Teacher Found Murdered After Visit from Former Neighbor

- Jacksonville 911. - My friend hadn't called me back. I just came into her house. She's on the floor. It looks like there's some blood. Please send somebody. - The most shocking thing about this whole case was just the brutality of the murder. This is a very slow and painful death. - She had the towel wrapped all the way around her head. So I pulled it back up to Viv and she didn't respond. - The car really became the motivating factor. - Go to the ground now. - We'll get on the ground. - For almost two years, investigators believe they're chasing the truth behind one horrific crime, but it turns out it is a lot more complicated than that. - So first he talked to me about his first incident with a female named Cricket. So he gonna tell her about the Cricket situation. Instead of letting her go to the police, he strangled her the same way. Still waiting in line? Again? That's time you'll never get back. Save time and money with Stamps.com. Over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with Stamps.com. Join them to save up to 90% off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail, and packages in seconds. Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office. For a limited time, go to stamps.com and use code PODCAST for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply. Jacksonville 911, what's going on there? I have not talked to my friend since Christmas Day and I've been calling her and I came over to her house and I went in and she's on the floor but she's not responding and she had a towel wrapped around her head and oh my God, I don't want to touch her. Please send somebody, please. Is she breathing ma'am? I don't think so. It looks like her hands are turning purple. Her skin is cold, cold, cold. We're coming as fast as we can, okay? We'll be there soon. It was right around the holidays. 49-year-old Vivian James, who lived alone in Jacksonville, Florida, she hadn't been heard from since Christmas a few days earlier. We check on each other, and I talk to her. i talked at christmas day you haven't heard from her since i haven't heard from her since and yesterday wait a minute let me see um i sent her a text at 11 17 i said vivian are you okay you don't have to talk just respond yes or no her phone was off the hook so i kept calling her cell phone and she didn't answer and that's like not like her was there a garage open when you got here this morning no i i know the code to open the garage door okay so the garage was shut but the car was missing yes the car the car was missing was the garage door the inside door was it shut or open no it was shut and when i I opened it up, I saw her laid out flat. - So take her over by your car and then let's get this thing locked down. - Officers walked around the outside. There were no signs of forced entry. And just inside, Ms. James was on the ground with a power cord around her neck and a bloody blanket up by her head. - Vivian had head injuries. She had facial injuries. Her jaw was broken. But what appears to be the cause of death was the strangulation. She'd been choked with a cord. They immediately noticed that the house had been ransacked. There were multiple electronics missing. There were drawers open, cabinets that had been rummaged through. so this was pretty clearly a murder from the get-go we also could not find the victim's cell phone in the home and in the living room area there appeared to be a outline like a dust outline of where a surveillance camera would have been or was sitting that could have potentially captured the incident and that camera was missing one of the big difficulties that we encounter is homeowners utilize Ring or Arlo to get a quick snapshot of who is at their door in the neighborhood. There was an abundance of cameras, but unfortunately, the video that we were able to collect was basically nothing. Has there been anything going on in the neighborhood or anything like that? Any kind of suspicious people walking around? No, not that I know of. Now, do you know any of her habits, friends, anything like that that would come over and visit with her or anything She's very private. Now, what kind of car does she have? She has a, is that a blue Camry, a Toyota Camry? Okay. So this area of Jacksonville is kind of known for a higher crime area. The neighborhood specifically for Ms. James, not necessarily known for that. In police work in general, calls for service always seem to increase around the holidays. Anything unusual happen that you know of since Christmas? Not that I know of. So when's the last time you've seen her? Probably Christmas Day. Nobody was visiting her or coming over or doing anything? I haven't seen any cars. When law enforcement was going through the home and speaking with the 911 caller, it became apparent that Ms. James' car was missing from the scene, which was the first piece of evidence that we had for the case. I know that she had an electrician and a plumber come over and work on her water heater in that garage. And then my daughter says she did see her driving either yesterday or the day before. Seen her yesterday? Probably not yesterday, maybe the day before. So it would have been, what's today, the 28th or 26th, the day after Christmas. And she told me that she had to take her car to go be serviced. They said the same thing and she said the same thing. Her car's probably at the shop getting serviced. No, she got it back. Let's find out if the car's there. If it's not, let's get the bolo out. Hey, yes, sir. This is Officer Bloom with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. The best holiday finds aren't always the ones you went looking for. At Ross, discover unexpected gifts, fashion, decor, and plenty of reasons to keep looking. Ross, expect the unexpected. Some personality quirks are