Second DNA Test Ties Texas Death-Row Inmate Reginald Perkins to the 1991 Strangling of Two Fort Worth Women
Perkins was awaiting execution for strangling his stepmother. Police said DNA linked him to the deaths of Shirley Douglas, 44, and her aunt, Hattie Wilson, 79.
Published
Reginald W. Perkins was already on Texas's death row for strangling his stepmother. On November 1, 2008, Fort Worth police said a second DNA test had confirmed his link to the 1991 strangling deaths of Shirley Douglas, 44, and her aunt, Hattie Wilson, 79.
Homicide Sgt. J.D. Thornton said the new test confirmed what a DNA database had first shown in June. Cold-case Detective Manny Reyes said Perkins, 53, had dated Wilson's granddaughter. At the time of the killings, Perkins was on parole from an Ohio prison, where he had served time for the rape and attempted rape of two 12-year-old girls. He was later returned to prison for violating parole and released again in 2000.
That year he came to Fort Worth, and on December 4, 2000, he strangled his 64-year-old stepmother, Gertie Perkins. A Tarrant County jury sentenced him to death in 2002, and his execution was scheduled for January 2009. Perkins denied involvement in all the killings attributed to him, including his stepmother's. "Mr. Perkins denies having any involvement in any killings," said his lawyer, Bill Harris.
The Associated Press reported that Perkins was returned to prison for a parole violation in December 1993, while his Texas death-row record says he was returned from parole in 1994.
Sources
- Death Row Inmate Information: Reginald Perkins (TDCJ #999407), Texas Department of Criminal Justice
- Death row inmate tied to 2 more homicides (AP item dated Nov. 1, reproduced in TCADP news digest), Associated Press (via Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty)