Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Sheriff hubby's beautiful wife shoots herself. But DID SHE?

Episode Date: February 14, 2020

Just days after a domestic violence arrest, Eatonton police officer Seth Michael Perrault was arrested again. This time for the murder of his wife. Originally, Perrault says that his wife shot herself, but the evidence just doesn't hold up.Joining Nancy Grace today: Nishala Botts: Domestic Violence Abuse Survivor Jim Elliott: Attorney James Shelnutt: 27 years Atlanta Metro Major Case detective, SWAT Officer (RET) Attorney Dr Bethany Marshall: Psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills, Tim Gallagher - Medical Examiner State of Florida, Billy Hobbs - Reporter for The Union-Recorder, Milledgeville, Ga. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. A beautiful young brunette mom, Amanda Pardue, distraught over the state of her relationship, shoots herself with a.380 sitting beside the bed in the marital bedroom. Or did she? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. According to Sheriff Sills, the officer says his wife committed suicide in this house. No charges have been filed, but the sheriff is also not yet confirming it was a suicide. The scene was suspicious in nature. The sheriff says Eatonton police officer Michael Seth Peralt's

wife, Amanda, was found dead in their home on Monday. The two were the only people in the house at the time. Only the two of them. Only Amanda and Michael Seth Peralt. Less than a week earlier, Peralt was arrested and charged with a simple battery in connection to an alleged domestic dispute. There appears to be a long history of domestic abuse. According to Sills, Michael didn't call 911. Instead, he called his his boss Eatonton Police Chief Kent Lawrence. Perrault had told him that his wife had killed herself and we of course responded immediately to the scene. Sills made it clear Perrault is not a suspect at this point and it is currently a death investigation not a homicide investigation. It's amazing how so many women commit suicide in the middle of domestic relations problems. Let me just say euphemistically, you are hearing

our friends at Channel 13 WMAZ. That was Zach Merchant speaking to Sheriff Howard Seals. What really happened to Amanda Pardue Peralt? In the prime of her life, absolutely stunning, she's found dead. She's found dead. Her husband says they had been arguing and she just hauled off and shot herself. Mm, mm, mm. A beautiful, beautiful woman, an ideal life, at least on the outside looking in. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

Will we, can we ever know the truth about what happened to Amanda? What do forensics tell us? What does the situation tell us? What does the demeanor before and after of all the parties involved tell us? What logical conclusions can we draw? And can we discern the truth in this matter? Jim Elliott with me. Renowned attorney with Butler Snow Legal Counsel for multiple state and local municipalities.

You can find him at butlersnow.com. James Shelnut, our friend, 27 years, Metro Major Case SWAT officer, now lawyer, psychoanalyst to the stars. Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us from L.A., drbethanymarshall.com, the medical examiner for the state of Florida. And I say the emphasis on the because a lot of municipalities have their own. Gallagher is the M.E. for the state of Florida. And I say the emphasis on the, because a lot of municipalities have their own. Gallagher is the Emmy for the state of Florida. Dr. Tim Gallagher, Billy Hobbs with me, reporter, union recorder, Milledgeville, and special guest, Nishla Botts, domestic violence abuse survivor. Let that sink in for a moment. First, to Billy Hobbs with the union recorder,

Milledgeville, Georgia. Let's just start at the beginning. When I'm explaining something to a jury or trying to, they could probably explain it to me better. I start at the beginning. We go from A, B, C, to Z. And I like to hear every detail, Billy. No detail is too small for me to hear. I want to hear first about the location. Where did these two live? Was it a house? Was it an apartment? Was it a condo? Was it a trailer? What can you tell me? Was it a good neighborhood? Was it a crime-ridden neighborhood? Did they have a grassy yard and a swing set in the back? Tell me. What do you know? Yes indeed uh the the house was a two-story house located on lake oconee in putnam county okay wait a minute wait a minute whoa whoa whoa billy hobbs hold on did you say located on lake oconee was there a lakefront property yes uh-uh that's expensive

and beautiful see i didn't know that valued at 250 000 you know a 200 a quarter million dollar house on the waterfront in putnam county eatonton georgia is equal to a million and a half two million say upstate new york even more if you head out to california a two-story house on the waterfront okay let me drink that in for a moment. Okay, go from there. Okay, it's located on actually 133 Long Island Drive, which is in the Long Island Forest subdivision, and that is not too far from the lake itself. Now, wait a minute. I'm looking at a photo of her and she is on a gorgeous wedding dress. Really, Jackie, look at this. Look at this with a little keyhole loop in the front. And I'm

not one to look at clothing choices or fashion choices at all. But my point is she looks like the happiest bride ever. She's in front of a waterfall, and she's kissing the husband, Michael Seth Perot. And here's my question. They've got three children. There's one that looks like she's about four or five, one that looks like she's about 11 or 12, 13, and a boy that looks like he may be 10. Where did they come from?

