Matthew Perkins Arrested After Woman & Toddlers Found Stuffed In Closet

**Dakota Valkyrie** · September 24th, 2010, 08:02 AM

The Manchester Police Department received information at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday that a 26-year-old mother and her sons, ages 1 and 3, were missing. When police arrived at the family's Liberty Court home, they found the three bodies individually wrapped in trash bags in a closet.

"Gruesome is the word," said Manchester investigator Ray Stewart. "It's the worst one I've seen, and I've been here 30 years.

Officials arrested Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Victor Perkins, 30, about 10 miles from the home at the Jameson Inn in Tullahoma shortly before midnight in connection with the case. They contacted him by phone, talked him out of his room and arrested him. He has been charged with murder.

"We have interviewed him, and he has told us a lot," said Stewart.

Police identified the victims as Stephanie, Jathan and Jaylon Hershman. Officers said they believed they'd been killed on Sunday. Someone called police Wednesday to report them missing.

Perkins is in Franklin County Jail on $6 million bond and has confessed to the killings, police said. They said he's been calm and cooperative.

"(He) didn’t offer any kind of remorse," Stewart said.

Police said the killings were calculated.

"He took a lot of time doing what he was doing," said Stewart.
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Police said Perkins had known the family for three or four months, police said. The children's father, Jeremy Hershman, is currently incarcerated in the Coffee County Jail on drug charges, Manchester Police Chief Ross Simmons said. Police said he is very distraught.
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A U.S. Army representative said Perkins had been deployed twice: to Afghanistan from April 2004-Oct. 2005 and to Iraq Aug. 2006-Oct. 2007. He had been working as an Army recruiter in Tullahoma since 2008.
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Investigator Billy Butler said Perkins is separated from his wife of 10 years, Jennifer Perkins. She was at the police station for questioning on Thursday morning, but declined to be interviewed.

Butler said the couple have two children and that Jennifer Perkins described her husband as a good father.
[...]

http://www.wsmv.com/news/25126565/detail.html

**AussieMum** · September 24th, 2010, 08:29 AM

OMG I don't think I want to know. Asshole!!

**Jerri Blank** · September 24th, 2010, 08:53 AM

I was digging all over hell on this story and I don't get what his motivation was for doing this and he is a father himself..how could he hurt these beautiful kids?

By what I've gathered so far was he'd stay with her on and off, but I don't get the vibe their dating more like she was helping him out.

no autopsy results yet, I'm really curious what the hell was going on here..

**Obsolete** · September 24th, 2010, 12:15 PM

I really, really hope he killed mom first, and not in the view of the lil ones.

**Whisper** · September 24th, 2010, 01:56 PM

Motive Still Sought In Manchester Family Slayings
AP) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A spokeswoman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said the state medical examiner's office could reveal next week how a soldier allegedly killed a woman and her two children.

Kristin Helm said Friday that a preliminary autopsy report should be completed the first of next week, but the full report probably will not be revealed for at least 10 weeks.

The autopsies of the mother and two children are being performed by three doctors at the medical examiner's office.

Matthew Perkins, a 30-year-old U.S. Army recruiter, is accused of killing 26-year-old Stephanie Hershman and her sons, 3-year-old Jathan and 1-year-old Jaylon, in Manchester.

[...]

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=13212540

**AngelFire** · September 24th, 2010, 02:10 PM

My heart goes out to her family. The picture of her happy, smiling with her babies, that are just as precious, is enough to rip your heart out.

Die worthless prick, die in the worse way imaginable.

**Bohring** · September 24th, 2010, 02:29 PM

Man, this shit makes me want to hork.

Burn in Hell, you fucking POS!

**Tundratot** · September 24th, 2010, 02:43 PM

The scenario going through my imagination is that she was being a responsible mother and not letting this guy into her home and life as fast as he wanted to get there. If they were dating, she was holding him off, possibly to protect her small children. Maybe he was looking to replace the family he lost due to divorce. If he knew she was resisting him owing to her maternal need for caution, not being in a right frame of mind, he might have gotten piqued and decided to resolve the problem by terminating it.

