Director Geeta Gandbhir’s award-winning documentary The Perfect Neighbor has landed on Netflix, detailing the shocking murder of Ajike “AJ” Owens. Naturally, questions about what Susan Lorincz did and where she is now have arisen. Warning: some may find this content distressing.
While there are many new true crime documentaries to stream this month, The Perfect Neighbor is a tough but important watch. Told primarily via police body camera footage captured over the course of two years, it begins by showcasing a tight-knit community in Ocala, Florida.
It’s a street where children would play freely, and parents shared a genuine bond with one another – aside from Susan Lorincz. As the Netflix documentary shows, Lorincz grew increasingly combative with her neighbors, using racist slurs against the surrounding families.
Her perpetual calls to the police over menial matters led to officers initially siding with the rest of the street. All of this culminated in a tragic incident on June 2, 2023, when Lorincz shot Owens through her door, leading to the mother-of-four’s death.
Where is Susan Lorincz now?
Susan Lorincz, now 61, was convicted in August 2024 and sentenced to 25 years in prison three months later. She is currently serving time at the Homestead Correctional Institution in South Florida.
Her projected release date is set for April 8, 2048, when she will be 83 years old. However, she may be released sooner depending on the amount of gain time she earns for good behavior and participation in prison programs.
In Florida, a gain time system allows inmates to reduce their sentences with certain actions in a bid to reward compliance and rehabilitation efforts.
TV20 was able to speak with Lorincz from behind bars last month, and she maintained her side of the events. Describing the moments leading up to the shooting, she said, “There were three boys, and they were very close to my sidewalk, and they had their skates around and stuff.
“I had fallen over a skate, and I said, ‘Guys pick up your skates,’ and they’re like, ‘No.’ And I said, ‘Kids, pick up your skates and please leave. You’re trespassing. You know you’re trespassing,’ and the kid said, ‘I’m going to kill you. If I can’t kill you, I’m going to find someone to kill you.'”
“As soon as I said, ‘One minute,’ she went on the tirade, expletives and just horrible language, screaming at me, pounding on the door so hard,” she added, seemingly referring to Owens.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ I’m like, ‘You need to leave. You’re trespassing. You were told not to come here by the sheriff’s department. You know, you’re trespassing. You need to leave.’
“Then she said, ‘I’m gonna f**king kill you.’ And I went, ‘Oh my God,’ and she’s pounding and she’s pounding and she’s pounding, and I just, you know, I was terrified.”
“It just makes me sick. I just never, ever thought in a million years this would happen, and it just, it breaks my heart. I can’t take it back. I can’t replace her,” Lorincz continued.
Her account of what happened contradicts what the rest of the street saw. The Perfect Neighbor paints a more detailed picture, with multiple witnesses coming forward to say that Owens never threatened to kill Lorincz.
Additionally, the many police calls in the two years preceding the shooting show Lorincz’s attitude towards her neighbors’ children and her growing rage.
During the interrogation, detectives challenged her timeline. Lorincz claimed that around 10 minutes after calling 911, Owens came banging on her door. However, a follow-up 911 call found that only two minutes had passed, during which time Lorincz fired the fatal gunshot.
The investigators also pointed to Lorincz’s search history, showing she had looked up Stand Your Ground laws in the runup to the killing. At her trial, the presiding judge said that he found the shooting to be based more in anger than fear.
Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, spoke with People about what it was like living with Lorincz as a neighbor. “She would set off her truck alarm and then blame the children,” said Dias. “It was constant. This woman was just wreaking havoc in the neighborhood. It never registered to me how bad it was.”
What is the Stand Your Ground law?
The Stand Your Ground law is a self-defense statute that allows individuals to use deadly force if they believe it’s necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm. Essentially, it removes any legal duty to retreat before using such force.
Originating in Florida in 2005, the law expanded traditional self-defense protections by removing the expectation that a person should first try to escape danger before using force. This was the law Lorincz was found to be searching before shooting Owens from behind her locked front door.
While proponents argue it empowers citizens to protect themselves, the law has been widely criticized for how it’s applied in practice. A 2017 study in the Journal of Human Resources found that the Stand Your Ground law led to an increase in homicides and hospitalizations related to firearm-inflicted injuries.
It has also been found to exacerbate racial disparities in the US justice system. A Texas A&M study, for example, discovered that white people using the Stand Your Ground defense against Black attackers are more successful than Black people using the defense against white attackers.
These concerns are central to The Perfect Neighbor, which examines how fear, prejudice, and perception of threat can collide with devastating consequences. Following the shooting and initial questioning, Lorincz was free to go home, but after protests and public outcry, Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrested her.
During the interrogation, Lorincz admitted to calling the children the n-word, saying, “It could have slipped out.” Visibly shocked, the detectives then asked in what context she would use it.
She replied, “If they were being extraordinarily rude… I was always taught that the n-word meant that you were just being unlawful, you know, dirty. I don’t know, generally not being pleasant.”
At the end of the true crime documentary, text across the screen reads, “Stand Your Ground laws have been linked to an 8% to 11% increase in homicide rates, or roughly 700 additional deaths each year.
“Research has found huge racial disparities, with white Americans much more likely to find success with self-defense claims, particularly when they kill Black people.”
The Perfect Neighbor leaves Netflix viewers in tears
The Netflix documentary has sparked a strong reaction since landing on the streaming service on October 17, with many being left ‘heartbroken’, especially after seeing the footage of Owens’ children being told their mother is dead.
“I cried multiple times,” wrote one on Reddit. “I have a son and my heart just shattered seeing those poor boys find out their mom didn’t make it. My only solace is knowing that Susan is in prison and will never have peace and quiet ever again. Prison must be her personal hell and I’m thankful for that.”
Another accused Lorincz of more than manslaughter, stating that she “premeditated that murder,” and a third added, “I deadass had to turn the new Perfect Neighbor documentary off on Netflix.”