I'm sure they didn't just pop up miraculously at the wedding. Where are they from? Other marriages? Who are these children? We don't know who the children are, Nancy, but we do know that Seth, as he is known by family and friends, he goes by the name Seth. He did, in fact, have a child who was his biological daughter. She was eight years old. She was in the home at the time of the first argument. You know, to psychoanalyst to the stars, Bethany Marshall,

drbethanymarshall.com. Dr. Bethany, no offense, but I want to get your mind out of your $1,000 boots that your clients buy on Rodeo Drive, a.k.a. Rodeo, and get your head into this case. This is one of your specialties. Dr. Bethany, it's one thing to argue with your spouse. It's an entirely other thing to carry on over and over and over in front of your children. I think a little argument is healthy because they've got to know parents don't always agree and they can argue and that's okay. That doesn't mean you're going to get a divorce. That doesn't mean anybody's going to walk out. It's normal. But the repeated raising the voices and threatening, I've read reports that he was quote, super jealous and that on occasion had red marks on her neck and chest.

What does that do to children, Bethany? Well, you know, Nancy, when we think of trauma and post-traumatic stress, it's not just having something done to you, but witnessing a traumatic event that's being perpetrated upon another person. So not only is this eight-year-old being subjected to physical and verbal violence in the household, but she's witnessing her mother in anguish and in pain. Now, you talked about the jealousy. Perpetrators of domestic violence are always pathologically jealous. They cannot distinguish between separateness and betrayal. So the minute the wife leaves the house, the minute she smiles at somebody, has a friendship, has coffee with somebody, they imagine that they're about to be

abandoned and betrayed. And then that leads them to become very dysregulated, meaning they can't calm themselves down. There's no objectivity. It's almost like a psychosis sets in where they have lack of reality testing. And they believe in that moment that they have been cheated on. Feelings get turned into fact. And then they go in for the attack. You know, I was looking at this photo I was talking about, back to Billy Hobbs, reporter with the Union Recorder, Milledgeville, Georgia, this wedding photo. Now, I know that they have a bio daughter,

an eight-year-old daughter, but I think that's who this little girl is of the three children. But I also know that she had sent text messages to friends saying, quote, have a nice place. I'm talking about that two-story, I'll just call it a mansion. I'll just put it out there on the waterfront. But living in a prison, going to delete these messages, he may still see them, but keep them for me, please. Hold on, Billy Hobbs. Nishla Botts, domestic violence abuse survivor, wants in. Nishla Botts, thank you for being with us. When I see that,

he may still see them, but keep them for me, please. That is, that's a bad sign, Ishla. Yes, ma'am, Nancy, that is. And from my experience, what Amanda was doing at that time was leaving a paper trail per se. That is something that I did as well. I would search things or leave record on my phone, send text message, and ask people to delete them, but keep them for me. So absolutely, Amanda was leaving a paper trail. With me, renowned attorney Jim Elliott. You can find him at butlersnow.com. Jim Elliott. I remember a big, big case I tried. A multimillionaire, house burned down. The fire department found him lounging romanesque like he was eating some grapes in the neighbor's yard fully dressed with belt and wallet 3 a.m neighbor's front yard house burning down like nero played the violin while rome burned but

after they spoke to him for about four minutes, he went, oh, yeah, my wife's in there. And at trial, I will never forget Judge Elizabeth Long would not let me allow in evidence of the victim in that case. Told her best friend, who was also a piano teacher like her, reminded me of my mom, Jim, the victim kept a key to the friend's home in her pocketbook in case she ever needed a place to go. And I could not get that into evidence. The victim who said that couldn't be cross-examined. Try as I did, with all the exceptions to the hearsay rule, I tried every one I could possibly use.

