A Chicago mother and two of her children have been charged in connection with the murder of her 6-year-old son.
The body of Damari Perry was found early Saturday morning inside of an abandoned home in Gary, Indiana. Authorities believed the little boy was killed on December 29th when someone in the family placed him into a bathtub of cold water for an extended period of time. The child was held there at the direction of his mother, Jannie Perry. Once he was taken out of the water, the boy began to vomit before becoming unresponsive. After realizing Damari was deceased, Jannie and her other son, 20-year-old Jeremiah, drove his body to Gary.
Jannie and Jeremiah did not report Damari missing until January 5th. At that time, they gave detectives an elaborate and inconsistent story about the last time they saw the child. Jannie stated that Damari and her 16-year-old daughter were picked up by a friend named “Monique” and a man named “Wacko” or “Chaos.” The pair allegedly drove the daughter and Damari to a party in Skokie. The daughter claimed that she got drunk and passed out, and when she awoke, her little brother and the man were nowhere to be found. She then claimed Monique drove her back to North Chicago without Damari. Police would soon find out that the story was a lie.
Before her arrest, Jannie spoke to FOX 32, where she slammed police for suspecting her of harming Damari.
“I’ve had the police and people acting like I’ve did something wrong to my child myself. As a mother, that really do hurt my feelings,” Jannie stated.
On Saturday, she was charged with first-degree murder, concealment of a homicidal death, and obstructing justice. Jeremiah was hit with charges of aggravated battery, causing bodily harm to a child under 12, concealing a homicidal death, and obstructing justice. A minor child, presumably the 16-year-old daughter, has also been arrested, though those charges have not been made public.
In 2014, Jannie lost all six of her children after a DCFS domestic violence investigation. Shortly after Damari was born in December 2015, he was placed in the foster care system. However, Perry regained custody of her children in 2017.
A GoFundMe has been organized for Damari’s father, Dalvin Driver, to lay him to rest. As of Monday, it had raised over $10,000.