**Silvahalo** · September 24th, 2010, 08:10 PM

I agree. From all accounts, it appears this woman was a good and loving mother and was taking her time with this new man in her life. Appeared they were doing well according to people who knew her as is said on VIDEO. Looks can be deceiving.

I can hardly get past the evil on this. Why? cannot fathom and I've asked this so many times in other cases. Nothing could possibly make any sense. It breaks my heart in more ways I can express in words. My deepest sympathies to family and friends.

Rest in peace mother and children together always in the heavens.

SLIDESHOW

**FknKraze** · September 25th, 2010, 12:19 AM

I was digging all over hell on this story and I don't get what his motivation was for doing this and he is a father himself..how could he hurt these beautiful kids?

I have got to wonder if the wife possibly was a little off balance, was jealous, didn't want him being baby Daddy to someone else's two kids and she did it and he is covering for her, possibly out of guilt or doesn't want his children's Mother going to jail????

**RobotSocks** · September 25th, 2010, 12:25 AM

Originally Posted by Obsolete

I really, really hope he killed mom first, and not in the view of the lil ones.

I hope he killed her first too, because I've had nightmares about my son being killed in front of me, and no matter how much creepier and freakier my nightmares have been, this is by far the absolute worst one I could ever have. I hope to God or whoever that I never, never, never have to witness something like that, I hope no parent ever does.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · September 25th, 2010, 10:55 AM

The grandfather of the triple murder victims spoke out about the tragic deaths of his two young grandchildren and former daughter-in-law on Friday.
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Stephanie Hershman met Perkins last October.

Hershman said he thought his grandchild and Stephanie were safe due to Perkins' military experience and he felt better about the pair's relationship because he was an army veteran.

"He acted like he loved those kids and loved her. I actually, really was kind of getting to like him quite a bit. I would've never known that anything like this could happen from him," Hershman told News 2.

"You don't think that something like this is gonna happen because you have somebody that you think is gonna protect them," Hershman continued. "I never heard a loud word from this man. He never got onto the boys, he treated them with love and respect and her, too. I never heard him say one cross word to her."
[...]

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=13213735

**Dakota Valkyrie** · September 25th, 2010, 11:02 AM

A grieving family believes they got text messages from a slaying suspect to keep them from discovering the truth. Channel 4 News has learned that Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Victor Perkins -- who is charged in the killing -- may have used Stephanie Hershman's cell phone to keep her family and friends from looking for her and her sons.
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When he hadn't seen any of them in almost three days, he said, he started to get concerned. The last times he and Stephanie's cousin heard from her was through text messages Monday.

"The way the text messages sounded, it sounded like her, but it wasn't, I'm pretty sure," he said.

He said he even asked Stephanie's boyfriend, Perkins, if he had seen her. Perkins was at Stephanie's home, helping search for her the day the bodies were discovered.

"He shook my hand and looked me right in the face, and just like me and you are talking, and said he hadn't seen her since Sunday and he didn't know where she was at," said Terry Hershman.

The family said they now believe those text messages they received days after Stephanie and her boys were killed were sent by Perkins to fool them into thinking nothing was wrong.
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Stephanie's family said they saw no signs that he may have been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the almost two years they have known him.

"I've been to Iraq," Stephanie Hershman's cousin said. "I've seen things. I have tests taken. I know PTSD was not a factor; I can tell you that."

Police told Channel 4 News on Thursday that some of Perkins' family members believe PTSD may have played in a role in why he snapped. At this point, police are still unsure what his motive was, they said.
[...]

http://www.wsmv.com/news/25148099/detail.html

**Dakota Valkyrie** · September 29th, 2010, 06:40 AM

Excuses, excuses: SODDI (Some Other Dude Did it), PTSD, Meth:

Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Perkins, 30, was arraigned in the deaths of his girlfriend, Stephanie Hershman, 26, her 3-year-old son, Jaython, and her 1-year-old son Jaylon.
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Perkins' stepfather and sister said their relative is innocent of the charges and that they believe someone connected to the children's biological father is responsible because of past drug dealings.

