ByWTOC StaffandBria Bolden | Published:Jun. 29, 2021 at 1:05 PM EDT
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - The Savannah Police Department is investigating a homicide after a missing woman was found deceased in a vehicle.
According to police, 53-year-old Sherri Perkins was reported missing on June 10 after last being seen during the morning of June 8.
Officers discovered Perkins deceased in a vehicle on June 25 at Magazine and Feeley Avenue.
The case is being investigated as a homicide.
WTOC spoke with Sherri Perkins’ brother and he says this is a nightmare for their family. He also said she just recently moved to Savannah and was excited to get a fresh start here. Her brother says their family is from Millen, Georgia.
That’s just about an hour and a half outside of Statesboro.
“It’s so heartbreaking because you watch her grow up as a baby, even changing her diapers as a young boy and watching her grow into a young lady, and to a mother and to a grandmother. All of a sudden she’s gone. It’s just so hurtful and so painful. Our family, we are really just traumatized by that type of death for her,” said her brother James Steele.
He also says Sherri was a sweet and kind person and the family doesn’t understand why someone would want to hurt her.
“She just liked people and she’d get along with anybody, anywhere, anytime. And if there was anything she could do for someone, she would do that.”
Her brother James Steele says she moved down to Savannah for a fresh start after a tragedy.
All of her children are deceased now. She lost one daughter to cancer. She lost one son to a tragic accident when he was less than 2 years old. in a drowning accident in a city. It was tragic. She lost him and her oldest son, he was just murdered back in October in Statesboro Georgia.”
Steele says even though she struggled with the deaths of her children, she was recovering.
“Everything was okay and then all of a sudden that morning he woke up and she wasn’t there to see him off to work. It was strange because that was not like her to leave in the night and not come back home.”
Steele says the family is still trying to put together how and why someone would want to hurt her.
“You see these things happen to other families and you feel not invincible but that those type of things wouldn’t happen to your family. Because you feel like your family is sheltered, and we’re protected by one another, you’re loved by one another. The community loves us and we love our community. For that to happen to her, it’s like a nightmare that just won’t end.”
Perkins’ leaves behind grandchildren along with brothers and a sister. Her brother also says she liked to play the lottery and frequented a gas station near her apartment on Middleground Road.
He says those who may have met her here may know here as “Baby Girl”.
The family is asking for anyone who may have met Sherri and knows anything about what happened to her to please call police.
There are still a lot of unknowns about this investigation and information is limited. We asked Savannah Police what kind of vehicle Perkins was found in as well as where exactly she was found on the road.
They couldn’t tell us but say they continue to investigate.
Anyone with information on the incident should call the SPD Violent Crimes Tip Line at (912) 525-3124 or CrimeStoppers at (912) 234-2020. Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward. CrimeStoppers tips can also be submitted online by visitingSavannahChathamCrimeStoppers.organd clicking “Submit Online Tip.”
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