(Editor's note: This article includes depictions of alleged domestic and sexual abuse.)
A Scott County rural fire chief, deputy coroner and commissioned law enforcement officer faces several felony charges in relation to the 2025 death of his wife, Shelby Perrien.
Jeremy Perrien, 45, was charged Friday with second-degree murder, felony harassment, second-degree domestic assault and two counts of tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution.
A probable cause statement included in court records reveals abusive language for months leading up to Shelby Perrien's death, according to quotes derived from messages exchanged between the couple. Among them are Jeremy Perrien's statements that he hoped Shelby Perrien would kill herself, and that she would be raped.
He is being held without bond at the Stoddard County Jail, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol. Perrien was formally charged Thursday, Aug. 20, and "Operation Relentless Pursuit" officers and investigators with the Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control took him into custody at around 7:25 a.m. Friday, Aug. 21.
The Southeast Missourian has been following this case for more than a year. Shelby Perrien died from a gunshot wound on June 29, 2025. Jeremy Perrien told authorities she had taken her own life as they were in their SUV headed back from Cape Girardeau in the early morning hours.
The MSHP took over the investigation of the case, and never ruled it a suicide.
The probable cause statement filed in the case alleges that Jeremy Perrien deleted his wife's contact information from his cell phone. He said, "I deleted it out of her phone, because there was a lot of arguing in the text messages." The detective said on the way to the hospital, Jeremy Perrien stated he felt like it was his fault due to the arguing and deleted text messages from both cell phones.
During questioning, Jeremy Perrien stated he and his wife were into the "swinging lifestyle".
"He stated they went to Hot Shots to pick up someone to bring home, but were unable to find anyone who 'caught their attention,'" the probable cause document states. "Jeremy stated, 'I left out the part that after she laughed, looked at me and said, 'You really think you're slick don't ya?' and I know it was drunkenness', but I got out of the car and said I'm not dealing with this (expletive). Find your own way home."
Jeremy Perrien acknowledged that he skipped parts of the story "because of the text messages. We were texting back and forth, arguing and quite frankly, I feel like I made her kill herself."
Messages in the preceding months, obtained by law enforcement, show a pattern of abusive language, physical abuse and intense arguments.
One of the patrolmen located a video in the "hidden folder" on Shelby Perrien's phone from May 19, weeks before her death.
The video, according to the probable cause, depicts Perrien "sitting on a bed in their bedroom. Jeremy standing beside the bed, arguing with her. Jeremy pulls the ball cap from his head and hits her in the face with it. Jeremy says, 'I would not get mouthy with me. I will, I'll (expletive), I want to kill you so (expletive) bad right now." Jeremy Perrien says "If you're going to lie, then I'm just going to smash your face and go to jail and end my (expletive) life with you."
The probable cause statement says the video shows him grabbing her around the throat with both hands and pushes her into the bed. Later, he punched her with a closed fist three times to her rib cage and twice threatens to kill her. Once he released his grip around her throat, Perrien said "I'll kill them (expletive). I want everybody dead." He then threw his wedding band in her face.
After throwing his wedding ring at his wife, Shelby Perrien said, "OK, you want me to (expletive) everybody else but him?" Then he struck her seven more times in the rib cage and threatened mutiple times to kill her. The video was 90 seconds long. At one point, Shelby Perrien told her husband to kill her.
Police were able to seize messages exchanged on the night of the murder. Jeremy Perrien told his wife "I don't know if you figured it out or not, but sober or drunk, I'm not the (expletive) one to (expletive) around with. ... I'm not finding you lol. I'm waiting on my ride for all I care. I hope you get raped, and throat (expletive) because you didn't check your phone and didn't communicate properly and you drink too (expletive) much before I ever got off work."
In April of 2025, Jeremy Perrien told his wife "You 100% will need a body bag if I stay with you. Each time my rage is worse." Later, another message: "I'd be lying to you if I told you that I was hoping that you wouldn't commit suicide. I didn't stop you and I told you to take more because it wasn't enough; you were just gonna ruin the day." Later, he messaged: "I meant it then and I mean it right now. You pull out a gun to blow your head off, and there won't be an ounce of my body that moves in an attempt to stop you. That's how done I am." And then: "You're the one that has me (expletive) homicidal and suicidal all at the same time. Like I'm here to tell you I am not good. I am not good at (expletive) all."
In July of 2025, the Southeast Missourian made Sunshine Law requests to the Scott County Sheriff's Office seeking incident reports regarding the event.
Incident reports are open public records, according to Missouri statutes. Incident reports are not the same as investigative reports, which are not open records until after a case has been adjudicated.
The newspaper also sent records requests to the Highway Patrol and Scott City police. The Patrol generated reports but did not give the newspaper the actual reports. Scott City Police Department, which handled some of the dispatching on the night of the shooting, released heavily redacted reports.
Initially the sheriff's office and the Highway Patrol denied the newspaper's request. The Sheriff's Office released the documents only at the urging of the Missouri Attorney General's Office following a formal complaint by the newspaper. Attorneys from the AG's office will handle the prosecution of Jeremy Perrien.
"We understand that people have been asking questions about this case for some time. We have also seen and heard accusations that the Scott County Sheriff's Office was somehow covering for Mr. Perrien because of his association with law enforcement," Scott County Sheriff Derick Wheetley said in a social media post Friday morning. "I want to be absolutely clear: that was never the case. From the very beginning, the original call for service was reported as a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound. Because Jeremy Perrien was one of our reserve deputies, an assistant coroner and a fire chief here in Scott County, and because of the personal and professional relationships involved, we immediately turned the investigation over to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control. We did that for one reason: to ensure this investigation was independent, transparent and free from any actual or perceived conflict of interest.
"Once the Highway patrol took over, we stayed out of their investigation. We did not control where the evidence led, what conclusions investigators reached, or what charging decisions would ultimately made."
Wheetley said he knew both Shelby and Jeremy Perrien personally.
"An arrest and the filing of criminal charges are not a conviction," Wheetley said. "Jeremy Perrien is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law."
Wheetley asked the Sheriff's Office Facebook followers to respect family and loved ones and the integrity of the process.
In response to questions from the Southeast Missourian, Wheetley said Perrien no longer has a commission with the office. Wheetley said he was not questioned by investigators, he was not aware of any tampering accusations, and he did not interact with Perrien in any way on the night of the murder.