really funny. Like, I talk to my left foot more than I talk to my right. You know what's not funny and not a personality quirk? OCD. although the term ocd is widely recognized it's misunderstood by most people it doesn't mean being tidy or clean it's having obsessive fears thoughts and urges you question your character you question your safety that's ocd breaking the ocd cycle takes effective treatment go to nocd.com to learn more um i was wondering if you still have um miss vivian james's blue toyota camry at your shop It was pretty quickly determined that the car was not at the mechanics. We actually woke him up and verified that. The next step for law enforcement was to place a bolo, or be on the lookout for the car. I'm going to do the stolen vehicle aspect of what's going on here. So one of the things that I'd like to find out, is there anything that sticks out about the car? Tenon windows, bumper stickers, just a pretty plain Jane then, huh? Yeah, she, like me, no bumper stickers, no, she keeps her car clean. Some of the other questions that are popping into our mind are, who are the last people that are known to be with Ms. James? Who are the last few people in her home? We have potentially a 48-hour time lapse of the last time she was known to be alive, so we have a lot of ground to make up. Ms. James was a character. Ms. James is the most honest person I've ever met. She'll get you right if she needs to. She'll give you the shirt off her back, but she'll also tell you about yourself if you're doing something the wrong way. She will be our guardian angel. Every day, every kid that walks in these doors, every faculty member that walks in these doors, you will feel her arms around you. So Ms. James, you will be truly missed, but you'll never be forgotten. Miss James was a beloved teacher in the Jacksonville community. She had a lot of friends. She had friends in the neighborhood, and she served as a mentor to some of the students that she taught. Vivian James was an outstanding teacher. She was teacher of the year, the year before her death, at Atlantic Coast High School, where she had taught science and chemistry for over 20 years. She was beloved by her students. They said that she created a safe place for them. place for them. She was known for having kids over to pay them for small yard work so that they would have pocket money. One of the things that really stood out to me when I stood inside of her home were the number of Christmas cards and pictures from current and former students. It just was immediately clear that this woman was beloved by her community. - So when I first came to Atlanta Coast, I was here as the science department head, and it was very interesting by getting a chance to order all of the different scientific equipment, things I've never even heard of. So it was very nice and rewarding to be a part of that inaugural experience, Ghosting Race. - After her death, I was overwhelmed by the number of colleagues and students who wanted to know what was going on with her case. And they actually pulled together a lot of fundraising, and there's a permanent memorial to her memory at Atlantic Coast High School. - Gucci was one of my favorite ones. Every time I heard Gucci, this dude said Gucci to me, and I'm like, "Gucci?" He was like, "Yeah, that mean I'm real good." I said, "Okay, everything is Gucci." - Detectives face a daunting task here. A beloved teacher dead, her vehicle unaccounted for, and the most critical hours to find her killer, the first 48, have already passed. We were focused on the car because we really felt that would lead us to who had killed Vivian James. - Turn it up! - Hang on, I got it. - Turn the car off! Go to the ground now! - Put your hand on the wheel! - Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir. - What did I do? - While detectives are on scene, we know that there's multiple avenues where this could go. Detectives are running this tag through stationary license plate readers. In this case, we did get a hit. There was only a matter of hours before. We were called to Ms. James' home, and we sent detectives up to this small motel, and they were able to find the car still in the parking lot. - Passenger, open the car door and step out. - You're gonna come. - Step out. - Step out of that car. Turn around, face that way. Step back to my voice. Keep stepping, go to the ground now! - So when Detectives Lee and Gibson, they located the vehicle at the hospitality inn, they sat at a distance and they monitored the vehicle, just waiting to see if anyone would go to or from the car. Eventually they saw a male going to the car, putting things in the trunk in the backseat and taking some things to the dumpster. In that timeframe, they're arranging with patrol assets to have them stationed around the hospitality inn in the event that the vehicle were to start driving so that it can be stopped. - Yes, he's on the ground! - Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir. - Throw it out. - Yes, sir, yes, sir. - What did I do? - Runner! - Put your hands. - What's going on? - Hey, excuse me, sir. My wife just, hey, my kids in the car! - Get in, get in. - Bro, my kids in the car! - Get in. - We get that. - Get in the car. - Get in the, bro. - I apologize, bro. What's going on? - The missing car has been found and persons that do not own the vehicle are driving it. And the person who does own the vehicle on paper is deceased. This is your primary avenue of investigation at this point. Now, granted, you know, cars can change hands left and right. Doesn't mean that the people that are in this vehicle are responsible for the death of this beloved school teacher, but it's certainly your best lead. - I'll tell you what's going on. I just got out. - Got out of what? - I'm in jail since September 1st. I've been working and everything. - What's your name? - Debulon Perkins. - The vehicle started moving with Debulon Perkins in the passenger seat. The girlfriend of Mr. Perkins was driving the vehicle out. The vehicle was stopped and a felony takedown was conducted. The officers are trying to quickly ascertain from Mr. Perkins, where did you get this car? Who gave it to you? And why are you in it? - I think in my head, though, like, you know what I'm saying? Everything happened, like, right here. I got a car, that thing is over. I seen that car. - Which one? - Which one? - The Ford. - The Ford. - The Ford. