Police: Missing Zephyrhills comic writer is victim of homicide

More than two weeks after comic book artist Stephen J. Perry was last heard from by his friends - and 11 days after his van was found near human remains at a Tampa hotel - Zephyrhills police now say he is the victim of an apparent homicide.

"The Zephyrhills Police Department is now investigating the disappearance of Stephen J. Perry as an apparent homicide," Capt. Rob McKinney said in a news release. "Laboratory results on evidence are still pending at this time."

Zephyrhills police confirmed last week that Perry, 56, the original writer for the popular 1980s animated show "Thundercats," was missing from his Zephyrhills home under suspicious circumstances. His roommates, James "Jimmy" Davis, 45, and Roxanne Davis, 49, had vanished from the home at 38046 Eighth Ave. as well. They have since been found and arrested on unrelated charges.

Roxanne Davis is being held without bail at the Land O' Lakes Jail on a probation violation charge. Husband James is being held on several charges including failure to appear and drug trafficking. His bail is set at $7,626.

On May 16, investigators found Perry's blue van and human remains - said by Zephyrhills Mayor Cliff McDuffie to be an arm - and tracked the van back to Perry's home, which was ransacked.

The Zephyrhills Police Department is working with the Pasco/Pinellas State Attorney's Office regarding news releases on this case, according to McKinney. The State Attorney's office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Police, however, are now confirming what some people already knew - that Perry was dead and the victim of violence.

On May 19, Zephyrhills police investigators went to the home of Krystal Carroll, the 26-year-old mother of Perry's 5-year-old son Leo.

They told her Perry - the man she lived with for eight years before moving out a year ago - was dead.

"I cried. I cried when they told me," she said, looking tired, her belly seven months pregnant from a new relationship with a fellow carnival worker and friend of Perry's.

Police say that Perry hasn't been seen since May 9. He didn't show up for a May 13 court hearing where he wanted to ask a court to make a temporary domestic violence injunction he got in April against Carroll permanent.

Carroll said police never came out and told her that Perry was murdered, but they told her Perry was dead and the victim "of a very violent crime."

Then they asked her to come down to police headquarters, sign the statements she previously made and identify mug shots of the Davises from a photo array.

She said detectives also asked her to identify a white male from a third photo array. She said she did not know whether that man was involved in the crime or why police asked her about him.

Carroll said she is glad police have finally ruled the case an apparent homicide.

"I am glad they are releasing the information to the public," she said. "At least the public will know and there will be no more speculation about whether he was murdered. I am glad that we will start coming to some kind of closure not only for me and my son, but for the rest of his family as well. I am a little disappointed I was never contacted by a detective about this."

Leo knows that his dad is dead and frequently wonders why, Carroll said.

"Leo wants to know what happened to his dad," she said. "They were very ,very close. When a 5-year-old asks, 'What happened, how did it happen,' you just can't come up with anything to say."