Joe's return home was met with a lot of protests in Santa Barbara. One man even threw a bomb into the Perkins house while Marisa was cleaning. Luckilly, she wasn't harmed. A few months later, tragedy struck when Joe was lost at sea and presumed dead. On the day of his memorial service, however, Marisa learned that Joe was alive and in hiding because of bogus cocaine charges. John was genuinely devastated over Joe's "death", which provoked Marisa to tell her husband that their son was alive. Marisa and John reconciled, as did Joe and John.

Marisa and John planned to go on a second honeymoon, but Joe was arrested before that could happen. Then, John was killed by an earthquake. Marisa mourned her husband, but later got some peace of mind when Joe was finally cleared of Channing's murder. She also experienced happiness when Joe married his true love, Kelly Capwell.

When Amy was revealed to be pregnant, Marisa turned the family dining room into a nursery for the baby. She was very moved when Amy announced that she planned to name the child after John. After Joe was killed in early 1985, Marisa disappeared from the canvas. That same year, she briefly returned for Amy's wedding to Brick Wallace as well as Christmas.