A Georgia sheriff, who has led the investigation of a police officer accused of killing his wife, testified in court Tuesday that it was "absolutely obvious" the officer staged his wife's death scene.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills testified in Putnam County Superior Court that Eatonton police officer Michael Perrault moved the pistol used to kill his wife Amanda Perrault, according to a report by news station WMAZ. Perrault, 43, was charged with the murder of his wife earlier this month. He had told authorities that his wife committed suicide.
Considering where his wife’s pool of blood was on the floor, the position of the gun and other details, Sills said “it was absolutely obvious to [him] that Amanda Perrault could not have shot herself.” In addition to the death scene, Sills told the courtroom that surveillance footage of Perrault at a liquor store Feb. 3, the day his wife died, was also telling.
Perrault had different clothes on when purchasing liquor at 10:14 a.m. Feb. 3 than three hours later when police arrived to investigate Amanda Perrault’s death. The scene and changing of clothes led Sills to believe Perrault was “clearly lying.”
Days before Perrault’s wife died, Perrault was arrested and accused of hitting and pushing her. The couple’s 8-year-old corroborated the 44-year-old’s story.
At the time of the incident Jan. 31, Sill said physical evidence supported the woman’s claims.
“The red marks on her chest are the only physical evidence, but when we have physical evidence, we have to make an arrest,” Sills said.
Perrault’s defense attorney Tuesday challenged whether the domestic violence arrest was relevant to the death investigation. Sills testified that neighbors gave insight into the significance of the alleged domestic violence.
“All of the neighbors, every one of them, told us there had been one almost continual domestic fight going on at that house … as long as they’d lived there,” Sills said.
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