Pamela Dias, mother of Ajike Owens—the young Black woman whose killing by her neighbor is chronicled in Netflix’s "The Perfect Neighbor"—wants you to know some things about her daughter.

Owens was a single mother of four who was deeply involved in her children’s lives, Dias tells BET in a recent Zoom call. Her kids played sports, took gymnastics, and Owens was the team mom for football and cheerleading. They were honor roll students. She had plans, goals, and ambition. “She wanted better for her life,” Dias says. “We would often strategize about business or entrepreneurial ideas. She’d tell me, ‘You just wait and see. The world is going to know my name.’ Her prophecy has been fulfilled—because the world really does know her name.”

It’s a heartbreaking irony. When Dias speaks with BET about "The Perfect Neighbor"—which climbed to No. 1 on Netflix after its Oct. 17 release—she does so with calm, even peace, despite the immeasurable loss she’s endured. It’s been just over two years since Owens was fatally shot by her white neighbor, Susan Lorincz, as the film depicts. Though Dias is still devastated, she believes her daughter’s death has a purpose larger than tragedy—a purpose she’s now championing. “It’s unfortunate that it had to happen in this manner,” she says, “but I think it created an opportunity. This film can be a tool to make real change in our society—and have her legacy be not one of just tragedy and loss, but of hope for future generations. It can impact racism, gun laws, and Stand Your Ground.”

Told almost entirely through police bodycam footage, "The Perfect Neighbor" unfolds not only how Lorincz shot Owens one June night in their Ocala, Florida community, but the years of tension that led up to it. Over 90 gripping minutes, the film immerses viewers in the unfolding story. At first, the neighborhood appears almost idyllic—a tight-knit enclave where mostly Black families look after one another’s children. But a quiet dread lingers, thanks to director Geeta Gandbhir’s deft touch and Viridiana Lieberman’s sharp editing. Soon, viewers see how one white resident, Lorincz, became the community’s menace. Over several years, she made repeated 911 calls, falsely accusing the neighborhood children of harassment, trespassing, and disturbances. Even police grew weary of her unfounded complaints.

“[Residents] often said that there was hate speech, that she was threatening children,” producer Alisa Payne tells BET during the joint Zoom call with Dias and Gandbhir. “She was harassing everyone in the community.”

Eventually, Lorincz’s harassment turned deadly. Unflinching footage captures the moment Owens was shot, as well as the horrific aftermath as her children, family, and neighbors learned what had happened. The filmmakers say the bodycam footage—released after attorney Benjamin Crump requested it—became central to their storytelling. “We were subverting the traditional use of body camera footage,” Gandbhir explains. “Initially, it wasn’t going to be a documentary; the footage was just meant to raise awareness. But we realized there was a much bigger story. We see the best of society—this beautiful community—and the worst. Susan should never have had access to a gun, and that Stand Your Ground law emboldened her. That’s what we want to change.”

"The Perfect Neighbor" makes clear that this tragedy is about far more than a neighborhood dispute. Payne points out that, while police were frustrated with Lorincz, they failed to recognize her actions as harassment—and failed to protect the community. The film also shows that after Lorincz shot Owens, police didn’t arrest her immediately. Instead, they comforted her, even shielding her from enraged residents. Evidence later suggested that Lorincz had researched the “Stand Your Ground” law beforehand, implying the killing may not have been spontaneous. Either way, the law—the same one that allowed George Zimmerman to avoid arrest after killing Trayvon Martin in 2012—continues to give white people who “fear for their safety” a legal shield for killing Black people.

Lorincz was convicted of manslaughter in 2024 and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but Owens’ mother doesn’t believe justice was fully served. “Justice doesn’t end with a guilty verdict,” Dias says. She has since founded Standing in the Gap, a group that supports families of those killed by racial violence. “I need the world to understand why we need reform—both to Stand Your Ground and gun laws overall.”

Drawing parallels to Mamie Till-Mobley—who in 1955 insisted on an open casket for her son, Emmett Till, to show the world the brutality of his murder—Dias sees "The Perfect Neighbor" as a vehicle for change. “Initially, I watched it from a place of grief,” she says. “But when I watched it again, I realized how important this story is. It’s not just about my family’s loss. It reflects America—white privilege, racism, and the systems that protect it. I told myself, ‘I don’t want my daughter’s death to be in vain. I have to share this with the world.’”