JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After years of pretrial hearings for the man charged with second-degree murder in the killing of the Atlantic Coast High School Teacher and another woman in 2019, Zebulon Perkins pleaded guilty.
Vivian James, 49, was found strangled to death in her Westside home on December 28, 2019. Perkins was arrested later that day after police ran James’ tag for a 2007 Toyota and discovered it was parked at a hotel on 103rd Street.
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According to police, Perkins and James knew each other, and James had been giving him money. The arrest report said James told him over the phone that she was cutting him off.
Investigators watched Perkins load items into the car while he threw other items into a dumpster. Police found James’ camera, three laptops, her cell phone and credit cards, as well as a bloody pair of sweatpants.
In the dumpster were James’ identification card, pill bottles with her name on them, and her headphones. Two TVs that belonged to James were found at Perkins’ mother’s home.
In 2021, Perkins was indicted in an unrelated murder of 38-year-old Leah Kline, who was last seen on Dec. 3, 2019. The indictment in the Kline murder said she was killed between Dec. 24 and 26, which was before James was murdered.
She was a mother of four children.
The State Attorney’s Office said it would seek the death penalty if he were convicted. He now faces 70 years in prison.
It’s uncertain how Perkins and Kline knew each other or if they knew each other.