Racial Slurs Spray Painted on Woman's Cars in Middletown

A Middletown resident is trying to make sense of a series of incidents in which racial slurs were spray painted on her personal and company cars outside her home on West Silver Street.

Lawanda Perry said the words "move out" were painted on one side of the cars and the "N-word" was scrawled on the other. The vehicles were targeted in back-to-back incidents Sunday and Monday nights and were also scratched.

Perry said it's not the first time she's dealt with this. The same thing happened in November – two incidents, three weeks apart.

The cars were parked in plain view outside Perry's house, where her neighbors and three children could see them.

"It has been very heartbreaking, devastating," Perry said. "Words can't explain how I feel right now."

Perry said the most difficult is reading Internet comments about the case that suggest she painted the slurs herself.

She said dealing with the insurance company has also been a challenge.

"With everything that's going on, there are deductibles with my vehicles," Perry explained. "In fact, we had one of our insurance carriers drop us because of this, because of so many different claims."

Police said they believe the incidents to be isolated but have stepped up patrols in the area to prevent future instances.

They're asking for help in cracking the case.

"We have people of interest that we're going to be looking at," said Middletown Police Lt. Heather Desmond. "But right now, we can't release any of that because it's obviously an ongoing investigation."

Perry said she hopes police can track down the person, or people, responsible.

"It's someone that's out there doing it, and they need to be caught and brought to justice," she said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Middletown police at 860-638-4000.

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