Christopher Perrien

This is a case where it seems apparent that someone “dropped the ball.” Whether that someone was a specific person, an entity or an entire system could be left up for debate. What is not up for debate is the fact that two innocent people lost their lives.

For many years Christopher Perrien had been in and out of jail on a variety of charges that at the time ranged from fraud to theft. It appears as if in late 2011 he was doing some time for a charge of financial fraud but on September 1, 2011 he had been released through a work release program. This meant that he could leave the jail to work and would be required to return to the jail at night. He had provided the jail with information that he worked for a place called Advanced Building Contractors. He provided a phone number and a letter supplied by the employer. It is not completely clear if any of this was ever followed up on. Instead he was allowed out of custody from the hours of 8:00 in the morning to 7:00 at night Monday thru Saturday.

On the evening of September 22, 2011 the parents of forty-six year old Terri Greene went to her Sand Lake Michigan home. Whether they went because they were concerned or just happened to go by is unclear but they quickly realized something was wrong. They would find the body of their son in law, sixty-two year old Michael Greene inside the couple's home. Investigators were called in and they would later find Terri's body near a pond located on the property.

Michael and Terri had married in August of 2008. Michael was a retired State Police officer who had worked as a detective over the years. Of course investigators wondered if his past work had been the motive for this tragedy. One of their first suspects became a friend of theirs. It was a man in which the couple had been very close with but had a falling out of sorts with several years prior. The man had recently resurfaced and while it appeared that the couple and the friend had mended fences it seemed odd timing with their murders.

It was soon learned that Terri's cell phone and Michael's bank card had been taken and had been used soon after the couple had been murdered. It was using this information that led them to suspect Christopher Perrien was involved in their murders. On September 27^th Perrien was arrest on what appears to be charges related to a home invasion. He was held without the possibility of release so investigators felt they had plenty of time to investigate and build a case against him in the murders of the Greenes.

At some point it was revealed that the information Perrien had given to authorities to authorize his work release during the time of the murders had been false. It was also discovered or at least later said that he had a history of violating his parole and failing to report for work release programs. These were all indications that he should have never been released prior to the murders.

Very few specific details could be found easily when it came to the crimes Christopher Perrien committed or the evidence that was found against him to prove his guilt. Much of the controversy in this case revolved around the issue of his work release.

In September of 2012 he was sentenced to serve twenty to thirty years in a home invasion robbery that he had committed. In April of 2013 he was convicted in the murders of Michael and Terri Greene. It was said that “GPS reports” showed he had driven by the Greene home at least three times before the murders were committed. It was also said that through this technology they determined he had been at the home from 11:28 in the morning until 1:40 that afternoon. In May of 2013 he was given a sentence of life without parole. He was also given two, two year terms for felony firearm convictions. The Department of Correction so no release or parole dates given.

Terri Greene's family filed a lawsuit against government officials. They claimed that it was their failure to follow up on the information that Perrien had given them about employment that had given him the opportunity to commit the murders. While this does seem to be an accurate statement, the lawsuit was eventually dismissed. This ruling was based on the fact that the courts had shown that the plaintiffs had to show not only that Perrien put the community at danger, but also “nearly to the point of being able to name” the Greene's themselves. Since many of Perrien's crimes had been non-violent not only did authorities have reason to believe he would commit a murder, but it seems there was never a connection made between Perrien and the Greene's.

Generally when it comes to cases like this in which an administrative mistake has been made or a statute does not adequately address an issue to prevent a repeat of a case there is a lot of information out about changes being made. You see these most often in the cases in which the Department of Family Services have been involved in the life of a child who later died, but I have seen it in other cases also. Strangely I found nothing like that in this case. This tells me that either someone did not follow the already established guidelines correctly or somewhere in the government it did not seem important enough. That alone is sad.