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I came outside. I was out there for like a week, so, you know, the car moved, and I feel like I'm targeted, so. - So you're targeted? - Yeah, I got out. - When you're investigating a homicide, you really do try to err on the side of taking every item that might be important. So they're acquiring, every single item that could possibly show us how many other people were in the vehicle. They'll use a sanitized vacuum to be able to pull hairs off the floor. - Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website, to marketing, to selling, and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into. Sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com/specialoffer. - Observe the North American dad. 50s, great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles, and says, "Dang, that's a good offer." The highest form of approval. No haggling, no hassle. No one called him "boss." He's still on the couch, astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. - Or swabs are being taken. Fingerprints are being taken. They're taking clothing. They're taking shoes. They're taking keys for the vehicle. - So when detectives looked through the car, some of the items that immediately jumped out to us was Ms. James' school ID was hanging from the rear view mirror. Her cell phone was also found. It was on the floorboard behind the passenger seat. And her school laptop was also located in the vehicle. - Where's that? - Let me see. - I'll take you downtown. - For what? - I guess the question is. - I brought the car, bro. I can tell y'all about the car, bro. I can show y'all who gave me the car. - While detectives were processing the hospitality in, one of the staff members alerted detectives and said, "Hey, the guy who was in this room, Mr. Perkins, he went to and from that black car a bunch." - A 1989 black Corvette. We didn't know what could be in the car. So the vehicle was towed to our warehouse so we could search it at a later date. - All of these items are being cataloged. Now, whether they're gonna be released later, if they decide that this is not pertinent to the investigation, that's always a possibility. - On the way down here, you mentioned that you wanted to talk to a lawyer, but also that you did wanna talk to us about how you got the car and all that. We would like to talk to you about how you got the car and also- - I was watching the interview as it happened. What stood out to me from the very beginning was how willing he was to talk to us. He was fairly calm. - We go into every interview with a strategy. It's obviously in the back of your mind that this person could be involved in the murder, but you also have to keep an open mind that potentially they're not, because sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. - So basically, it's about two days ago, I spoke with my friend named Shard. Like I told the guy, I can point y'all to the guy. - You said Shard? - Rashad. - Rashad? Rashad Simmons? - Yes, sir. I purchased a car from him for 1,100. I was getting it for my wife and my fiance for Christmas. - Did he bring it to you there at the hotel or did you meet him somewhere? - Nah, we met right there at the pool hall right there. - Did he call you and say, "Hey, I'm trying to sell a car?" - No. - Talking earlier. - Did he say where he got it from? - No, sir. - Did you ask? - No, sir. - What about some of the strange things that were in there? Did you think it was odd that all that stuff was in there? - I felt like it was, but I mean-- - You never asked him about it? - I was just trying to do a good deed from me to my girl. - Mr. Perkins told us that he had purchased the car from a friend, Mr. Simmons, who he believed to be involved in some questionable things. - Is Rashad the kind of person that's going to steal a car? Yeah? - Not everybody. - He is a stolen car. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - That's it, I felt-- it felt awful. - Yeah, 'cause I mean, deep down inside, I mean, you're not-- you're obviously educated. You're smart, you're not stupid. Gut's telling you that, hey, there's a 60% or 70% chance that this car I just bought from Rashad, who does shady , is possibly stolen. - I didn't know that. If I bought a stolen vehicle, what would that be? How would that work? - Did you know it was stolen? Did you know it was stolen when you bought it? - I didn't. I could get y'all, Tim or whoever, like, whatever y'all need, like, I just purchased a stolen car, basically. Now I'm in a rut. I told y'all what I knew. - Was there anything else you could remember? - If I'm not being arrested, then I cannot be-- I'm not-- I will not be held against my will. - We were speaking with Mr. Perkins about the car, but Mr. Perkins wanted to know what detectives knew and what was leading us to ask about the car so he started a further kind of more deep line of questioning about what we knew i looked at the screen and i see the homicide paper and i know they tried to text me my girl white's first way so we're obviously you know this is more than just about stolen car you know right now we're investigating a murder you see about that okay do you know this house yes that's uh miss vivian's house you spotted it up pretty quick i mean personally