‘The Perfect Neighbor’: How Susan Lorincz Killing Ajike Owens Reignited “Stand Your Ground” Debate
Susan Lorincz isn’t the only person in her family with notoriety.
While the 61-year-old has found herself in the spotlight following the release of the Netflix documentary The Perfect Neighbor—which chronicles the events that led to her fatally shooting her neighbor Ajike “AJ” Owens in June 2023—her sister Ellyn Lorincz has also had her own brush with the law.
Authorities made multiple visits to Ellyn’s home beginning in October 2023—according to an arrest report obtained by local outlet WCJB—before she was arrested and charged with felony child neglect the following August, according to the court docket viewed by E! News.
Prior to her arrest, the 57-year-old had custody of a 9-year-old boy with autism, though officers determined she repeatedly failed to give him food, supervision and medication, the outlet said citing the arrest report. Her home also allegedly contained significant cat feces, mold and easily-reachable needles.
Ellyn also told detectives in the case that she didn’t want to continue caring for the boy, WCJB reported from the arrest report.
The State Attorney’s Office interviewed the boy and determined a conviction at trial was unlikely, according to a court filing obtained by the Ocala Star-Banner. The child neglect charge was dropped in October 2024, E! News confirmed from court records. The case is closed.
E! News has reached out to Ellyn’s lawyer for comment but has not heard back.
Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner via AP, Pool
As for Susan’s case, she was ultimately found guilty of manslaughter in November 2024 and is currently serving a 25-year sentence at Homestead Correctional Institution in Florida City. She is currently set for release on April 8, 2048, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
And although Susan, 61, maintains she was afraid for her life the night she shot and killed her neighbor, she admitted to wishing things had unfolded differently.
“I just never, ever thought in a million years this would happen,” she told ABC affiliate WCJB in an interview from prison in September 2025. “It breaks my heart…I wish I could change things.”
For more on The Perfect Neighbor, keep reading.
Courtesy of Netflix
Who was Ajike Owens?
Ajike “AJ” Owens, 35, lived with her children Isaac, Israel, Africa and Titus in Ocala, Fla. They were between 12 and 3 when their mom died.
“My daughter, Ajike, was joyful, vibrant and devoted to her four children,” Owens’ mother Pam Dias told CNN in October 2025. “She was supermom. She was the football mom…She worked hard to provide a better life for them.”
Owens was a McDonald’s manager and, as seen in Netflix’s The Perfect Neighbor, another resident of her neighborhood told deputies she “sacrificed” so they could attend private school and do activities like dance and gymnastics.
Courtesy of Netflix
Who Is Susan Lorincz?
Susan Louise Lorincz lived across the street from Owens in Ocala.
As seen in sheriff’s deputy body cam footage in The Perfect Neighbor, the now-61-year-old said she worked from home, where she lived alone.
Her younger sister Ellen Lorincz testified during Lorincz’s 2024 criminal trial that their family had a “history of mental health issues” and their father was “physically, emotionally and sexually abusive to all of us.”
Friend Crystal Maksou testified that Lorincz was “always working,” but also sang at church and “baked for us and cooked for us for many years.”
Asked if Lorincz was “violent or aggressive,” Maksou’s answer was no.
“It’s almost the opposite of the person I know,” Maksou told the court. “She was very much a giver, and during this friendship I learned from her how to treat people.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Why Did Susan Lorincz Call the Police So Many Times?
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at a news conference after Owens was killed that his department received “six to eight” reports of incidents involving the victim and Lorincz.
During one of their trips to Lorincz’s house at 1662 Southwest 107th Lane, as seen in The Perfect Neighbor, deputies spoke with Owens after Lorincz accused the woman of throwing a yard sign at her.
Owens told deputies Lorincz was “basically like ramming the sign in my face.” When Lorincz “went to pick it back up,” she continued, “I picked the sign up and I threw the sign…I did toss it, I’m not gonna lie.”
But multiple neighbors told the deputies that Owens did not throw the sign at Lorincz, one saying, per the footage, “I will say that that lady is always messing with people’s kids. She’s always trying to record the kids and always talking crap.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Lorincz—who, like Owens, was one of the many renters on the block—told a deputy during this encounter that “real estate laws” dictated “the right to peaceful quiet enjoyment of your property” and the kids “shouldn’t be screaming and running around.”
Detectives asked Lorincz after Owens’ death if there was “any reason someone would have video of you saying the n-word?”
To which she replied, “I have no idea. And if I did let it go, I’m sorry. I mean, it could have slipped out.”
Courtesy of Netflix
What Happened the Night Susan Lorincz Killed Ajike Owens?
Lorincz shot Owens on the night of June 2, 2023, firing a single gunshot through her closed front door that hit the 35-year-old in her upper chest. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Earlier in the evening, Lorincz had called 911, alleging that kids were “trespassing, screaming, yelling” and she was “fearing for [her] life.”
