Spokane Transgender Murder Suspect Blames Crimes on Former Self

"She" says she's a woman now, and blames the murder of three Spokane prostitutes on her former identity.

In what has turned into one of the most bizarre criminal cases in Washington state history, a man who underwent gender reassignment surgery in Thailand says he did it to purge himself of previous urges and behavior.

Therefore, Donna Perry (formerly Douglas R. Perry) is not responsible for killing three women in 1990. The women, prostitutes, ranged from 26 to 38 years of age, were found shot to death within a three month period in Spokane in 1990.

The cases went cold until 2012, when DNA scrapings taken from under the fingernails of one of the victims yielded a hit to Perry, who was in custody on charges of illegal possession off firearms. Perry, who's criminal history includes firearms, ammunition and pipe bomb charges, has been in and out of trouble since the 1970s. He underwent the gender surgery in Thailand in 2000.

Now 62, Perry made an appearance in Spokane County Superior Court yesterday, being physically dragged into court because she and her attorney said Donna Perry was not in jail (back to the "she is not him" theory).

Experts say her defense strategy is very sketchy and thin, and point to jailhouse admissions made to other prisoners about confessing to the killings, and even telling them Perry is a "sociopath." Perry is due back in court March 25. Perry has been formally charged with three counts of first-degree murder.