you lived three houses down for however long zebulon perkins admitted to knowing vivian james in fact he had lived several houses down from her in the same neighborhood while he was growing up she would give him small amounts of money to rake her yard or to clean out her gutters and he had continued and stayed in contact with her through the years as observant as you are you were able to pick that house out pretty quick that miss uh miss vivian's house then how come you couldn't pick out miss vivian's car i didn't look through anything i didn't look through nothing is that milan sure we're not here to around with you i'm not kind of i'm not either i'm not gonna give y'all a shot like i said i don't know anything that that's going on besides that car if i'm sitting in the room with the detectives we're clearly going to identify and identify you richard because that now is the alternate avenue that this person is giving us i mean obviously unless you have a full confession and you know 4k video of the person committing the crime a busload of nuns with 20 20 vision as witnesses you as a detective need to run down every single alternate suspect and clear them her driver's license was found in your room in the dress obviously obviously we're talking to you because vivian is she's no longer all right i mean you're a smart guy you should have been able to put two and two together by now this nice lady this school teacher has been murdered all right you are driving around in her car i didn't know that was exactly her vehicle it's full of all her stuff i know that but do you understand sitting where we're sitting yes it looks how it looks it looks ultimately when we step out and he's in there by himself we learn that a lot of miss james's property had been found in the dumpster in trash bags we learned that in the hotel room her id was under a lamp we learned that there were television power cords that were kind of tossed in the closet and we knew that tvs were missing from miss james's home that license was not in my room i had to be in a bag i didn't see no license that was a lot now the momentum builds when detectives return to the interrogation room and perkins offers up a revelation that they certainly can't ignore is rashad capable of killing somebody he has before he has before he has killed somebody who did he say he killed you didn't tell me how do you know he killed somebody that we talked everybody talked you listen bro there ain't been a shootouts in our world i don't live like that i don't live like that i don't live like that i can help y'all i won't take no blame for nothing this is a bold accusation rashard simmons has killed someone before i mean this is a statement that forces detectives to dig even deeper now is there a try to bring anything else into your uh room no sir my tv's on nothing it just came with a dvd player this holiday all plans even unlimited are just 15 a month a holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song like all i want right okay we can afford that you don't forget the music budget we're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain give it a try at mintmobile.com switch upfront payment of 45 for three months ninety dollars for six months or one hundred and eighty dollars or twelve month plan required fifty dollars per month equivalent taxes and fees extra new customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy see terms some personality quirks are really funny like i talk to my left foot more than i talk to my right you know what's not funny and not a personality quirk ocd although the term ocd is widely recognized it's misunderstood by most people it doesn't mean being tidy or clean it's having obsessive fears thoughts and urges you question your character you question your safety that's ocd breaking the ocd cycle takes effective treatment go to nocd.com to learn more i was even sat here and recall when you said id i slept on this side of the bed you slept with more by the door you fumbled with the delight you see what i'm saying so he actually stayed there we talked to mr perkins about this id miss james's id being found and he deflected and told us that richard simmons had put that in the room uh rashad no miss vivian i'm not sure when was the last time you were over there um actually maybe like four days when she called me check on me i'm just gonna see how you're doing i walked over there i'm saying i left that was it so you went inside her house yes sir four or five days ago i sat down for maybe like 30 minutes she said she was gonna do something and i left perkins confirmed he was at vivian's home earlier that week essentially putting him at the crime scene at around the time of this murder but the way that he characterizes it is a confidential conversation with a mentor now obviously investigators are skeptical about this she called you up um to see how you were doing yes sir i'm just going through something so that's why i'm reaching out to you what were you going through i don't feel comfortable around nobody man i went to the rehab soon that's why i went to the house to talk to her about like she's like what do you think is wrong with you if you don't mind me asking um what do you think's wrong i got ptsd when i got shot you got shot when'd you get shot 2014 to that 28th that's why i couldn't be in the field zebulon perkins was a promising athlete when he was in high school he played football however he also had some attitude issues even at a time when he was in high school he played football however he also had some attitude issues even at a young age zebulon perkins also played football at the collegiate level until unfortunately he was shot and that ended his football career since then like my life just being through it's like even more trauma trauma trauma but you're not taking any medication for that