By RUSS OLIVO

PAWTUCKET — A trust fund has been established for the benefit of the surviving children of Mellisa Perry, the woman allegedly slain by her live-in boyfriend in their Woonsocket apartment last month.

Perry, 32, had three children who were in the custody of her ex-husband in Pawtucket at the time of her death, according to her mother, Jo-Ann Boyer. The children are Latrell, Carissa and Treyvon Perry, ages 14, 11 and 7 respectively, she said.
The loss of their mother in such a brutal fashion has traumatized the children, particularly the oldest boy, said Boyer.
“He has nightmares,” said Boyer. “He visualizes the actual act.”
Police say David P. Leite, 32, repeatedly stabbed Perry to death on March 12 after an argument in their apartment at 33 Ormond St. Police have released only sketchy details of the events that led to Perry’s death, but Boyer says the killing was so horrific she still cannot bear to discuss it.
Leite was arrested two days after the alleged killing when he crashed his vehicle into a tree on Old Louisquisset Pike in Lincoln. Leite allegedly made incriminating statements about the homicide at the scene of the crash and advised police that they might find Perry’s body in the third-floor, Ormond Street residence.
A Providence County grand jury indicted Leite Thursday on one count of domestic homicide. He remains held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions and is due to be arraigned in Superior Court on April 29.
Boyer said relatives hope the children can grow up as normally as possible despite the violent death of their mother. Their father, Antone Perry, has established a trust fund for the children at the Pawtucket Credit Union. Checks can be made out to the Mellisa Ann Perry Children’s Trust Fund and mailed to 57 Jackson St., Pawtucket, R.I., 02861, c/o Antone Perry, said Boyer. Donations can also be deposited directly to the fund at the credit union.
“The intention is for this trust fund to become a source for future college funds for the children or to defray the costs of any counseling needs that might come up for the children,” said Boyer.
Perry and Leite had only been living in the Ormond Street apartment together for about three weeks before she was slain, family members say. Perry and Leite met via the online social networking site mySpace in November and they been living separately in Pawtucket – Perry with her mother, Leite with his — before moving in together in Woonsocket.
Perry, who had been unemployed for several months, relocated so she could walk to a new job as a certified nursing assistant at Mt. St. Francis Health Center. Leite was a distribution manager for the Amazing Superstore, a national chain outfit specializing in adult videos. Boyer and other family members say Leite seemed like a responsible, kind person at first, but in the weeks leading up to her death, Perry had complained that he had become increasingly paranoid and controlling, reading her e-mails and tracking her movements by cell phone.