Inset: Jason David Perillo (Clackamas County Sheriff”s Office). Background: News footage of the RV where Catherine Grace Crosse was found dead on Dec. 31, 2024 (KPTV).
An Oregon man who cashed in a woman’s winning lottery ticket after he stabbed her to death will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Jason David Perillo, 52, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Thursday, the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release. The charge was in connection with the fatal stabbing of 41-year-old Catherine Grace Crosse, who was found dead in her RV in Wilsonville, Oregon, on Dec. 31, 2024.
According to prosecutors, Crosse was stabbed in the face and neck around 30 times. Surveillance video captured Perillo entering her RV and leaving two hours later. Investigators determined that Crosse was still alive when Perillo arrived.
When Crosse’s friend could not reach her by phone, he asked another friend to go to the RV and check on her. That friend found Crosse dead.
Prosecutors said that Crosse and a companion sold “small quantities of fentanyl and cocaine” out of the RV they shared, and Perillo was one of their customers. Perillo went to the RV to purchase drugs on the day Crosse was found dead. He was seen on video carrying items out of the RV as he left.
Among those items was a winning lottery ticket, good for a prize of $400.05, that Crosse had discussed with a friend via text before her death. Crosse had also texted her friend about how she planned to spend $6,750 cash she had recently acquired.
According to prosecutors, Perillo bought a truck for $2,000 shortly after Crosse was found dead. He also gave $1,000 to his wife. However, Perillo “had no steady or reliable source of income.” Investigators discovered that Perillo cashed in Crosse’s lottery ticket four days after he killed her.
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Perillo was initially also charged with first-degree murder and robbery. Both charges were dismissed as part of his plea deal. On Thursday, Perillo was sentenced to life in prison with the chance for parole in 25 years.
