Spoiler alert: The following contains details from Netflix’s documentary “The Perfect Neighbor” (in select theaters now, streaming Oct. 17).
Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary exposes the evil that could lurk next door. “The Perfect Neighbor” chronicles the events leading to the June 2023 shooting death of Ajike Owens, a 35-year-old mother of four, by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz.
After Lorincz moved into a rental house in Ocala, Florida, about 40 miles south of Gainesville, she began calling 911 to complain about kids in the neighborhood, claiming that they were too loud and trespassing on her property. Officers would dutifully come to investigate while recording with their body cameras; that footage makes up most of the 98-minute documentary. After checking things out, police on the scene usually assessed the kids’ behavior as that of typical children.
But Lorincz’s behavior as a 58-year-old adult at the time of the shooting was far more troubling. Despite declaring herself “like, the perfect neighbor,” Lorincz, who is white, allegedly cursed at the neighborhood children and called them "slaves." When detectives asked about her use of a racial slur, she admits, “It could’ve slipped out.” (The local kids in question were of various races; Owens and her children were Black.)
