The remains of a woman from Rhode Island were discovered more than two years after she vanished, and the guy accused of her murder was eventually taken into custody.
Mark Perkins, 64, was arrested on Wednesday after the GPS data from his car was linked to the site of the skeletal remains of Charlotte Lester, 44, which were discovered on November 17 and identified by dental records.
The Warwick Police Department claims that although they had been keeping an eye on Perkins from the start, they lacked the necessary evidence to make an arrest.
According to court records, police provided proof of Perkins’ actions in the days after Lester vanished, on or around May 16, 2022, when her landlord filed a missing person’s report. A convenience store witness allegedly noticed that Perkins had “blood on his hands and scratches and bite marks on his arm,” according to the documents.
According to reports, Perkins informed the witness that he and his partner, Lester, “had the blowout of the century” and called his home “a blood bath.” “I believe I killed her,” he also said to the witness, who then informed the police.
Days later, on May 20, police interviewed Perkins. Despite his sore hands, they stated that he appeared “calm and unaffected” by Lester’s absence. According to WPRI, he reportedly informed the police that “she had stopped texting him and he did not know where she was.”
Following their investigation of Perkins’ home, Warwick police allegedly noted in their report that they found blood splatters on the walls, ceiling, door, and bedframe in addition to an apparently bloodstained shirt hanging over a bottle of bleach on a clothesline in the basement.
Subsequent testing revealed that the blood matched Perkins and most likely Lester because it matched Lester’s mother’s DNA profile.
On May 16, 2022, the last day anyone saw Lester alive, Perkins reportedly followed her as she drove to another man’s home, according to the court records. Lester is said to have received texts from Perkins that evening requesting that she come home from the other man’s place.
The day after he was purportedly spotted covered in blood and bruises at the convenience store, on May 18, Perkins was captured on camera driving away from home in his pickup with something in the back. Three hours later, the object was gone.
The necessary connection was not made by detectives until Lester’s skull was found. Police allegedly discovered that Perkins visited the location where the skull was discovered four times in four months, twice in July 2022 and twice in October 2022, based on GPS tracking data on his truck.
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According to GPS data from one of those journeys, Lester’s remains were reportedly within 1,000 feet of the location where Perkins pulled over.
When Perkins was asked about Lester’s abduction, he allegedly threatened a local radio personality with his lawnmower, leading to his arrest in August 2022 for an entirely different matter.
Perkins was officially charged with first-degree murder after his arraignment in Kent County District Court. He is being jailed without bail and did not enter a plea.
The Source: Law&Crime
