Dance With The Devil

John Perry's medals, framed in a handsome case, now hung on the family room wall, among all the other Navy memorabilia he'd taken to collecting.  For weddings and special events, John would press his full Navy dress uniform, and bring another gleaming medal out of the case to pin to his chest. 

And there was no grander reason to don his Congressional Medal of Honor than the VIP event John sprung on Barbara seven years into their relationship -- an invitation to George Bush the '41's inauguration.

Barbara: We sat in the congressional medal of honor stands.  And everbody, including the president, stopped and saluted.

Dennis Murphy: Your husband?

Barbara: Right.

Dennis Murphy: The incoming President of the United States is saluting John Perry for service to the country?

Barbara: Uh-huh, right.

Later at one of the packed inaugural Balls, the crowds parted to let John - and his medal - pass.  Barbara in her expensive gown and diamonds never looked happier or more in love than she was that night on the arm of her decorated war hero.

But John's medals would also become a kind of early warning trip-wire alarm for events that would place Barbara in acute peril.  She calls it her “crazy year” -- and it began with a knock.

Barbara: The most unsettling was that the FBI showed up at my door one day and John wasn't there.

She told the agents looking for John to come back later.  Closing the door behind them, she went into the family room and noticed a blank space on the wall -- John's medals were gone!

Barbara: When John came in, I told him about the FBI.  And he said, "Oh, well, that just has to do with that case that i've been subpoenaed for a grand jury.  So, that's, you know, that's no big deal." And then I mentioned the medals, and he looked over.  And he said, "Oh--" he says, "Well, something happened to the frame.  And I took it down to the frame shop."

But the medals stayed missing, and not long after, John's consulting work mysteriously dried up.  And whenever Barbara voiced her concerns, John would blow up -- or sulk -- or threaten to leave.  So she willed herself to believe things were fine, and put up a positive front to her friends, who'd started wondering amongst themselves about John Perry.  All those stories of his. 

Toni: He said he was a jet pilot, and he was in the blue angels.  And then my husband said, "No way. Timeline's all wrong."

George:  He said he was best man at Frank Sinatra's wedding.  "Well, I don't think so." He says, "Well, this was a prior, you know, pre-wedding.  And I was the best man at that."

Geoff: He speaks five languages!  Spanish, French, German, I don't know, Italian, maybe, okay.  Then he comes to Swahili.  "John, speak Swahili."  Like I know what I'm gonna hear.  (laughter) He spoke something that could've been Swahili.

John's bizarre behavior -- his evasive maneuvering and outright stonewalling -- left Barbara feeling as if the ground were falling away beneath her feet.  More off-balance than ever, Barbara struggled to pin her husband down. 

Dennis Murphy: Barbara, many years into your marriage, you turned to your husband one day and asked a question not heard very often in these kinds of relationships.  You say, "John, who are you?"

Barbara: Right.

Dennis Murphy: Where did that come from?

Barbara: It came from inside, deep inside.  It was a buildup of all these strange things happening. I just sensed something wasn't right. 

John didn't answer, which made Barbara more suspicious -- and bolder about asking more tough questions.  John dodged each confrontation -- each time becoming more brooding, more secretive.  And now Barbara's building wariness couldn't keep pace with how swiftly her crazy year was moving into overdrive, how stealthily John Perry began maneuvering her into the path of danger. 

John: Luck is coming your way...

In April, John invited himself along on a business trip of Barbara's.  When she told him she had an early call the next morning, he insisted she take a pill to help her sleep. 

Barbara: I didn't really wanna do it.  But, you know, was like, "Okay, okay, just to make you happy, I'll take a sleeping pill."

Dennis Murphy: So, here take some of these, huh?

Barbara: Yeah, and so then he finds that he hasn't mailed the taxes.  Now, all of the sudden, we've got to go mail the taxes 'cause it's the 15th. I get the keys, I'm ready to drive.  He said, "Well, you can't drive because you've had the sleeping pill." Okay, yeah, so, put on my coat and off we go.  It was raining and he was going too fast.  And i said, "slow down, john, slow down!  There's a 90-degree turn coming up ahead.  You're not gonna make it."  And just as I said that, all of the sudden, the car veers off to the right and missed the telephone pole and we ended up out in a field with broken glass.

Dennis Murphy: The car is really banged up.

Barbara: Really banged up.

Dennis Murphy: And the next day, you went back and looked at the skid marks?

Barbara: Yeah, and that's when it really was obvious that I had missed meeting my maker by about an inch or two.

But Barbara hardly had time to recuperate from the car wreck, much less process what it was about.  In August, John told her that he'd secured a $15,000 loan on a Perry family property in Florida -- all they had to do was go down there to pick up the check.

Dennis Murphy: You never did get the money that trip, did you?

Barbara: No.  No.

That's because on the way to the bank, John slumped over and clutched his chest: heart attack. 

Dennis Murphy: I mean, scary?

Barbara: Oh, scary, scary.  I rushed him to Mercy hospital.  He was in intensive care for three days, and then in a regular room for another three or four days. 

Back in the Florida hotel room, Barbara made a disturbing discovery.

Barbara: When I looked in his briefcase, I found a bunch of pill cases that were pills that john hadn't taken normally.  I also found this object wrapped in aluminum foil.  And I opened it up, and it was a gun.

Dennis Murphy: A gun?

Barbara: A gun!

John assured her that the gun was for their protection in Miami.  Barbara felt she had to believe him -- the alternative was unthinkable -- but that voice of self-preservation inside her was getting stronger.  

Two months later, John told Barbara he'd finally found work.  She knew he almost had his doctorate in psychology, and now the University of California was hiring him to teach while he finished his thesis. 

This time, Barbara demanded more proof than his psychology department contract. She wanted to see him lecture ...  but on the morning of his class, he woke up complaining.  

Barbara: John's going, "Oh, I don't feel good."  And I said, "Oh, what?" You know, "You're not gonna go teach today?"  "Well, I don't know."  I said, "You'll be fine." And we had steep stairs in the house.  And he says, "I can't go down the stairs."  And I said, "Just sit on your butt.  You can go down."  And then he goes, "Help me.  Help me." And so, against my better judgment, I let him lean on me.  And we both went down the stairs, all the way to the bottom. 

No broken bones for either, but Barbara was shaken -- and John cancelled his class.  In just a few months, she'd be pitched headlong into even greater chaos -- forced to wrestle her way out of the emotional and psychological stranglehold John Perry had held her in for almost a decade.  It would be the fight of her life, for her life.

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