Sheriff: Wife of midstate officer charged with domestic violence found dead
PUTNAM COUNTY, Ga. -- The wife of an Eatonton police officer recently arrested for domestic violence is dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills says his office is still investigating this case and has not determined the death of 44-year-old Amanda Perrault to be either a homicide or a suicide.
Sills says the fatal shooting took place in her bedroom at her eastern Putnam County home on Long Island Dr. near Lake Oconee on Monday.
On January 28, Putnam County deputies responded to the home for a domestic violence call against Eatonton police officer Seth Michael Perrault, according to the sheriff's office.
Amanda claimed her husband hit her in the face and pushed her out of their front door. Deputies saw visible red marks on her chest and questioned a witness in the home during the alleged incident, who corroborated the story.
Perrault, 43, was then taken into custody and charged with multiple domestic violence-related counts. He was released on a $1,500 bond. Sills confirms that Michael Perrault remains on administrative leave from the Eatonton Police Department due to his domestic violence charges.
But Sills adds that Michael Perrault has not been taken into custody or charged in his wife's death. He says Eatonton police notified him of Amanda Perrault's death on Monday, after Michael Perrault called the Eatonton Police Department to notify them of his wife's death.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has conducted an autopsy on Amanda Perrault at the GBI's Crime Lab in Atlanta. The results are pending, but Sills says there was no trauma to her body other than a single gunshot wound to the head.
The couple hadn't lived in Putnam County for long and the sheriff's office is looking into where they previously lived.
"We are scrutinizing this as much as possible," he says.
Anyone with information on Amanada Perrault's death can call the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 478-485-8557.
