MERIDEN, Conn. — Police have charged a Meriden man with the death of his girlfriend last year.
Meriden police have charged Jason Watson with murder in the death of Perrie Mason. Mason was listed as missing on August 18, 2019 and her body was discovered several days later in Waterbury.
Watson has been in custody since last year and will appear in court Wednesday.
Watson has pleaded not guilty to strangulation, assault and other charges.
On. Aug. 15, police said Watson choked Mason to unconsciousness during a fight about two days after they broke up. Her sister, Vao Horlback, said Mason texted her photos of her injuries from the attack.
Prosecutors told a judge in November that they were considering additional charges against Watson in connection with the death of Mason, who grew up in Kalihi, Hawaii, and moved in 2018 to Connecticut, where she worked as a court monitor and ran her own eyelash business.
Mason's sister, Vao Horlback said she last spoke to her sister shortly before her disappearance and noticed Mason was not returning her texts and her phone was going straight to voicemail all day the next day. She said after speaking with with Mason’s young sons and Mason’s boyfriend, they confirmed they had not seen her either.
“I looked into her phone records and the last call she made was to 911. She called 911 twice and both calls lasted for less than one minute,” Horlback said.
Watson has denied the strangulation incident and told police he would never hurt Mason.
Mason was found dead at a Waterbury textile facility where Watson worked.