JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — First Coast News has been digging into the criminal past of Zebulon Perkins, the 27-year-old man arrested in connection to the death of an Atlantic Coast High School teacher.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office inmate log, Perkins' arrest record dates back to 2012 and he has been arrested nine times. Excluding his most recent arrest linked to Vivian James' death in December, his most recent arrest was in May 2019.
Several of the charges related to those arrests include batteries. In 2014, Perkins was arrested and charged with domestic battery, domestic battery by strangling and a domestic assault. He was held for three days in jail and was released on a bond. He was also told not to contact the victim.
In June of 2015, Perkins was arrested again and charged with, among other things, battery causing harm with a weapon. In September of 2017, he was charged with battery causing bodily harm.
Perkins was arrested again in March of 2018 and charged with another battery, among other charges on that arrest. A few months later in November, Perkins was charged with domestic battery. He served 21 days in jail and got out for time served.
In May of 2019, Perkins violated probation, and then resisted an officer with violence. He served 48 days for the case and was released Sept. 1, 2019, a little more than three months before James was found dead in her home on the Westside on Dec. 28.
An arrest report says JSO officers were called to James' home in regards to a home invasion robbery that morning at 7:41 a.m. James was found dead inside the house and is believed to have been dead for a few days before the discovery, according to police. Her 2007 Toyota Camry was also missing from the home.
The same day James was found dead, Perkins, whom sources say was once her neighbor, was spotted at a hotel with James' car and her belongings
Perkins sits in the Duval County jail and faces a $100,000 bond.
Back in 2011, First Coast News wrote a feature on Perkins who was a star quarterback at the time for the Potter's House Christian Academy Lions. That year, First Coast News Sports Director Chris Porter reported Perkins came to Potter's House in 2009 with low grades and "a terrible attitude," but seemed to change his life around and had several colleges wanting to recruit him to their teams.
The 2011 interview with Perkins can be viewed below.