that's why i went to the rehab center and then confining into a friend and then and that's what you confided to him vivian okay i don't have no problems where it's like i'm and i won't hurt nobody i hurt myself when you went over to uh miss vivian's house it was just you it was just me she was getting ready to go out doing some errands did she mention having any problems with anybody no sir and that was definitely four days ago it was before christmas after christmas well after christmas wouldn't be four days ago i feel for her you know what i'm saying like that's that's a good friend of mine but at the same time you like if i feel like i'm against the wall then we haven't uh pointed the finger at you yet i don't know which are the way that like the conversation kind of like paul's i mean you got to understand how it looks everyone you are you i'm giving you you were in her car bro give me a i know and i was at her house bro did you guys get into any kind of argument your altercation or anything like that i'm giving my part what i know that's all i can do shard is the next suspect now we gotta go find shaw like i'm seeing him being drilled like oh you're right we still have to find shard you know and when we find shard we gotta ask him he's gonna tell us are we gonna come back and ask you um as of right now we're still working on that we always have to keep an open mind we've only gotten the page to respond to her house you know less than 24 hours beforehand he's telling us that he purchased the vehicle from mr simmons so these are individuals that now we also have to look into so it is certainly very important for us to know that mr perkins was at her home the day after christmas but the question still looms of was there anyone else with him this is what we got to deal with we have a lady that was murdered in her house that's a good friend of mine that's a good one she just sold me why would i do that i'm not saying you did i'm in her car it looks it does so are arrests in you what dealing and sold property bro i cannot get arrested bro i got kids i can't keep i can't stay out of there man i gave y'all if i can get y'all him tonight can that be deferred because he sold it to me and yeah it's dealing with the sole property all right it's not auto theft it's definitely not murder that's not the point knowing that we were finding additional information that seemed like were further implicating mr perkins we made the decision to move forward with an arrest warrant for the crime of dealing and stolen property just to kind of buy us more time as we continued on the homicide investigation when you're a detective if what you want to do is not close off any avenues of investigation. You're keeping an open mind that what he's telling you, even though it seems kind of a fantasiful story, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Broken clock's right twice a day, too. Coincidences happen in life. And they're looking at this from the perspective of needing to defend this case in the future. - Like, damn, bro, I'm telling y'all what I knew. And up. - So there are cases that you do get a hunch on, as a cop or a prosecutor, where you're like, there's something here and it doesn't make sense to me. One of the things that you have to do when you're in law enforcement, either as a cop or a prosecutor, sometimes you have to kind of make your peace with not knowing, in this case, there was a hunch involved here that something ain't right. - Now, at this point, Perkins has admitted to the fact that he committed to being in Vivian James' home around the time of the murder and is in possession of her car. Obviously, this is not looking very good for Zebulon Perkins, but then he makes just a stunning claim. - Who touched her? - I don't know. - Who touched her, man? Who touched her, sir? - Rashad killed that lady. - Rashad killed her? - Yes, sir. - What, you did when she killed her? When he killed her? Well, how do you know Rashad did it? - Rashad sold me the car. - It's not a confession, by any means. He's shifting the blame through a direct accusation, claiming that Rashad Simmons is responsible for Vivian's murder, not him. - Anyway, on her body, if she touched you or something like that, and we happened to swab her hands, 'cause you said you didn't touch her at all, right? So your DNA should be nowhere on her. - No, she was passed. We hugged when I came out. - Oh, so now you hugged her now? - Listen, I ain't touch, I ain't do nothing to her. - You know her. - I know her. - You visited her. - And I visited, I know both of them. - And then you're in her car, which you got from some guy that doesn't know her. - Whoever did it, man, they did that to her. - Right, and it was nobody, bro. - Nobody broke into that house. The whole house was ransacked. - What, did you want a bill, sir? - No. - Did you leave the door open so Rashad could come in? - No, sir. - We never really called Vivian James by her name. He kept referring to her as the lady. This is a mentor. This is someone who he was in telephone contact with, who would give him rides, and he's not saying her name. It just felt suspicious. - And you meet back up. - And you pick up after visiting her and buy a car from the same person you were just visiting, who's now murdered. Do you see how up that sounds? - It's very up, man. It's extremely up, and you know it, too. - You know the kind of lady she is, and she's most likely not hanging out with somebody like Rashad. After listening to your story and your timeline, I don't see how you couldn't have done it. - I didn't do it. - And when he was booked in jail, that's really when the investigation into Vivian James's murder kicks into high gear. - Now, Perkins is held on charges of dealing in stolen property, and meanwhile, authorities shift their focus to Rashad Simmons. The problem is finding