A cold case from 1990 that left a brother and sister dead has finally come to a close as the suspect was captured. Not only was he apprehended, but a Georgia jury just reached a verdict in his case.
Kenneth Perry was found guilty in the murder of siblings John and Pamela Sumpter who were found dead in a DeKalb County apartment the night of July 15, 1990. Police claim John was killed that night. They said Pamela was sexually assaulted and stabbed but escaped Perry’s grasp in time to call police before she died weeks later. DeKalb County Police Department kept her rape kit. However, they never found whose DNA was on those samples, causing the case to go cold.
However, in 2024, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation sent the DNA to be tested again with forensic genetic genealogy, finding a match to Perry who was subsequently arrested in connection to the crime, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was found just a county over from where the siblings were found dead.
Perry was charged with two counts of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, one count of rape, four counts of aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated battery, one count for possession of a knife, one count of possession of a knife during the commission of a felony and one count of theft by taking.
Boldly, he took the stand during his trial, arguing that he was drugged and sexually assaulted at the apartment while the Sumpters were present, per WSB-TV. He also claimed another man was there armed with a knife. He said after he fled the apartment, all three individuals were alive. However, he never told the police of the incident, the report said.
After two hours of deliberation and 35 years of the Sumpter family awaiting justice, the jury found Perry guilty of all charges on Tuesday, March 11.
“While we are satisfied… make no mistake this verdict was not just for me or my office, the jury’s verdict today was for Pamela, John and the entire Sumpter family,” said DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston during a press conference Tuesday afternoon. “A family that has waited decades for their loved ones murderer to be brought to justice.”