Excited utterance, you name it. Course of conduct, everything. She wouldn't let it in. But it's the same thing here. Jim, why would that sort of evidence not come in at trial? Well, to your point, I mean, the inability to cross-examine not come in at trial. Spoken like a true defense attorney. Remind me if I ever get arrested for murdering David to hire Jim Elliott. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Any unattended death that is required by law to be investigated in Georgia, you approach it, obviously objectively, but you're looking for any sign of wrongdoing. Okay? Is the possibility of homicide been ruled out yet? Absolutely not. Whatever the investigation determines, Penny Dobbs, who lives up the street in this quiet lakeside community, says Putnam County will miss Amanda Peralt. One of the most beautiful people I've ever met.

Very sweet, very kind. Other neighbors we talked to didn't want to speak on camera, but some were worried about this case and said they want to find out what happened. That's interesting that even neighbors were afraid to speak on camera. You're hearing our friend Zach Merchant at WMAZ News 13. What happened to Amanda Pardue Peralt in the prime of her life? Brunette beauty, three children. Why does she end up dead in the family home?

Back to Billy Hobbs, reporter, the union recorder in Milledgeville, Georgia. So that day leading up to the shooting, what do we know? First of all, how long have these two been married? Do we know that? Yes, about two years, Nancy. But they have been in a relationship for about eight years, according to authorities. And the child, the child that we talked about earlier is the eight-year-old daughter of Seth Perot. He had custody of his biological daughter.

That was not the daughter of Amanda. Oh, okay. You know, the reports I read said that was their child together. I'm glad you told me that because that could make a difference. And I'm sure Dr. Bethany Marshall is going to get into that. The husband, Michael Perot, says he and his wife were arguing when she whipped out a gun and shot herself. Now, let me ask you this. Billy Hobbs, did he call 911? He did not call 911. After she reached in and got the.380 caliber pistol from the nightstand in the master bedroom of the couple,

he actually called Kent Lawrence, the police chief of Edenton. That was his boss at the time. And I've got to tell you about Edenton, Georgia. It's beautiful. I worked there and spent a lot of time there at the National 4-H Center as a camp counselor. Just beautiful. But I've got a problem. I have a problem with him not calling 911.

Now, one more thing I got to ask you, Billy Hobbs, she was shot one time. Tell me about the wound. One time in the head. One time in the head. Do we know if it's in the side of the head, the back of the head, what? We know that it was in the side of the head around the ear and that it went out the other side, exited out and then the exit wound into a wall in the bedroom. To Dr. Tim Gallagher, the medical examiner, state of Florida. Dr. Gallagher, depending on the trajectory path, we know it's probably right to left, but we don't know if it was upwards to downwards.

For instance, if that trajectory path went in above the right ear and then came down out below the left back jaw, I'd find that very difficult to believe it was suicide because of the angle. She'd have to be holding the gun straight up and down for that trajectory path to happen. So it's not just a matter of if she shot in the back or the back of the head, you know that's not suicide. There are other ways to determine if a gunshot wound is suicide or homicide based on the trajectory path. But I want to talk to you about something more subtle, Dr. Tim Gallagher, Medical Examiner, State of Florida. Something that we know from statistics, from method and assessment of homicide and suicide, that very rarely does a woman shoot herself in the head.

Very rarely. Statistically, that almost never happens. Yes, it happens very rarely. I don't know why, but isn't that true, Dr. Gallagher? Well, you're right, Nancy. Trajectory does play a major role in determining whether the case is a suicide case or a homicide case or an accident or something else. You're right. The trajectory, the gunpowder residue on the wound area makes a big difference. That has to be present in order for the contact gunshot wound to be assessed. All of these things, the facts of the scenario also have to be put into place, but you're right. Women typically do not shoot themselves in the head, and the reason is kind of a fuzzy one, but people tend to shoot the things that bother them, and if somebody is

in a very emotional crisis, say that their heart is breaking, then they tend to shoot themselves in the heart or in the chest, and women are more likely to do that than men men who have mental problems or are in some sort of mental anguish over some scenario tend to shoot themselves where it hurts in their brain you know so that's that's kind of the reason why women do not typically shoot themselves in the head and if they do they typically have a background of mental problems. They've been Baker acted, they've been in it, they've been institutionalized, and they tend to shoot, quote unquote, the voices in their head or the thing that is bothering them, which would be more in their head than in their heart.