him, not so easy. Days later, the following Wednesday, they finally locate him and bring him in. - Last Thursday, did you see Zed, Zebulon? Did you hang out in a hotel with him? - Yeah, I've been to the hotel. This last week, I had seen him, and he asked me to get off some TVs, so that's what I was trying to do, to help him get off the TV. - All right, when you say you tried, he wanted to get off some TVs. - Yeah. - Did he ever say where he got those TVs from? - No, he never said. - With Zebulon Perkins, when you rewatch the interview, you can almost see his wheels turning on. He is analyzing what Detective Abbott is asking him about. Rashad Simmons, when interviewed, is a very different character. - As long as you've known Zeb, what kind of mentality or personality does he have? Does he come off to you as? - Do I? - Is he that person that does the? - No, he don't come off to you like you're cool. - What kind of drugs has he been on? - Some personality quirks are really funny, like I talk to my left foot more than I talk to my right. OCD. The term OCD is widely recognized. It's misunderstood by most people. It doesn't mean being tidy or clean. It's having obsessive fears, thoughts, and urges. You question your character, you question your safety. That's OCD. Breaking the OCD cycle takes effective treatment. Go to nocd.com to learn more. ♪ We're all here, it's family ♪ ♪ Presents for the ones you love ♪ ♪ We're all here, it's family ♪ ♪ We're all here, it's family ♪ - Where are you from? - No, I never seen that car. - You ever seen this house before? Or been in that house before? Been inside that house? - No. - You said you were at Westside Pool Hall and he told you to meet you over there at Indian Lakes. But can you look and see what time he called you? - He gives a completely different statement than Zebulon Perkins. We find text messages between Perkins and Simmons coordinating Perkins picking up Simmons in a vehicle. - We find text messages between Perkins and Simmons coordinating Perkins in a vehicle. - And the time of those text messages appear to match up when Zebulon Perkins was leaving Vivian James' home in her car. - This lady's a teacher, bro. - I know. - On TV. And she's seeing cool this tomorrow. - She is cool. She is cool. She's very nice. - Why would he wanna do that, though? To that lady? - What I wanna know is why does he want to blame you for that? - He's saying you killed her. - He said on the 26th, you went to Rashad and bought that car from him, and that he never saw you again after that. But the car was full of all kinds of property. - I sold him a car and a lot of property. That's what he said. - He said you sold him this car. - He sounded like he was owning it. Whatever he was owning. - So what we're gonna need from you is your DNA, right? To prove that you were never in that house, and to prove that you ain't never been around this woman. - He also gives us access to his cell phone. Which we are able to download and gives us cell site location, which places Rashad Simmons on the other side of 103rd, the main street near Vivian James' house at the time of her murder. Most homicides are committed by somebody who knows the person. An old detective friend of mine used to, whenever there was something particularly brutal, he said, "Nah, this was personal." Like, if it's somebody you don't know, you just kill 'em and move on. But when there's this level of anxiety, anger, or rage directed at the person, that's generally not somebody that you just have neutral feelings for. - It is becoming increasingly clearer that Rashad Simmons didn't have anything to do with Vivian James' killing. Which means that the pendulum is swinging right back to Zebulon Perkins as the prime suspect. - Father God, please just continue to help me, Father. You didn't touch this kid, he's touched us. - She was here for one of these hours. - After being booked into the Duval County Jail, he made a phone call to his mother, where he asked his mother to hide electronics that he had stored in the family's garage. His mother and stepfather were cooperative, and we were able to gather the electronics that were missing from Miss James' home. Once we got Vivian James' bank records, we noticed that after, December 26th, the date that we believed Vivian James was murdered, her credit card was used around Jacksonville multiple times. It was used to buy food, it was used to buy baby diapers, and it was used to buy alcohol. And so we were able to go to those three businesses and pull video surveillance from them, which showed Zebulon Perkins. We also find there was a cash app transfer from Vivian's phone to an account, in the name of Zebulon Perkins. We also executed a number of search warrants. - The piece of evidence that we got to really push this case over the top, make us feel very confident that Zebulon Perkins had killed Vivian James, was DNA. We found her blood on his pants, in combination with his DNA, and we also found his DNA under her fingernails. - And we don't have to talk, I'm not gonna ask you anything. I do need to bring you over and tell you we are charging you with murder. - I don't need to leave now. I gotta charge you with something. Why can't I leave now? - We're gonna finish our report. - And why can't I leave now? - 'Cause you're being arrested for murder. - No, I'm not. I didn't even find the dude that gave me the car. - January 10th, 2020, just two weeks after Vivian James was killed, detectives have enough to officially charge Zebulon Perkins with second-degree murder. - May I speak to Sarge, please? - Yes, sir. - Okay. - I'm gonna go get him. - Okay. I want to go back, but y'all taking my life for me, bro. I got kids, bro. I did not do this. Detective Abbott kept tabs on him. Detective Abbott would go back and look at disciplinary reports from when Zebulon Perkins would get into