Family, friends pray for missing Meriden mom’s safe return while police search and sift through evidence

People are rallying around the family of a missing Meriden mother of two while police search for clues about her disappearance, including gathering evidence from a Waterbury industrial park where human remains were discovered.

Sylvana Sam, who set up a GoFundMe account to help the family, said Perrie Mason is a “responsible and loving mom.”

“All I can tell you for now, is that Perrie is beautiful inside and out and anyone you talk to about Perrie will confirm,” said Sam, who described herself as Mason’s “bestie” in an email Thursday.

“Perrie is so beautiful on the inside that if one day, you meet her, you will feel privileged to have crossed her path because she is so special and unique,” she said.

The GoFundMe donations are to fund aspects of the search and pay for a lawyer to keep Mason’s two boys with her family, Sam said. Sam has reached $2,600 of her $3,000 goal by Thursday afternoon.

Mason’s relatives are asking for prayers for the 31-yearold, who worked at Hartford’s family court.

“This is my family and I claim in the name of Jesus, he will carry us and pour his blessings on the entire family in struggling moments like this,” said Mark Mason on the GoFundMe page. “Please keep our entire family in your prayers because we really need them.”

One donor recognized that Mason is alleged to have been the victim of domestic violence before she disappeared over the weekend. Carla Davis said, “Domestic violence is real and I hope and pray that she is found safe from harm.”

Mason’s ex-boyfriend, Jason Watson was arrested Tuesday night and charged with second-degree strangulation, first-degree unlawful restraint, third-degree assault and disorderly conduct after an assault last week, police said. She had been living with him and their children, they said.

Court documents show Mason sent pictures of her injuries to Watson and texted him after an apparent altercation last week, just days before she disappeared.

In one text message, Mason wrote, “You almost killed me,” recounting how Watson choked her until she blacked out, according to the warrant for Watson’s arrest.

Watson, 38, a truck driver and Meriden native, was held on bail of $650,000 after the Wednesday in Meriden Superior Court. He is due back in court on Sept. 12.

He is the prime suspect in Mason’s disappearance, Judge Thomas O’Keefe said at the arraignment. Authorities said Watson has a long criminal history dating to 2000, including convictions in domestic violence cases and for sexual assault.

According to the warrant, Watson and Mason were communicating as recently as Saturday, but no one has seen or heard from her since. Watson called police on Sunday saying Mason “might be missing,” or she may be at a friend’s house, and that “she was mad at him,” the warrant said. Police did not open a missing person case at that point.

Later that day, Mason’s sister called police to say Watson and Mason recently had split after “heated fights,” including one that was physical, but were still living together in a West Main Street apartment. The woman said she had not heard from Mason in two days, which was out of character for her, the warrant said.

Mason’s sister showed police photographs Mason had texted to her early on Thursday, showing red dots around her eyes, redness on her neck and a fat lip, according to the warrant. Mason texted her sister that Watson had choked her until she could not breathe and she lost consciousness, it said.

Her sister said Mason never called police because she had bitten Watson — who had been holding her her as she tried to leave — and because she didn’t want anyone to get in trouble for the incident, the warrant said.

On Monday, Watson contacted his probation officer, “crying hysterically,” to say he had called police because Mason was missing. The probation officer said she saw the text messages from Mason to Watson discussing how he choked her until she could not breathe, but Watson denied any domestic violence and told the probation officer there were no marks on Mason’s face, the warrant said. The probation officer also saw texts between the two in which he said he would not harm her because she is “too small.”

While Watson was appearing in court Wednesday, police were in the early stages of gathering evidence from a commercial building at 137 Brookside Road in a Waterbury industrial park where human remains had been found. The remains had not been identified by Thursday afternoon, and Meriden Lt. John Mennone said the process could take weeks.