Perrin disappeared on Feb. 13, 1989, after going to the hospital to visit her husband, who was recovering from a cancer surgery. Her body was found in a field two days later.
Her car was found in a garage a day after that, jacked up with the two rear tires missing. The tires were never found, but a confidential informant told police a man named Terry Pearce had talked about selling them.
Months later, another source told police Pearce had confessed to driving Perrin’s car the night of the murder.
Officers set up wiretaps on Pearce in March of 1990, then arrested and released him the same day. In his interrogation, Pearce pointed the finger at a man named Steven Clarke, who he said had confessed to being the driver that night.
Clarke denied any involvement in the murder and once again cast Pearce as the driver. Through the wiretaps, “it became clear that Pearce and Clarke were associates,” the ruling said.
It also became clear that Clarke thought McCullough and another man had ratted them out to police, the document said.
The information obtained from Clarke, Pearce and Pearce’s girlfriend, Tammy Waltham, provided the basis for McCullough and Nossey’s arrests.
Though the trio’s story’s changed repeatedly, Pearce eventually admitted to driving the vehicle and said McCullough had raped and killed Perrin, the decision said. Waltham, meanwhile, said McCullough and another man had come to pick up her boyfriend that night.