fights with other inmates. When Detective Abbott went to the Duval County Jail and started interviewing cellmates, bunkmates, almost every single one of them, talked about how violent and how scary this man was. But it was one inmate statement that really stood out. So first he talked to me about the first incident with a female named Chris. Yeah, he told me she died. So a lot of people think that the detective's job stops as soon as the arrest is made, and that really couldn't be further from the truth. Detective Abbott continued to keep track of Mr. Perkins' activity within the jail, meaning any altercations or disputes that he had. We actually went together when we were partners, went over and spoke with this inmate who told us that Mr. Perkins continually talked about how he had killed the teacher. He said to us, you guys know that the teacher is not the first person he killed, right? And something else clicks for investigators. Their attention shifts back to a second vehicle that was seized in search the day that Vivian James was killed. This is a car that was never picked up from police custody. During the investigation, we executed search warrants on two vehicles, the Toyota Camry that belonged to Ms. James and a Corvette that was at the hospitality. We were wondering whether there was additional evidence in the Corvette. So we seized both of those vehicles. Zebelin Perkins had been in jail for approximately 18 months since he had been charged with Ms. James' murder. And as soon as we get the allegation that he is responsible for another homicide, we knew there was potentially another victim. Detectives immediately went to the police station and said, Mr. Perkins, you have been accused of murdering Ms. James. We went back and looked, and the registered owner of the 1989 Corvette that was taken in the case was Leah Klein. Well, all efforts to locate Ms. Klein during the initial investigation were unsuccessful. She'd been arrested multiple times. So we knew that this is a person who might not be the most friendly with police. Leah Klein had a troubled past. She was a mother of five. She was, when connected with her family, devoted to them. She also had a fascination with the police. She was a fascination for Jiminy Cricket. It became her nickname. You're listening to a quick ad. 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Leah Klein's daughter would try to send her mother money throughout the year on a cash app and leave notes like, happy birthday, mom. Merry Christmas, mom. But she hadn't seen her mother in many years. And while we were speaking with her family, we learned that she would kind of go off on her own and be by herself for a couple weeks at a time. So it was not uncommon for her to go relatively short periods of time. Without contacting her family. However, 18 months was very long and that was out of the norm. One of her family members did attempt to report her missing, but they were out of state and they were told that they needed someone who was local to actually report her missing. There were multiple inmates who were interviewed by Detective Abbott in the course of his investigation into Leah Klein's murder. Some of them were cooperative with him and some were not. Two that were cooperative were Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Bradford. How do you know who Zebulon Perkins is? He was my roommate at jail. Did he talk about the charges pending against him? Yes, ma'am. What did he tell you about the teacher? He, he, he, he strangulated her and beat her up. When you were in the cell with him, were you ever scared of him? Not really, but yes, yes. Mr. Lindsay's statement stood out to me. He described being in fear of his life when he shared his story with his family. He said, I'm not scared of him. I'm not scared of him. And he shared a bunk with Zebulon Perkins to the point of describing his eyes like a dead stare, that he would not sleep at night for fear that Zebulon Perkins would murder him in his sleep. Back in January, probably January of 2021-ish, Kinsey Lindsay actually had a, his brother was murdered at a local apartment complex. So Detective Abbott and I were working in that case. Ultimately, that case resulted in an arrest. We went and we told Kinsey Lindsay about that arrest. When we later went back to him to talk to him about being housed with Zebulon Perkins, he basically told us, yeah, I wouldn't normally tell you guys this, but since you helped me out with my brother, I will help you out with this case. Did he mention any other murders? Yes, ma'am. What did he tell you about other murders? He said he was a pimp and his airplane has killed him. Did he mention any names to you about this lady? It's not a cricket. Generally speaking, one does not begin with a very violent homicide of a person that you, by all accounts, very much had affection for. It just, it doesn't add up. So usually there's some kind of other criminal activity that's in somebody's life. And in this case, there obviously was. I got into a physical altercation with Zebulon Perkins. Would that have been around September, September 12th of 2020? Sound about right? Yes, ma'am. What did he talk to you about? So first he talked to me about the first incident with a female named Crick. She called me like a prostitute or something like that. She did something wrong in his eyes. So like he ended up choking her. Did he tell you that she died? He put her body in the dumpster, like right outside the hotel. You can't prosecute the devil and expect to have angels as witnesses. It is amazing how many people will just tell their cellmate, here's what I did. Mr. Bradford, he further explained that Mr. Perkins kept talking about how he'd killed the teacher, why he killed the teacher. He also provided the background information that Mr. Perkins told him he went to Ms. James's