Followers of the naval crime drama NCIS probably know actress Pauley Perrette as the Goth-inspired, technical whiz on the CBS series.  What many might not be aware of is that the actress recently took her weekly onscreen crime fighting for real.

The 38-year old Perrette, who actually holds a Master’s Degree in Criminology, admits to being an avid fan of the long-running crime dogwatch show, America’s Most Wanted (AMW).

"I'm the biggest America's Most Wanted fan, and always have been," Perrette admitted.  "I talk about it all the time."

Perrette is best known to audiences as the atypical yet brilliant forensic specialist, Abby Sciuto, on NCIS.  Despite her predilection for tattoos and body piercings, Abby is well loved by her colleagues and trusted by her supervisor, Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) as a highly skilled and competent member of their investigative team.

In real life, Pauley Perrette appears to have the same sense of values as her onscreen character.  When AMW aired an episode in the spring about the unsolved murders of young girls, Raven Jeffries in Detroit and Shannon Paulk in Prattville, Alabama, Perrette immediately felt compelled to do her bit.  In a strange and somewhat eerie coincidence, the actress has family ties in Prattville while her boyfriend hails from Detroit.  The fluke wasn’t lost on Perrette, who took it as an indication that she should somehow participate.

"I couldn't stop thinking about those two little girls and also how strange it was that it was Detroit and Prattville, his family, my family,” the NCIS star said.  “It could be my niece, my family, it could have been anybody. It could have been anybody's kid."

The actress contributed $10,000 to the reward fund for each of the slain girls.  Producers of America’s Most Wanted subsequently asked her to take part in the investigation.  As a result, the NCIS lab rat will appear with AMW host, John Walsh, when the program returns with its 21st season on Saturday, September 8.  In the season opening episode, Pauley Perrette visits the crime scenes in Alabama and Detroit, to meet with the respective case detectives and learn more about the deaths of the two young girls.

-Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Movieweb
(Image Courtesy of Yahoo)