The Murder of Zymere Perkins

Zymere Perkins, better known as ZP to family and friends, was like other 6-year-old kids. He liked to play with his friends, liked video games and cartoons, and wanted the approval of his mother. Sadly, the woman who should have protected ZP did exactly the opposite. The woman allowed her boyfriend to relentlessly abuse 6-year-old ZP for years until his body could not hold on any longer. Experts estimate the abuse began at around age 3.

ZP begged a teacher to help him, telling her how his mother and her boyfriend deprived him of food and sleep, tossed him into icy cold showers, and beat him with sticks and belts. Each day he begged one of his teachers, Ms. Gutierrez, to tell his mother he behaved.

ZP Passes Away

On September 26, 2016, Zymere died an agonizing death, his tiny, fragile body unable to hold on any longer. On this day, ZP defecated on the living room floor at the roach-infested, deplorable Harlem apartment he lived in with his mother and her boyfriend.

The house did not have electricity, rotting food lined the refrigerator, and rust and mold sprawled across the bathroom walls.

Beat "Like a Pinata"

Rysheim Smith beat ZP “like a pinata” with a broom handle then dumped him under cold water. He then beat ZP with a shower curtain rod and then hung him, unconscious, on a door hook in the bathroom. It was hanging from this hook where ZP took his last breath. Rysheim then went out to get something to eat. His mother, Geraldine Perkins, stood back and watched it all happen.

ZP was dead when Rysheim finally checked on him later in the day. After discovering the boy lifeless, Geraldine spent the next 10-minutes or so putting on makeup in the bathroom.

The Medical Examiner determined ZP’s death was a homicide caused by fatal child abuse syndrome. During the autopsy, the M.E. found evidence of acute and chronic child abuse.

A Life of Abuse

ZP endured a horrific life filled with abuse. The Family and Children Services department in New York received numerous child abuse allegations against Smith and Perkins. Three of five reports were found to be true, yet no one ever worked with the family nor attempted to remove him from the unsafe, violent home where he lived in danger and constant fear of the two adults.

Those reports included:

• June 21, 2010: Zymere’s birth date. Perkins allegedly tested positive for marijuana but tested negative with the department. Case closed.
• June 30, 2015: Smith beat Zymere with a belt after catching him coloring on the wall with a crayon. People on the sidewalk downstairs could hear ZP screaming. Zymere told workers that Smith put him in cold water and beat him. ACS offered Perksin parental services, which she declined.
• August 28m 2015: Zymer wandered the streets as Perkins and Smith dined out. Three days later, Perkins and Smith got into a physical altercation resulting in calls to social workers. Perkins admitted to punishing ZP with cold showers. ZP told them Smith beat him with a belt. The worker noticed ZP was missing teeth and found several injuries yet the case was closed.
• Feb: 2, 2016: PS 192 reported suspicions of child abuse to the state over the course of four months after ZP came to school with a broken jaw, scratches near his eye, and a tooth knocked out. Perkins told social workers ZP fell.
• April 18, 2016: School staff called to report suspicions of child abuse again after noticing scratches and bruises on ZP’s arms and legs. State workers determined ZP was “not in immediate danger of harm.”

Zymerie weighed just 35 pounds at the time of his death. His tiny little body sustained more than 35 fractures to his ribs and had bruises, scrapes, and lacerations from head to toe, including large welts on his stomach.

Sentencing/Case Aftermath

Perkins pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2007. She was sentenced to two to six years in prison because she did not take part in the actual murder. She also agreed to testify against Ryshiem at his trial.

Ryshiem was found guilty of homicide and sentenced to 25-years to life in prison.