The Dark Legacy of Reginald Perkins

Early Shadows: Childhood to Cleveland

Reginald Perkins was born on April 29, 1955, in the quiet rural stretches of Woodruff County, Arkansas. His early life was marked by a restless movement from the place of his birth to the vast and bustling state of Texas. It was there, amid the southern landscapes, that Perkins spent his formative years before moving in the 1970s to Cleveland, Ohio, to be near his mother. In this city of industry and opportunity, he found work as a laborer, plumber, and truck driver, yet beneath this facade of normalcy, a much darker narrative began to unfold.

Seeds of Violence: The Ohio Murders

The year was 1979 when Perkins started dating Ramola Nelson Washington, a relationship that became pivotal in the unfolding saga of violence. By 1980, they were living together, and it was on April 4 of that year that Perkins committed a heinous act against a 12-year-old girl, a friend of his younger sister, by raping her in an abandoned house on Cleveland's East Side. This act set a precedent for the violence that would soon escalate.

Later that year, the brutality continued. On October 23, 1980, the lifeless body of 21-year-old Paula Nelson, Washington's sister, was discovered strangled in her Cleveland bedroom. Days before, Washington had overheard Perkins confiding to his brother that something had happened to Paula. The pattern of violence persisted when, on December 13, Perkins attempted to rape another 12-year-old, the daughter of a neighbor, although he was stopped before completing the act. He chillingly threatened to kill anyone who discovered the attempted assault.

The new year brought more tragedy. On January 4, 1981, 43-year-old Jennie Morman was found dead in her apartment, suffocated with a scarf, her face obscured by pillows. Perkins had been romantically involved with Morman's daughter, even fathering a child with her. Then, on January 23, 1981, Jerry Dean Thomas, the mother of the girl Perkins had attempted to attack, was found strangled with a hairdryer cord in her basement. Her murder followed shortly after she learned of Perkins' assault on her daughter.

Despite the mounting evidence, police in Cleveland questioned Perkins but could not link him definitively to the three murders. However, on November 12, 1981, he was convicted for the rape and attempted rape of the two young girls, resulting in a life sentence.

A Brief Freedom: Texas Murders

In 1990, Perkins was paroled and relocated to Fort Worth, Texas, where the cycle of death continued. On May 6, 1991, the bodies of 79-year-old Hattie Wilson and her niece, 44-year-old Shirley Douglas, were discovered strangled in Wilson's Fort Worth apartment. Perkins was romantically involved with Wilson's granddaughter at the time. In 1993, he faced incarceration again in Ohio for failing to attend mandatory sex offender classes. By 1999, the court had classified him as a sexual predator.

Once more paroled in 2000, Perkins returned to Texas and worked as a truck driver for his father and stepmother's company. It was here that his most notorious crime unfolded. On December 4, 2000, Gertie Mae Perkins, his 64-year-old stepmother, vanished after failing to pick up her grandson from school. Authorities searching her home noted suspicious signs: a disconnected phone, missing carpet, and several sheets gone. That same day, Perkins pawned her wedding ring. He was promptly arrested for not registering as a sex offender. Under questioning, Perkins led police to Gertie's car, where her body lay in the trunk.

Justice and Desperation: Trial and Execution

Reginald Perkins faced indictment and trial in Tarrant County, Texas. Given his violent past, the prosecution sought the death penalty, presenting witnesses who linked him to the unsolved Cleveland murders, asserting that Perkins was the likely culprit. Ramola Washington testified that Perkins confessed to murdering her sister, Paula Nelson, in a call from jail, seeking forgiveness. Another inmate claimed Perkins admitted to killing Gertie, describing how he beat her to death before robbing her. On March 4, 2002, Perkins was convicted of capital murder for Gertie Mae Perkins, receiving a death sentence on March 22, 2002.

The web of Perkins' crimes grew even more tangled in November 2008 when DNA evidence tied him conclusively to the 1991 murders of Hattie Wilson and Shirley Douglas in Fort Worth.

On January 22, 2009, Reginald Perkins was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas. His last moments were spent proclaiming his innocence, a statement given to a prison official an hour before his execution. His final breath was taken at 6:24 p.m., closing the chapter on a life marked by deception and violence. Kevin Rousseau, the attorney who prosecuted him, fittingly described Perkins as a "consummate liar and a con artist."

Sources

• Reginald Perkins #1141 - Clark County Prosecutor
• The Plain Dealer - Man executed in Texas was suspect in Cleveland killings
• Casetext - State v. Perkins, No. 77160
• Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Reginald Perkins
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Reginald Perkins is already on Death Row
• The Marshall News Messenger - Man convicted of strangling stepmother executed
• Texas Execution Information Center - Execution Report: Reginald Perkins
• Casetext - Perkins v. Quarterman
• TCADP - Death row inmate tied to 2 more homicides
• The San Diego Union Tribune - 2 convicted killers executed in Texas, Oklahoma
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Man executed in stepmom's death
• Longview News-Journal - Suspected serial killer executed