Perkins' family also said Tuesday that he had signs of post traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and had talked with his sister about his problems. The suspect's family said Perkins used methamphetamine for the first time the night of the triple homicide and was too high to have killed Hershman and her sons.
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Perkins first admitted to the killings to police, but his family now says he plans to take back that plea and prove his innocence.

The Army said Perkins had two psychological evaluations that did not show any signs of post traumatic stress.

As for the theory that the children's father was involved, police said Perkins is their only suspect. Perkins’ family said he will plead not guilty at his next court appearance.

Depending on what happens in court, Army officials said Perkins may also face punishment by the military.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/25193058/detail.html

"I definitely think he had post traumatic stress. I was trying to get him to get help and he was afraid if he got help, the army would throw him out," Soenkensen said.

"All the doctors want to do is put him on drugs. They didn't want to help him. They just wanted to put him on pills," Teri Lynn added.

She said her brother loved Hershman and he also loves children, so committing the murders was something she can't see her brother doing.

Teri Lynn and her father said Perkins was on prescription morphine for insomnia, but that's not the only drug he was taking.

"When he first got arrested, he pled (sic) guilty. He was so high on meth," said Soenkensen. "He did two grams of meth right before they arrested him and therefore he didn't know what he was talking about."

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=13228424

Morphine for insomnia? And he was worried about going in for PTSD? Something smells.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · January 23rd, 2011, 03:25 PM

A grand jury in Coffee County has indicted Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Perkins, who is accused of killing his girlfriend and her two sons.
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Investigators testified in court last month that Perkins confessed to killing the family in September. Lauren Nettles of the Coffee County Sheriff's Department testified that when she entered Hershman's home during the investigation, she smelled a strong odor and saw white trash bags inside a bedroom closet. It was there that she found the bodies of Hershman and her sons, Nettles said.

Nettles testified that baby powder and ice packs had been placed on top of the bodies, which were then covered with a shower curtain.

Perkins served time as a military police officer in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army has said that Perkins had two psychological evaluations that did not show any signs of post traumatic stress, but in testimony in December, it was mentioned that Perkins had, at one point, been diagnosed with PTSD after an injury in Iraq.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/26542337/detail.html

She was killed first, From December hearing:

A Coffee County district attorney investigator testified Friday that a former Army recruiter admitted to killing his 26-year-old girlfriend in September and then watched cartoons with her two sons before eventually killing them, too.
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Investigator Jason Kennedy testified Friday that Perkins had barricaded himself inside a hotel room before his arrest in September. Kennedy said Perkins told him he wasn't ready to come out because he needed to finish writing his memoir.

A Coffee County district attorney investigator, Billy Cook, testified that Perkins told him that he stabbed Hershman to death after giving her drugs.

"They were at her house on Sunday, Sept. 18. He had just given her morphine, and she snorted," Cook said. "Perkins said that she didn't look herself; he said that she looked bad, like a bad person to him. That's when he said, then and there, he knew what he had to do."

Perkins then watched cartoons with her two sons, 3-year-old Jaython and 1-year-old Jaylon, before killing them, said Cook.

"Perkins said he put Jaylon in the bathtub and beat him real bad," Cook said. "He asked Jaylon if he was ready to go to heaven to meet his mother, and then he killed him."

In cross examination, Perkins' attorney asked if Perkins seemed to have mental issues or was on drugs. Cook replied no.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/26088930/detail.html

From November:

Investigators have new clues on a triple murder in Manchester written in the suspect's own blood.

According to the Manchester Times, suspected killer Matthew Perkins cut himself with a razor blade in jail and used his blood to write messages on the wall of his cell.

Investigators won't reveal what he wrote but said it was about the killings of his girlfriend, Stephanie Hershman, and her two sons.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/25926982/detail.html

**Tundratot** · January 24th, 2011, 04:46 AM

Oh, my God! He savagely beat a little one year old after watching cartoons with him, and that after killing his mother? What the hell was that for? Was he ready to go to heaven to meet his mother? My heart is breaking! She may have suddenly looked like the devil to him -- psychotic break -- but that excuse won't work for his killings of the boys, will it? And we haven't heard what he did to the three year old. I hate to think.