MEMPHIS (SCDAO) – A Whitehaven man who called police from a motel last year to tell them he had just killed his girlfriend has been indicted by a grand jury, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.
Derriontay Perry, 24, was indicted Thursday on one count of second-degree murder. Perry, who has more than a half dozen unrelated pending criminal charges, is being held on $2 million bond.
Investigators said Perry called 911 to report his girlfriend’s death shortly before 4 a.m. on June 5, 2021, from the Travelodge in the 1400 block of East Brooks Road.
He said he had gone to sleep following an argument and that he awakened to find his girlfriend, Kristie Orange, 25, holding a pillow over his face trying to smother him and threatening to stab him with a knife.
Perry said he easily overpowered her, put the pillow over her face and then stabbed her in the neck. Orange was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. Her three young sons who also were in the room were not injured.
Perry was not at the hotel when police arrived, but he called 911 again and told police he was at a nearby location on Millbranch Road where he surrendered.
The case is being handled by Asst. Dist. Atty. Leslie Byrd of the District Attorney’s Special Prosecution Unit 7 which seeks maximum sentencing for repeat felony offenders.