Well, the gender as it relates to suicide risk and the role of the wound side is extremely problematic. We know males have a much higher suicide rate than females. I always think it's because females have too much to do to go get a gun and shoot themselves. They've got to take care of the children. They've got to work. They've got to cook dinner blah blah blah as i like to say to james a shell nut a man's work is done at the set of the sun but a woman's work is never done boy have i learned that in spades let me tell you shell nut how many times have you seen a woman commit suicide by shooting herself in the head oh It's very rarely. Women commit suicide, as we talked about, pills, poison, gunshot wound to the head,

very, very rare. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. There appears to be a long history of domestic abuse. According to Sills, Michael didn't call 911. Instead, he called his boss, Eatonton Police Chief Kent Lawrence. Peralt had told him that his wife had killed herself. And we, of course, responded immediately to the scene. Sills made it clear Peralt is not a suspect at this point, and it is currently a death investigation, not a homicide investigation. That is our friend Zach Merchant at 13 WMAZ,

and he's speaking with the Eatonton Police Chief Kent Lawrence. We were just talking about how this gorgeous young mom, Amanda Perdue Peralt, found dead after an argument with her husband. He says she just took out a gun and shot herself. She just couldn't take it anymore. The husband, Michael Seth Peralt, calls his boss at law enforcement instead of 911. But we were just talking about women and men and how significant it is that the gunshot wound that killed Amanda was to the head. If you take a look at gender suicide ratio, wound site to the area of the body that is wounded in firearm suicide, males, of course, have a much higher suicide rate because of their likelihood for killing themselves, number one, or shooting themselves. But the gender difference

regarding facial disfigurement and suicidal intent, very often you will see, statistically, a woman try to commit suicide, it doesn't work, as opposed to a man, it works more often. will see, statistically, a woman try to commit suicide, it doesn't work. As opposed to a man, it works more often. Not always, but it works more often if they really want to commit suicide. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, we know that women are almost 50% less likely than men to shoot themselves, much less in the head. What do you make of it? Well, let's take double's advocate for a moment and let's assume she shot herself. Okay. That she's the rare female who picks up a gun and shoots herself in the head. What would cause that? What we would typically see would be someone with a personality disorder

called borderline personality disorder. Oh, here you go. When are you going to work in sexual sadism? I can't wait. Jackie and I just wait for that sexual sadism to come in. Now, I certainly do not want to dissuade you from doing that, but Dr. Bethany, there's nothing, nothing in the evidence whatsoever to suggest she had any mental impairment at all. Well, this is true, but I don't want to throw the husband under the bus so soon because, okay. But you don't have to have a mental issue to suddenly commit suicide. We have teens commit suicide. We have people that seemingly are perfectly sane and no problems commit suicide.

You know, Nancy, you're absolutely correct. But I would say in this case, if she committed suicide, you would see a history of her being unstable in some way, perhaps being a cutter and having the kind of personality type where whenever she was angry at her husband, she turned the rage back against herself, somebody who maybe drew her children into the arguments, somebody who had repeated suicide attempts, somebody who was maybe in some kind of a psychiatric care. I would at least look at the behavioral evidence. I would look at her history, and I would try to rule out some kind of personality disorder and some kind of mood dysregulation in combination with impulsivity,

because that is what you would see. Well, according to her, Dr. Bethany, you may want to make a note of this for future use. According to her, she didn't have any emotional or mental illnesses. According to her, her problem was she was married to an sob now that is a technical legal term that i learned in dom rel as we called it at mercer university domestic relations the sob factor let me get back to billy hobbs reporter the union recorder millersville georgia billy lightning round do you know her dominant hand was she right-handed i do not know what side of the head was the wound? Was the entry? The sheriff has refused to get into any type of evidence. Really? Any of that.

