Pop Singer Received Letters From Alleged Killer of Five
LAKE ARTHUR, La. (UPI) Investigators say a Louisiana man charged in the brutal murders of five family members apparently sent letters to singer Olivia Newton-John and even visited her home in California.
Michael Owen Perry is charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the July 17 shooting deaths of his parents, his two-year-old nephew and two male cousins. Their bodies were found in their homes July 19.
Authorities issued a nationwide alert for Perry, 28, a former mental patient. They said Monday they had unsuccessfully pursued a deluge of calls about possible sightings.
Investigators said they contracted the services of two specialists after it was learned Perry apparently had written letters to the Australian pop singer.
Items belonging to three of the victims, including a purse, a pair of children’s shoes, a diaper bag and labeled medicine bottles, were found during the weekend in a ditch near Lake Arthur.
Jefferson Davis Parish chief in-vestigator Ervin Trahan said the items were discovered near the site where officials found an identification card belonging to Chester Perry, 48, father of Michael Perry, and a sandle belonging to the baby, Anthony Bonin.
Also killed were Perry’s mother, Grace Perry, 47, and two cousins, Randy Perry, 19, and Bryan LeBlanc, 22.
Trahan said investigators initially found clues to the letters on a piece of paper in Perry’s trailer. The paper contained three names: “Olivia,” “Judge O’Connor” and “Matt.”
Gavin DeBecker, a Los Angeles-based security consultant for Ms. Newton-John, advised officials Friday Ms. Newton-John in 1982 had received letters, which reportedly contained Bible quotations and were signed by Perry, Trahan said.
Trahan said “Matt” one of the names on the piece of paper in Perry’s trailer was believed to be a friend of Ms. Newton-John. He said DeBecker told him Perry also apparently traveled to the singer’s home in Malibu, Calif., in April, but was turned away by security guards.
DeBecker, an appointee to a federal advisory board as a special investigator of threats against national figures, was accompanied by Dr. Walt Risler, a sociologist from the University of Indiana at South Bend, who specializes in murders such as the family slaughter at Lake Arthur.
The third name on the piece of paper, “Judge O’Connor,” could have been a reference to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Trahan said. That information was turned over to the FBI, he said.
Cliff Anderson, FBI spokesman in New Orleans, said the bureau declined comment because the information was part of a pending investigation.
Trahan noted that in one of the letters Perry said he had been in Washington, D.C., in October and November 1981. He refused to divulge the contents of the letters, but said there were “several” and one was “lengthy.”
The Times, August 2 1983, USA
By MICHELE COPPOLA, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A Louisiana man wanted in the shooting deaths of five members of his family waived extradition Monday, telling authorities he would return “if Louisiana is needing me.”
A Louisiana law enforcement official was in Washington to take Michael O. Perry, 28, back to the state after his arrest in a local hotel Sunday for allegedly stealing a radio-cassette player.
Perry was the subject of a manhunt in Louisiana after his parents, two cousins and a nephew were found shot to death July 19 in Lake Arthur.
Perry reportedly is obsessed with pop singer Olivia Newton-John, and police said he was thwarted in April when he tried to see Miss Newton-John at her home in Malibu, Calif.
Some names, including “Olivia,” were written on a sheet found at the scenes of the slayings, officials said.
Ted Gary, a deputy with the Jef-ferson Davis Parish Sheriff’s Department, said additional investigators from Louisiana were expected to arrive in Washington and take Perry back late Monday night.
Perry, wearing cutoff dungarees, a T-shirt and sandals, told a D.C. Superior Court commissioner he would not challenge the extradition.
“The thing is, if Louisiana is needing me, and I’m sure they are now, the best thing for me to do is go out there and see what’s going on,” said Perry.
“So you waive extradition?” Commissioner John W. King asked. “Yes, I think that’s best, as soon as possible,” said Perry.
Gary said Perry had been in Washington in 1981 and so part of the search for him was conducted here.
Last week, witnesses reported seeing Perry near Lafayette, La., but he eluded a massive manhunt.
His father, Chester, 48; his mother, Grace, age unavailable; his cousin, Randy, 19; his nephew, Anthony Bonin, 2, and his cousin, Bryan LeBlanc, 22, were found dead in two Lake Arthur residences.
Perry lived in a trailer behind his parents’ home in Lake Arthur.