Man Charged With 2000 Murder In East Ridge Is Returned To Chattanooga

  • Monday, August 29, 2016
Jason Kirk Sanford
Jason Kirk Sanford

A man charged in a murder in East Ridge that happened over 16 years ago has been returned to Chattanooga.

Jason Kirk Sanford, who is now 43, is set to appear in the courtroom of Criminal Court Judge Tom Greenholtz on Sept. 8.

Sanford, who had moved to Westland, Mich., is charged with first-degree murder in the June 2000 death of Sarah Lea Davis Perry.

Ms. Perry was 21 when she was last seen on the morning of Wednesday, June 14, 2000. The following afternoon, Thursday, June 15, 2000, two 12-year old boys playing in Spring Creek off the 1600 block of Springvale Avenue in East Ridge came upon a garbage can.

One of the boys dared the other to open the lid. Inside the can was the partially nude body of Sarah Perry. The young mother, who had two small boys of her own, had been strangled.  
 
Just a few hours before she disappeared, Sarah Perry called East Ridge Police (at 4:11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 14, 2000) to request they check her home on Lockhart Lane for her estranged boyfriend, Jason Sanford. She said Sanford had threatened to hurt her and was trying to find her. An hour later, at 5:11 a.m., a police officer stopped to talk to her as she walked along the 6400 block of Ringgold Road. She told the officer Jason Sanford was angry because she had ended their relationship. Several other witnesses reported seeing Sarah Perry in East Ridge. She was last seen alive at 8:30 that morning.
 
The following evening (June 15, 2000), a few hours after the discovery of Sarah Perry’s body, Jason Sanford bought a one-way ticket and boarded a Greyhound bus to Detroit, Mich. He has since been living in the Detroit metro area. 
 
Sarah’s mother, Pam Hilton, contacted the Cold Case Unit of the Hamilton County District Attorney's Office in May of this year.  Detective Brian Ashburn, who is assigned to the CCU by Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond, talked with her and then began a review of the case file. Officials said, "He quickly recognized the case could be solved."
 
Detective Ashburn and CCU investigator Michael Ray went to Detroit to conduct interviews in the case. Then, District Attorney General Neal Pinkston and CCU Supervisor Mike Mathis presented the case to the Grand Jury.
 
Sanford was held in the Westland, Mich., jail pending extradition.

A Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office fugitive team traveled to Detroit to return him to Hamilton County.

Sarah Lea Davis Perry
Sarah Lea Davis Perry
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