home to confide in her that he had killed Cricket. Not only did it give us an additional homicide and additional homicide victim to investigate, but it also gave us motive for Ms. James's murder. Did he tell you about the charges that he was currently facing? Yeah, he was like after the cricket situation happened, he was suffering from anxiety and stuff like that. So he was like he wanted to talk to somebody and the only person he felt like he could talk to was the teacher. But she gave him the best advice that she could give him. You gotta go to the police. Unfortunately, we were never able to find Ms. Klein's body. We essentially moved forward in trying to prove a void of life. We went down every avenue that we could think of and it appeared as though Ms. Klein basically fell off the face of the earth on December 24th, 2019. This is just days before Vivian James was last seen as well. So did Perkins kill Leah Klein, go to Vivian James' house, try to get advice, and when she didn't tell him what he wanted to hear, did he kill her too? Proving a case without a body is an incredibly difficult thing to do. And in this case, so much time had passed since the murder of Leah Klein. Detective Abbott had to go back multiple years to establish the outline of a person who had been missing from society. We were also able to reevaluate the evidence we already had with Leah Klein in mind. We had the download from his cell phone and found photographs of Leah Klein in December of 2019. And the last time Leah Klein is known to have sent any message is a message from her to Zebulon Perkins that she is outside his hotel room. Then it kind of came full circle where we realized this is why we could not contact her during the initial investigation because she was already dead. But we were able to confirm that after Mr. Perkins killed Ms. Klein, he put her in a dumpster. And then we were able to with the dumpster company the date and time that that dumpster was collected which was before miss James was murdered and before detectives were at the hospitality in and she was taken out to a landfill the likelihood of any recovery was basically no Zebulon Perkins is charged with two counts of second-degree murder although prosecutors keep the path open if they want to upgrade those charges from early on he started making plea offers these plea offers started well below the sentencing range for second-degree murder but quickly those offers started getting higher and higher until the point we presented to the grand jury and filed the notice of intent to seek the death penalty in Florida we are not allowed to file charges of first-degree murder without you know if you're not allowed to file charges of first-degree murder without presenting to a grand jury I presented the case of Vivian James's murder to the grand jury and they indicted Zebulon Perkins on first-degree murder we concluded the investigation into Leah Klein's case and we actually had to go back before the grand jury and they indicted Zebulon Perkins of two counts of first-degree murder nearly four and a half years after Vivian James and Leah Klein were killed Zebulon Perkins is set to go to trial on two separate counts of first-degree murder and if convicted faces the possibility of the death penalty but his defense team already seems to have a plan to try to avoid those consequences in Florida if you're convicted of murder one you can be sentenced up to life in prison and in Florida there's no parole life is life you come out in a box the best scenario for somebody who has this kind of evidence with the forensic evidence that was available in this case is probably to plead to a term of years in this case there ended up being a plea defense counsel came with a significantly higher offer of 70 years and at this point in time Zebulon Perkins is 31 years old even with credit time that is in essence a life sentence Zebulon Perkins did speak at the sentencing hearing of note he did not apologize it was a rambling statement that at the time and to this day does not make much sense to me never sat right with me because there was a lack of remorse he accepted the plea negotiations and I'm thankful for the families that we were able to bring this case to a close Zebulon Perkins is sentenced to 70 years in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of Vivian James and Leah Klein the one thing that really sticks with us is the brutality of Miss James's death and how sometimes it can be the the people who are closest with us who can hurt us the most to find this record of him being in a fight with Mr Bradford that would have been very easy to just overlook but following that up really it opened a whole other case where we're able to bring another family Justice looking back on this case in the last six years there are a few things that stand out to me the first is the investigative efforts of Detective Abbott whose dogged persistence of facts and details in this case solved the murder of a woman who had been missing and brought finality to her family otherwise without his persistence no one would know Leah Klein's story the other thing sadly that stands out to me is the importance of human connection in reaching out to loved ones and staying in contact and also of making sure that you trust those who are around you to make sure that you trust those who are around you starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify they have the tools you need to start and grow your business from designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond Shopify can help with everything you need there's a reason millions of companies like Mattel Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them with Shopify on your side turn your big business idea into your business Sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com slash special offer.