Elli Perkins (née Present; 1949 – March 13, 2003) was an American glass artist and a Scientologist who lived in western New York State, working as a senior auditor at the Church of Scientology branch in Buffalo.
When her son, Jeremy, began to show signs of schizophrenia, Perkins attempted to treat him in accordance with Scientology instead of seeking proper psychiatric care. Jeremy's condition progressed to the point where he felt his mother was poisoning him with the vitamin supplements she forced him to take. After a suicide attempt, Jeremy murdered his mother.
The killing received substantial press coverage, with the implication being that Perkins' refusal to allow Jeremy to be treated by a psychiatrist caused his eventual outburst, and her death.
Early life
Elli Perkins, born Elli Present, was raised Jewish; she married Don Perkins, who was brought up with a Christian background. Elli had met Don shortly after taking a Scientology course. Before moving to Buffalo, Elli had lived in Rochester and attended the Rochester Institute of Technology. She crafted handmade glass art and traveled to the Sterling Renaissance Festival, an annual renaissance fair in upstate New York of which she was a member, to sell her wares. She also helped to run the Niagara Craft Association.
In 1979, Don and Elli Perkins, both Scientologists, reached the state of "Clear" after taking Scientology courses and receiving auditing processes. The family then moved to California and lived there during the 1980s, where Elli worked at the Church of Scientology's Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles. By the late 1980s, the family had moved back to Buffalo. Elli and Don had a daughter and a son named Jeremy, the latter of whom lived at home and worked for Don's contracting company. In addition to contracting work, Don is a cabinetmaker and carpenter.
Declining mental health of her son
At age 24, Jeremy began to show changes in behavior, telling his father that he was hearing voices in his mind. At that time, Jeremy's parents sent him to join Scientology's Sea Org in California, which they hoped would help resolve his troubling behavior. His treatment did not succeed with the Sea Org, so he returned to his parents within a few months, resuming his job at his father's business.
A family friend said, "Elli strongly believed that psychiatry was an evil", so she would not consult a psychiatrist about her son's mental illness. Scientologists believe that psychiatry "doesn't work". Court-ordered psychiatric evaluations of Jeremy showed that he was displaying symptoms of schizophrenia in 2001. His defense attorney, John Nuchereno, said that his condition declined over the summer of 2002, and that his father had to terminate his employment. His deterioration exhausted the Church's efforts to cure him; they classified Jeremy as a level III "potential trouble source" and banned him from further Scientology courses.
Search for alternatives to psychiatry
After being found trespassing outside of the University at Buffalo on August 14, 2001, Jeremy was arrested and remanded to a local hospital after a court-ordered psychiatric exam confirmed that he had a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Elli later convinced the court to release her son into her custody. She began to seek out alternative methods of treatment to psychiatry, and refused to allow her son to be treated with anti-psychotic medications. In the fall of 2002, the Perkins family consulted with Dr. Conrad Maulfair, an osteopathic physician and Scientologist. According to Nuchereno, Maulfair concluded that "he was suffering from certain digestive problems, that he had certain chemical toxins in his body, and he needed to be purged of it." Maulfair said he needed to be "energized" through vitamin therapy.
Elli fed Jeremy the recommended vitamins, but he became highly suspicious of his mother. In a recorded interview, after being asked what concerns he had about taking these vitamins, Jeremy stated: "Well, concerns just that maybe she's trying to poison me or something." In February 2003, Elli took Jeremy to see Albert Brown, a self-taught "natural healer". Jeremy told Brown in a session: "Sometimes I think I'm Jesus Christ." Elli wanted to send Jeremy to live with Brown for treatment, but days beforehand Jeremy began to act more aggressive. After consulting with her son-in-law Jeff Carlson, the executive director of the Buffalo Church of Scientology, she was told to give Jeremy "MEST work", or busy-work around the house in order to get him tired.