IRVING — Before his path crossed with 83-year-old Dessie Hancock, Jesse Perkins already had a history of violence.
Last summer, Perkins and one of his brothers attacked a man because he was "talking too much trash." He "cut and stabbed" another man with a "broken beer bottle" in September.
Perkins was in jail until December 4 when he got probation.
Two weeks later, he's back in trouble in last Friday's fatal attack on Hancock.
When Irving detectives interviewed him, Perkins "confessed to punching the victim for no reason and knocking her to the ground," according to police records.
He is charged with murder in her death.
Perkins and his two brothers were taken into custody with hours of the fatal assault.
Hancock, who suffered from dementia, died Sunday night shortly after being taken off life support.
"There was no reason for it except that for some reason that boy was angry and he lashed out," said John Hancock, Dessie's husband of 63 years.
Perkins' 18-year-old brother, Thomas, is accused of tampering with evidence, hindering apprehension, and interference with public duties. Authorities dropped an aggravated assault charge against him.
Police dropped aggravated assault charges against Edward Perkins, 19. Authorities said they did not have enough evidence to hold him.
Roland Jeter, an attorney for Edward Perkins, offered an apology late Monday.
"The Perkins family is shocked and dismayed about this. They offer their prayers and their condolences to the Hancock family," Jeter said. "Right now we're in the early stages of gathering information, just like the fine officers at Irving P.D. are. It would be premature for anybody to say anything right now."
The Hancocks have lived in the same neighborhood for decades. She had been known as everyone's grandmother.
About 4 p.m. Friday, Dessie Hancock left her home to go to a neighbor's house to visit – just as she often did. Jesse Perkins and his brothers had come there, looking for someone who lived there. Told that the person they were looking for was in the shower, the Perkins brothers encountered Dessie Hancock in the driveway.
Moments later, a friend's granddaughter soon came running to the Hancock home, telling her husband of 63 years that she needed help.
"She said she' s been hurt," said John Hancock, who uses a walker to get around. "When I got down there, she was laying on the driveway, and unresponsive."
Authorities said Jesse Perkins and his two brothers fled from the scene.
According to police records, Thomas Perkins told police that he helped his brother, Jesse, get up off the ground after he fell while running away from the scene.
Thomas told police that he helped his brother "run from the scene until defendant Jesse Perkins got his balance back, helping him get home and helping him take a shower to clean any evidence," according to police records.
He also confessed to hiding his brother's shoes in the garage in "hopes that law enforcement would not find them."
This weekend, each of Dessie Hancock's family members went in one-by-one to say their goodbyes as doctors removed life support. She died Sunday night.
"A year ago, I spent Christmas in the hospital, and this year I'll spent it without her again," John Hancock said.
He said he has no idea what he would say to Jesse Perkins if he saw him.
John Hancock spoke fondly of the woman he met all those decades ago at a soda shop in Longview. She was 19; he was 20.
"She trapped me – swept me off my feet. (She) had me for 63 years," he said.
Dessie Hancock was a stay-at-home mom who took in in several foster children with disabilities. One of those foster children, Brian Wyatt, talked of the woman who he described as the "only mother I knew."
"She was really, really good to me, and I hope I was a good son to her," he said.
Family members recalled a kind woman who loved to cook.
"I'll miss her cooking," said Paul Hancock, Dessie's son. "She made the best biscuits I ever had. I'll just miss sitting and talking to her."
Abby Hancock, her granddaughter, said the said the entire family was there when life support was disconnected.
"We kept going back and forth, laughing at the memories, " she said. "We're peace with it. We're going to see her again."
Youngest son Paul Hancock said he was angry at first, but his faith helped him find peace.
"I'd like to know why," he said. "Give me a 'why.'"
"I hope that they come to know the love of Jesus Christ as I know him, because as bad as the world may think they are, they receive as much grace as I receive," he said.
Last summer, Jesse Perkins and one of his brothers were called to the Perkins home on Anna Drive. A man who was living with the Perkins family told police that Perkins and one of his brothers had attacked him. Perkins and his brother confessed to the attack, saying they did it because he was "talking too much trash so he deserved it," according to police records.
Jesse Perkins received probation over the incident.
This past September, Coppell police responded to an aggravated assault call involving Perkins. When police arrived, Perkins and the other man were still fighting. Perkins refused to stop when ordered to do so by police, so officers used a stun gun to subdue him. The victim told police that he was there to help Perkins' wife, who was having trouble with him. During the confrontation, Perkins cut and stabbed the other man with a broken beer bottle in his neck, arm, and armpit.
Perkins was in jail in connection with that incident until December 4, when he received four years of deferred probation and was released from jail.
Had he successfully completed that probation, he would not have had a conviction.
WFAA reporter Jobin Panicker contributed to this story
