We Are Asking for the Public’s Help

When Jeremy Perrien was arrested and charged with murder, many people immediately wanted to read the probable cause statement. That document contained new information about what investigators say happened that night. We read the probable cause statement the day of the arrest. We have read it many times since, and two statements in particular stood out.

The first reads:

“At this time, Shelby says, ‘Okay, you want me to fuck everybody else but him?’”

The second states:

“Jeremy stated he and Shelby were in the ‘swingers’ lifestyle. He stated they went to Hot Shots to pick up someone to bring home, but were unable to find anyone who ‘caught their attention.’”

Who was “everybody else”? Who was “him”? And what exactly did Jeremy mean when he described their lifestyle as “swingers”?

Those questions led us into an area we knew very little about. We don’t personally participate in that lifestyle, and before this investigation began, we knew very little about how these communities operate. We didn’t know whether people met randomly or through organized groups, private chats, websites or social media communities, or how they found one another. Most important for our reporting was how those relationships intersected with Jeremy and Shelby Perrien.

We began looking. We spoke with people online, entered chats, and found websites and profiles. We talked with people who told us about the local community and about people they said they knew. One husband and wife agreed to speak with us anonymously, asking that their identities not be revealed out of fear of retaliation from the community. They described themselves as being involved in a similar lifestyle and claimed they had met Jeremy and Shelby at multiple gatherings. They also told us about other people they claimed were involved, though they would not provide the names of those people for us to use on the record. 

The couple also claimed that some individuals involved held positions of power in the local community. We have not independently verified their account or the other claims made to us, but we continued reporting. As we spoke with more people and examined additional online material, we repeatedly encountered claims that individuals in positions of authority were involved in these private groups. Those claims included police officers, EMTs and other first responders, firefighters, and even local business owners.

If someone holding public office or another position of public trust participated in a private lifestyle that was otherwise legal, that participation alone would not necessarily establish wrongdoing. But if there was evidence connecting that person to the Perriens, to the events surrounding Shelby’s death, or to conduct relevant to this investigation, that would be a different situation.

We also want to be clear about our intentions. We have no interest in exposing or embarrassing people simply because they participate in this lifestyle, and we are not interested in dragging uninvolved people into an investigation. Our focus is the case involving Jeremy and Shelby Perrien and whether relationships, activities, or other information connected to this lifestyle have any legitimate bearing on the circumstances surrounding Shelby’s death. We have encountered claims involving people in positions of authority, and we believe those claims deserve the same scrutiny as any other information that may be relevant to this case. Any reporting we publish will depend on what we can establish through evidence, not simply what someone tells us. 

We are sharing this update because we expect to publish more reporting related to this investigation. We will not speculate about what that reporting may ultimately establish, but we believe readers should understand the questions we are examining and how our investigation has developed. We have received numerous questions about this lifestyle, along with requests to look into claims involving those people in positions of authority. We intend to continue examining those claims while being clear about what we know, what we have been told, and what we have been able to verify.

We are asking for the public’s help. If you have firsthand knowledge of the gatherings or groups discussed in this report, or information that could help establish whether the claims we have encountered are credible, we want to hear from you. The same applies to anyone with relevant information about people in positions of authority who may have connections to this investigation.

You can contact The Missouri Stream through Facebook or by emailing Streamdirect@missouristream.com. We will take credible information seriously and work to verify it independently. Any information provided will be evaluated on its merits, and we will continue following the evidence wherever it leads.