‘The Perfect Neighbor’: Is Susan Lorincz Actually a Doctor? What’s Been Said About Her Job

Susan Lorincz’s life is being thrust into the spotlight following the release of Netflix’s The Perfect Neighbor, which documents the two years leading up to the shooting death of Ajike Owens in June 2023. Lorincz is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for killing Owens, her former neighbor, after calling 911 on her children, whom she’d gotten into an altercation with earlier that day.

In the two years before Owens’ death, Lorincz had called 911 on neighborhood children, including Owens’, at least half a dozen times, according to CBS News.

The Perfect Neighbor is told almost entirely through body cam footage, which included one early scene of Lorincz telling an officer, “I am a single woman. I work from home.” In footage from another night, she told another officer about an exchange she had with a child in the neighborhood and revealed that she told the kid, “Listen, my name is Dr. Lorincz. Don’t tell me to shut up.”

This subtle title mention begs the question: Is Lorincz actually a doctor? Her career was brought up several times during her 2024 trial. Scroll down for everything we know.

Is Susan Lorincz actually a doctor?

Despite Lorincz referring to herself as “Dr. Lorincz,” there is no confirmation that she is actually a doctor. This career path never came up during her trial. However, various other jobs were mentioned.

For one, a pastor at Lorincz’s church, Shannon Lynn Harris, revealed that “Susan worked in the insurance industry,” which is why she helped members of the church with insurance issues, per Entertainment Weekly.

A friend of the defendant’s named Crystal Maksou claimed that Lorincz “was always working at different places,” and noted that she’d recently “had some licensing [work],” which allowed her to work from home. It was confirmed during the trial that Lorincz previously worked as an EMT, per testimony from Lorincz’s younger sister, Ellyn, and a forensic psychologist, Dr. Yenys Castillo. Castillo said that Lorincz, who was in her late 50s at the time, had the EMT job “around age 20,” though.

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Additionally, Castillo referenced other alleged past jobs of Lorincz’s, including one where she “worked near an airport,” and another where she was “working in the kitchen as a chef” of a rehabilitation center.

Where is Susan Lorincz now?

Lorincz is serving her prison sentence at Homestead Correctional Institution in South Florida, with a release date set for April 8, 2048, according to WCJB. She received her 25-year sentence for manslaughter, although she was initially charged with “manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery, and two counts of assault.”

The shooting took place after Owens and her son knocked on Lorincz’s door following the altercation between Lorincz and Owens’ kids. Lorincz claimed she “feared for [her] life” when her neighbor approached her home, leading her to retrieve her gun and shoot Owens through the door.

However, according to ABC News, a judge deemed the shooting “completely unnecessary,” adding, “In this case, Ms. Lorincz was behind the door. The door was locked. She had already called law enforcement. They were en route. She knew they were en route. She was in a relatively safe position. For some reason, she went into her room and found a gun. She could have stayed in the room and put another locked door between her and Ms. Owens, but she came back out, put herself in front of the door, and at the time she fired the gun through the door, she was safe.”

The Perfect Neighbor, Streaming Now, Netflix