“His mom’s gonna go out and wait for the officer and run and say, ‘Oh my god, I was threatening her kids,'” Lorincz told the dispatcher. “Which just isn’t true.”
Bystanders told deputies, per body cam footage in The Perfect Neighbor, that they heard Owens knock on Lorincz’s door. One boy said he heard “a woman screaming at the top of her lungs, ‘Why did you take my son’s tablet?'”
Courtesy of Netflix
Another boy told deputies, “I see a pair of roller skates flying at [Owen’s son] Izzy, he said he had a tablet and the woman took it.” Then, he continued, Lorincz “came out with the umbrella and started swinging it, calling us ‘jackasses.’ Next thing, I heard Izzy say, ‘Go get Mom.'”
Owens then headed across the street and, by all accounts, starting knocking on Lorincz’s door.
One witness told deputies, “Literally two knocks.”
Courtesy of Netflix
What Did Susan Lorincz Say About Shooting Ajike Owens?
Lorincz was handcuffed and taken into custody. She told detectives June 3, per interview room footage in The Perfect Neighbor, that about 10 minutes had passed between her 911 call and Owens showing up at her door.
“Then she started banging so hard, everything started shaking,” Lorincz said, “and I’m like, ‘You really need to leave.’ And she’s going, ‘I’m going to f–king kill you!'”
Claiming she didn’t know whether deputies would show up at all, “I just panicked, ‘Oh, my gosh, she’s going to really kill me this time.’ So I don’t even actually remember picking up the gun. I just remember shooting.”
Courtesy of Netflix
What Was Susan Lorincz Charged With in the Killing of Ajike Owens?
Talking to Lorincz on June 6, per interview footage, detectives informed her that, after her five-minute call to 911 ended at 8:59 p.m., only two minutes went by before she called again to report someone banging on her door.
“Within two minutes she showed up and did all these things,” a detective said, “you pulled the trigger, then found your phone and called 911.”
Lorincz said that in her mind it was “much longer.” She also denied any premeditation, insisting she felt “tremendous fear” in the moment.
Left in the room with a notepad and a pen in case she wanted to relay anything to Owens’ children, Lorincz wrote, as read aloud by a detective, “I am so sorry for your loss. I never meant to kill your mother. I was terrified your mom was going to kill me. I shot out of fear.”
She was arrested moments later and charged with manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault.
Florida Department of Corrections
Where Is Susan Lorincz Now?
Lorincz pleaded not guilty at trial, putting a spotlight on Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” self-protection law that permits deadly force if a person, per the statute, “reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.”
But Lorincz was convicted of manslaughter on Aug. 16, 2024. She was sentenced Nov. 25 to 25 years in prison.
“I find that the shooting was completely unnecessary,” Marion County Circuit Court Judge Robert Hodges said in court. “In this case, Ms. Lorincz was behind the door. The door was locked.”
Lorincz is currently serving her time at Homestead Correctional Institution in Florida City, according to the Florida Department of Corrections, which lists her release date as April 8, 2048.
“I am so sorry I took AJ’s life,” Lorincz said at her sentencing hearing. “I never intended to kill her. I am just profoundly sad. Not only did a mother die but a daughter, a sister, I think of your family’s loss.”
She maintains she feared for her life that night, telling ABC affiliate WCJB from prison in September 2025, “I never even saw the shot. I was just so terrified. I remember I was shaking, I was crying. It was horrible.”
Asked if she was capable of manslaughter, she said no.
“It just makes me sick, what happened,” Lorincz said. “I just never, ever thought in a million years this would happen. It breaks my heart…I wish I could change things.”
Courtesy of Netflix
What Did Ajike Owens’ Family Say After Susan Lorincz Was Found Guilty of Manslaughter?
“I stand before you not only mourning the loss of my daughter, but also the loss of our hopes, dreams and the future that we often spoke of,” Owens’ mother Dias said in court during Lorincz’ sentencing, per NBC News. “I‘m still trying to grasp and cope with the fact that my daughter, my baby girl, is lying six feet underground, breathless, lifeless.”
Noting all of the family milestones Owens would miss, Dias continued, “Our pain and suffering didn’t end when Susan was found guilty of manslaughter. Our pain and suffering won’t end with today’s sentencing. Our pain and suffering will last a lifetime.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Where Are Ajike Owens’ Children Now?
Dias has been caring for her grandchildren since her daughter’s death.
“It’s been very hard for the children—they were very young when they lost their mother, and it’s something no child should have to endure,” Dias told CNN in October 2025. “At the same time, they’ve shown strength and resilience that continues to amaze me.”
And she could “see the values my daughter instilled in them,” Dias continued. “Her kindness, her love, her faith—and that means they carry a piece of her wherever they go.”
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