Perone, 67, of Desert Hills, Ariz, is scheduled to be back in court on Wednesday for a pretrial hearing on a charge alleging he murdered Richard Woods, 41, a Columbus-area man, on Oct. 8, 1992, at Perone's furniture store in Lebanon.
He remained in the Warren County Jail Friday in lieu of $750,000 bond, set after his lawyers submitted letters from Arizona supporters and a four-page resume to reinforce their appeals for lenient release terms.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Sam and Debbie (Perone’s wife). We believe in Sam’s innocence and are confident that they will receive a quick and positive resolution to the unfortunate situation they now find themselves in. May God bless them both,” Pratt Ashworth, a retired Air Force colonel and vice commander of the local American Legion post, wrote in a letter submitted at the Oct. 14 hearing in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
Earlier this week, Perone’s former next door neighbor, Dave Campbell, recalled Perone differently in light of a dispute they had in 1992.
“I knew he was a coward,” Campbell said. “I also knew he was very dangerous.”
The case
The Perones moved into the Turtlecreek Twp. neighborhood about a year before the Campbells. The neighbors initially struck up a friendship.
“Everything was rosy,” Dave Campbell said Thursday. “We actually bought furniture from them.”
A dinner party at the Perone home included a house-tour stop in the master bedroom where a picture of Perone clad in a leopard skin loin cloth in a tropical scene, hung over the headboard, Campbell said.
Campbell and his ex-wife said the neighborly relationship soured after Perone complained about the Campbell’s dogs, Rumpke and Arby, barking, while Perone was trying to nap. Then the Campbells left for two weeks on vacation and left their dogs in an outdoor kennel. An employee checked on them every day, seeing them last in the kennel the day before the Campbells returned home.
Campbell confronted Perone about his missing dogs. They agreed to meet at the bottom of their driveways.
Campbell said Perone showed up with another, larger man to back him up.
“(I’m) outmanned,” Campbell said. “(I decided) ‘Let this cat go.’ ”
About two months later, Campbell said, he and his wife returned home one night to find their typically quiet neighborhood outside Lebanon swarming with law enforcement officials.
“The entire end of the subdivision was blocked off,” Campbell said. Perone and his wife were out of town, but investigators were searching their home. Eventually Campbell said Perone’s pond was drained and parts of the backyard unearthed in a search.
Woods’ green 1990 Lexus was discovered on Oct. 9, 1992, in a rest area along Interstate 71, by a Pinkerton agent hired by Woods’ wife, Susan Schneier. The location was about six miles from their neighborhood.
Woods’ wallet turned up part way along a back-roads route from the neighborhood to the rest area.
The body, two bullet wounds in the back of the head, was found on Nov. 9, 1992, The case was investigated by the FBI, as well as the Warren County Sheriff’s Office.
Woods’ wife said Perone had previously threatened her husband.
Perone and his wife were the last people to see Woods alive.
Blood samples were taken from Just Living Rooms, their store in the Colony Square Shopping Center in Lebanon, now housing a UPS store.
Memorial contributions in memory of Woods, an Ohio State University alumni, were to be donated to an athletic scholarship fund created in his name.
The sheriff appealed for help in solving the case and shared details as they emerged.
Perone and his wife were questioned, indicating they were the last people to have seen Woods. No arrests were made.
On Nov. 18, then-Prosecutor Tim Oliver put a stop to the information sharing, noting the missing-persons case had become a homicide.
Move to Arizona
Perone moved north from the house in Turtlecreek Twp. to one near the intersection of Ohio 48 and Ohio 73 in Warren County, before moving to Arizona about 13 years ago, according to property records.
This week, he was still listed as president of the American Legion Post 34 Riders, in Cave Creek, Ariz.
Friends in Arizona described Perone as a decorated combat pilot from Vietnam who went on to a successful business career, despite exposure to Agent Orange during his military service.
“We wish Sam and Debbie a quick and positive resolution to the situation they now face and believe his innocence will prevail,” concluded a letter from his American Legion post presented to the court at his bond hearing.
The charge
The sheriff’s cold-case unit took up the case in 2006, employing new crime-fighting technologies. Last August, they returned with excavation equipment to the ravine where Woods’ body had been found.
Perone was arrested on Oct. 8, the 23rd anniversary of Woods’ death. Warren County sheriff’s deputies, as well as local law enforcement, forced open the front door of the Perones’ home in Arizona and he waived extradition.
At the first hearing in Lebanon, Perone’s lawyers submitted two letters and a resume claiming among, other things, that he had both undergraduate and master’s degrees from Southern Illinois University. On Friday, officials from the university said Perone received a bachelor of science degree in industrial technology in September 1971, and attended graduate business courses in 1974, but did not earn a degree.
On Friday, Perone’s lawyers did not return calls for comment and there was no response to request for comment from the American Legion post in Arizona.
On Friday, Schneier, expressed relief that the case was moving forward, but indicated she knew little about Perone.
“The cold case has been open for nine years. Having to relive some of the things that happened 23 years ago has been very hard, but thought-provoking,” she said. “I don’t know much about his past, except he had a bad reputation.”
Schneier and her daughters attended the first court hearing.
“Anytime a murder occurs like that, a senseless murder, you never get over that,” she said. “The wheels of justice are certainly turning.”
At Wednesday’s hearing, Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell, said he expected to press for a trial date.
About the Author
