Ill. Mom Killed Her 6-Year-Old Son with Cold Shower: ‘Brutal and Heinous’

An Illinois mother has pleaded guilty to the 2021 murder of her 6-year-old son, years after prosecutors accused her and her older son of forcing the child into a cold shower for a “prolonged” period as punishment for his behavior.

Jannie Perry, now 42, entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder last Friday and is scheduled to be sentenced next month in a Lake County courtroom, according to The Chicago Tribune.

Under a plea agreement, prosecutors reportedly agreed to drop some of the other charges connected to her son’s death and to seek a sentence of no more than 45 years in prison. When charges were first announced in February 2022, Perry and her older son, Jeremiah Perry, now 24, both faced the possibility of life in prison.

At the time, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart called the punishment plan directed at 6-year-old Damari Perry “exceptionally brutal and heinous,” alleging that their actions led directly to the child’s death.

Prosecutors had initially charged both Jannie and Jeremiah with first-degree murder. They also faced eight additional counts of murder, along with charges including aggravated battery of a child, dismembering a human body, conspiracy, aggravated domestic battery, concealment of a homicidal death, endangering the life or health of a child, abuse of a corpse and obstructing justice.

Jannie had also originally been charged with failure to report the death or disappearance of a child under 13. It is not clear which specific counts were dropped under the plea deal beyond the first-degree murder charge she admitted to last week.

Prosecutors alleged when the charges were first filed that “the evidence shows that Jannie and Jeremiah Perry formulated and enacted a plan to severely punish Damari through prolonged exposure in a cold shower.” They also claimed that evidence showed the mother and son “burned Damari’s remains after his death” in an attempt to cover up the killing.

“As prosecutors considered the crime scene where Damari died, it became clear that this was a calculated plan against a small child,” Rinehart said in a statement at the time. “Damari’s final minutes warrant the sentencing enhancements that accompany such ‘brutal and heinous’ circumstances. The defendants’ stunning failure to seek medical attention demonstrates their intent to end Damari’s life.”

According to the Tribune, another of Perry’s children was also charged in connection with Damari’s death but was prosecuted as a juvenile.

Perry, a mother of seven, had previously fought to regain custody of Damari in 2017 after he was placed in the Illinois foster care system following his birth in 2015, the outlet reported.

She is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 30, 2026. Jeremiah Perry is currently set to stand trial beginning Feb. 9, 2026.