RED FLAGS

Mom Accused of Killing 5-Year-Old Son Lost Custody of Her Kids Years Earlier

Jannie Perry was reportedly known to child welfare workers years before she was charged with first-degree homicide for Damari Perry’s death.

The suburban Chicago mother accused of killing her son on the eve of his sixth birthday last week had previously lost custody of several children as a result of domestic violence allegations, the Chicago Tribune reports. Jannie Perry was known to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for years before she was charged with first-degree murder in connection with her son Damari Perry’s death. Prosecutors say the child was left in a cold shower as a twisted form of punishment, ignored when he showed signs of medical distress, and then dumped near an abandoned home in Gary, Indiana, when it was clear he was dead. According to DCFS records cited by the Tribune, six of Perry’s children were removed from her custody in 2014, a year before Damari was born. The boy was then born straight into DCFS custody in December 2015, and immediately went into foster care. Perry got custody of her kids back in 2017, and although there was a May 2021 investigation into alleged abuse or neglect, the accusation was ultimately deemed to be unfounded.