt his hand and his mother stayed in Ohio. Schwenke then got a plane ticket for January 2023.
“She never made it,” Schwenke said.
James Silliman, a longtime friend of Debra Perrine, testified that he was in regular contact with her by text and saw her about once a month.
"We had a code when we spoke on the phone or texted to make sure it was her I was talking to because she was afraid, and David would take her phone," Silliman said. "She was afraid of him. She was scared to death he might kill her. He threatened it many times.”
The prosecution played for the court telephone conversations between the mother and son when he was in jail in recent years.
In an audio recording from Aug. 3, 2021, Debra tells David, “I'm not going to live with you no more. I keep telling you this. You blame me for your life.”
David responds, “I’m not going to live with you. I (expletive) hate you. I can’t wait until you die.”
Halley Seabolt, who dated David Perrine in December 2022, testified Wednesday that she once saw the mother and son in a dispute, and remembered what he said immediately afterward.
“We were walking away, and he said, 'I swear I’m going to make that woman come up missing one day,'” Seabolt said.
Search for missing woman turns up evidence of murder
The missing person case became a homicide investigation on Dec. 23, 2022, when Licking County Sheriff’s Office deputies executed a no-knock search warrant at 207 Darlene Drive, looking for Debra Perrine.
Det. Tanner Vogelmeier, assigned to the Licking County Sheriff’s SWAT team as the breacher, said the unannounced visit to the home was the only way to find the missing woman. Seabolt testified David Perrine said his mother moved to Florida.
“We learned she was missing and there were conflicting stories about her residence,” Vogelmeier said. “Her cellphone pinged to her residence, and she was not answering. Family had not heard from her since Thanksgiving.”
The deputies broke into the home and found two occupants — David Perrine and Ulysses Dansby. Police said Dansby has since been cleared of killing Debra Perrine.
Vogelmeier testified that police found blood on Debra Perrine’s bed and on the bedroom wall, and a large section of the mattress was cut out and removed. Pieces of the mattress were later found in a trash can in the garage, covered in blood.
Timothy Elliget, employed by Newark police and assigned as a criminalist with Central Ohio Regional Crime Lab, was called out to assist.
“There was a significant amount of blood,” Elliget said.
Sheriff's Det. Justin Woodyard said the blood matched Debra Perrine and David Perrine.
On Dec. 28, as snow started to melt, investigators noticed loose dirt sitting on top of the ground. They contacted the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, put a tent over the site and began thawing it out.
The following day, BCI excavated the site and discovered the body of the victim.
“The majority of the stab wounds occurred on the bed,” Elliget testified. “It may have started somewhere else, but the majority occurred on the bed. The injury to the victim was concentrated to the left upper chest area and shoulder.”
Two impressions on the foam bed padding were consistent with boot footprints similar to the blood-stained work boots found in the house, Elliget testified.
“The best I can say is this shoe or one similar to it made this impression,” Elliget said.
Seabolt testified that she couldn't remember if David Perrine wore those boots on any specific day, but that he did wear them often.
Woodyard testified that marks on the bottom of David’s boots were consistent with using a shovel,
“That’s where your foot is going to hit the shovel to dig a hole,” Woodyard said.
Seabolt said the last time she saw David Perrine was Dec. 19.
"He said my mom moved to Florida. Do you and the kids want to spend the night,” Seabolt said.
Seabolt and her three children did go to Perrine's home. She said the only things she noticed being different were cinder blocks removed from outside the back door and the PlayStation game missing.
She said she saw no blood and smelled no bleach, but David kept the lights off in Debra's bedroom when they walked through the room for him to show her the jacuzzi in the bathroom.
"I did think that was strange," Seabolt said.
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Murder victim's family, friends testify she lived in fear of her son
