No stolen puppies yet recovered in Colorado as investigators seek dog breeder's killer
UPDATE: On Aug. 30, the Clear Creek County Sheriff's office announced that they have a suspect under arrest.
None of the approximately 10 Doberman pinscher puppies apparently stolen when 57-year-old Paul Peavey was killed on his property in the Colorado mountains have been located yet.
All of the puppies have microchips that would help identify their origin and investigators have asked for anyone in central Colorado who has recently purchased a Doberman puppy to contact them. They are also hoping to be contacted by people who purchased or arranged to purchase dogs from Peavey dating back to June.
It comes as the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office continues to hear criticism for its lack of attention to the plight of Peavey last week. He was first reported missing on Aug. 21. Peavey's body was found on his property off Two Brothers Road north of Idaho Springs Saturday as friends and community members conducted their own search without deputies present.
"Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to throw them under the bus or anything, but it's just that this could have been handled a little bit swifter and maybe more appropriate," said friend Bruce Boynton, owner of the Pickaxe Pizza bar and restaurant in Idaho Springs. Peavey would come in to see his friend sometimes twice a day.
There remained a lot of questions about the actions of the sheriff's office, which was contacted on Aug. 21 about Peavey's missing status after Boynton went up to the property and found four adult dogs, but no puppies as well as Peavey's vehicles, but no sign of him. On Aug. 22, a deputy did visit the property but left after the sheriff's office said there were no red flags. The deputy did not spot Peavey's body.
"He did take proper actions to try to help locate Paul. He did visit the property," said sheriff's office public information officer Jenny Fulton. "I know that he went into the home on the property, the trailer on the property."
Boynton said he had reported that the trailer was in disarray, which was not like Peavey. But there were no obvious signs of a struggle.
On Saturday the body was found just over a small hill on the property partially buried only a few short minutes after a group of about 50 friends and local residents went to the property for a search. There was no law enforcement along with the searchers after the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office decided not to send anyone along with the group. Fulton said she did not know the answer to why that was. Boynton said a deputy told him he was told he needed to do traffic enforcement work on Interstate 70.
The fact that Peavey's body may have been found many days earlier remains a missed opportunity in the case. The last time he was heard from was on the night of Aug. 19.
"It does complicate things. It doesn't mean that the crime won't be solved, but it adds some difficulty, some challenges for investigators and for prosecutors," said CBS Colorado legal analyst Raj Chohan, a former prosecutor. "One of the important reasons why you want to get to that crime scene early is because the elements may impact and change that crime scene. And so if you're there on day, one or day two rather than day four or five, you have a much better chance of capturing important evidence."
Boynton said the searchers went easy on the property when they were there for the search.
"We were treating it as a crime scene," he said.
But the sheer fact that the scene had people present other than law enforcement and the suspects, said Chohan, could have consequences in court.
"In that situation you may lose valuable evidence. For instance, you may not know how many people were there when the crime was committed, because a number of people have moved into the crime scene. And now you've got footprints mixed up with other footprints."
But friends and community members were only seeking answers they could not get.
"I hope that they succeed in their investigation and they figure out everything they need to figure out. I know none of it is going to bring my buddy back," said Boynton.
There were hints Wednesday from investigators that they might be getting closer to finding suspects in the case. Fulton declined to say whether a person arrested on an out-of-state warrant over the weekend had been cleared in the case. And detectives were working through evidence. That included a game camera Peavey had set up on the property.