Huh. That's interesting that none of the evidence is being released. I mean, to you, Jim Elliott, LawyerButlerSnow.com. Jim, isn't that a public record or are they shrouding it because it's ongoing investigation? Yeah, it's just the ongoing investigation. Just the initial incident report would be subject to release under Georgia law, but everything dealing with a pending prosecution would be not subject to being released. My goodness, you certainly rattled that off. You were ready for me. James Shelnut, 27 years SWAT, now lawyer. Did you hear Billy Hobbs say he didn't call 911? That's troubling. Yeah, you know, that's a little bit troublesome for me. You know, it seems to me that he's calling somebody that he's familiar with,

somebody that he thinks may be, you know, an ally of his in the situation to possibly even set the stage of the investigation or to set the posture of it. You know, going back and looking at, you know, we're talking about some of the evidence. Just put my investigative hat on for just a minute. You know, one of the first things I want to do when I get out there is certainly secure the scene. But while they have him there, I think it's a great idea for those investigators, if they didn't already do it at that time, to do a gunshot residue test. You know, that's something that will confirm whether or not this guy fired a weapon. And they're also going to do a gunshot residue test on the female in this case to see if she fired a weapon. You know, that's

part of the evidence that would need to be secured at the scene. Do we know, Billy Holmes, the union recorder, investigative reporter, did they do a GSR gunshot residue? That is our understanding that they did that on both the victim and Seth Perot. Why do you say that? Because he was not arrested. He and she were the only ones in the home. She's dead. He's alive. He was not arrested. Why would you think they did GSR, gunshot residue test? Do you know that? In most cases like this or whatever, just to rule out the possibilities of this or that and to establish whether or not it happened the way that the person who's still alive said that it happened.

Well, of course, Billy Hobbs, you're right again. But that doesn't mean that they did it. Of course they should do it. But did they do it? Do you know that they did it? Do you have reason to believe they did it? Yeah, that's our understanding is that they did do that on both the victim and Seth Peralta. Do you know the results? I do not. Another fact that has been kept secret. Joining me, Nishla Botts, domestic violence abuse

survivor. What do you make of this, Nishla? Nishla, first of all, prayers to the eight-year-old child, Amanda's child, that witnessed some of the abuse. I believe the red marks on her neck and throat, obviously she had been choked. The paper trail was a big key point for me. Obviously she was trying to leave signs that something was going on. She was in fear for her life, and she was trying to leave a trail for somebody to find out. This gorgeous young woman, a brunette beauty, reports her cop husband for domestic violence, and now she's dead. She's found dead, single gunshot wound to the head, in the marital bedroom. Also, I'm curious, because on the day she dies, Billy Hobbs, reporter, the union recorder in Milledgeville,

on the day she dies, her Facebook profile is changed to that picture I'm talking about, that photo of her in a wedding dress with the husband, Michael Seth Perot, and their children in front of a waterfall. So when did that happen? When was the Facebook page changed? Before or after the shooting? Possibly before the shooting, Nancy. And about 45 to 55 minutes prior to that shooting, that Facebook page was changed to wedding photo. Question, do you know what the picture was before it was changed to a wedding photo?

I do not. You know, I'd be curious, Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst joining me out of Beverly Hills. Bethany, I'd be really curious if her photo before the shooting was a single shot of her, like pretty, maybe edited, maybe Photoshop, maybe through a filter where she's young, attractive, beautiful. And then somehow it gets changed to a picture of her with her husband and family. Wouldn't that be quite the coincidence? Nancy, you are spot on because as I was listening to the reporter and to the details of this story,

I had this mental image of the two of them fighting and fighting and fighting and some kind of obsessional paranoia on his part that she's been cheating on him. And you know, when people are obsessed, they have this thing called confirmation bias, where they point to every little, tiny little speck of evidence that could confirm their paranoia. So I imagined him combing through the Facebook, asking to look at her phone, asking who she's been talking to, and a fight that keeps escalating over time. And her, you know, reflexively changing it to this happy photo of them on the wedding day with the three children just to appease him, Nancy. keeps escalating until there's a huge explosion of violence because they use the violence in a way to push it to the edge to then calm themselves back down again. I know it's counterintuitive,

but that's how it works. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Deputies on the scene see red marks on her chest and around her neck. Now, we also know that the 8-year-old daughter had witnessed Mommy and Daddy fighting and saw her father shove, shove Amanda. This is before the shooting. Billy Hobbs, what do we know about that? That particular incident, Nancy, happened six days before the shooting, which specifically was on Tuesday, January 28th of 2020. What happened that day? That day is when they first got into the argument that led to deputies with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office going to the couple's home and in turn arresting Seth Peralta for the two misdemeanor charges that he was charged with. And then he gets right out. How long was he behind bars on a previous attack on her?

We do not know of any of those incidents. If there were any, they were not reported to authorities. No, I mean, on that day, the day that he was arrested on a misdemeanor assault on her, before she's murdered, before she's dead, how long was he behind bars, or was he behind bars at all? Yeah, he was. He was actually behind bars. He stayed in jail that night. That Wednesday, the following day, he actually had a bond hearing before a chief magistrate in Putnam County named Dorothy Adams, who set bond at $1,500.

$1,500. You only put down 10%. He's out on $150, does a few hours, and then five days later,'s dead wow that's quite the timeline quite the timeline we know that she told her friend carrie that her husband was quote super jealous and quote records everything huh i have a nice place but living in a prison, going to delete these messages, he may still see them. I'm good for now, I promise, she added when her friend expressed concern, held my own for eight years with him. Please swear you're going to keep these for me in case anything ever happens to me. You can share them with my mother. We have confirmed through family members that

Perot never called her parents to tell them about her death. Instead, they find out their daughter is dead through their grandson. Wow. Often she would complain to her family, to her mom and dad anyway, about her husband striking her, kicking her out of the house, choking her. One time she told her mother he had dragged her across the pavement. To James Shelnut, 27 years, major case, now attorney. James, how many times have you had a woman report over and over and over her fear? Beatings, dragging across the pavement, slapping in front of the children, the whole nine yards. Then she ends up dead because some judge lets the perp out and goes right back and she ends up dead mommy's dead yeah you know the children a lot of the times all the forgotten victims you know we

focus on the person who actually lost their life as we should um but you know these children live this over and over and over you know quite often in situations like this thing you see you know you think about it for the kids. You know, they love both mom and dad. They love both of them. Mom and dad may both love them. But in the same token, you know, when dad does this to mom or in the rare situation where mom may do it to dad, you know, these kids lose not just one parent. They lose both parents.

One is dead and one is in prison. And these children grow up parentless and having to move in with some family member and have their lives just totally disrupted, have their childhoods destroyed. And it is just really sad what happens to these kids. To Dr. Bethany Marshall. Help us out, Bethany. exactly what I was thinking, that there is not only the witnessing of the domestic violence multiple times, a household that is just a powder keg of emotion, terror that mommy's going to be killed by daddy, taking sides and then feeling guilty about it. But now there's this disruption of the attachment system on both sides. And as the reporter mentioned earlier, the eight-year-old was in the care of the father, the sole care. He had full custody. So that means

this eight-year-old has had a string of losses. First of all, she's been removed from the biological mother's home to the father. Now the father's behind bars. Now the stepmother is dead. Potentially, she's going to be separated from her other siblings if they cannot find a home where all three can reside together. Hopefully, they can reside together. And then who knows what future events in her life might reinforce or underscore the anxieties that have started in this household. What these children need are very secure attachments to stay together, to be with at least a third degree relative, somebody who loves them and care for them, and can provide the safety and stability that will help to actualize their

resilience. Because children are also resilient. We all are. But they need a household that will foster that resilience going forward. Well, here's an interesting quote. Apparently, quote, apparently there was a lack of tranquility in the home. A lack of tranquility. For those of you that care about domestic violence, listen to this. I was personally at that hearing. The chief magistrate, Dorothy Adams, very specifically was interested in putting a condition of bond that he not have contact with his wife. However, she was here at that bond hearing and she asserted to the court that he had no place to go and it was okay for him to come back home. So feeling pity for the husband, she allows him to come back home

since he said he had no place to go and now she's dead. Take a listen to our friends at Fox 5. This is Angelique Proctor. Peralta is being moved from the Putnam County Jail to another facility for his protection. The sheriff confirmed Peralta had been arrested on unrelated misdemeanor charges in the past, but did not know if he was convicted. The sheriff has some advice for anyone who is a victim of domestic violence. You're in a situation of domestic violence and we we're just we're looking into this relationship from a long term standpoint now. But if you're in that, you know, get out of it and utilize the laws and things that are available to you. And a lot of times that is easier said than done. The sheriff says Peralta has already been moved to that undisclosed location. We wait as justice unfolds. It's not as easy as just, quote, get out.

If you need help, please dial toll-free 800-799-SAFE. Repeat 800-799-7233. 799-7233. It's too late for Amanda Pardue, but it's not too late for you. Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.