A man charged with killing a Colorado dog breeder and stealing his puppies told authorities multiple different stories within the same interview with detectives.
Sergio Ferrer, 36, was arrested for an unrelated warrant on the same day a volunteer group found 57-year-old Paul Peavey’s body just a few yards from the camper on his property near Idaho Springs. Ferrer was already a person of interest in the murder when he was arrested.
According to KMGH, Peavey was reported missing on August 21 to the Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office, whose sheriff, Matt Harris, later apologized, saying the department “blew it off and didn’t investigate it thoroughly.”
Deputies didn’t go out to Peavey’s property until the next day and found his camper door open but no sign of Peavey, according to an affidavit filed in the case. Two days later, the volunteer group found Peavey’s body beneath a pile of brush about 30 yards from the camper. At least 10 of his dogs were missing, along with multiple other items from the camper.
Members of the search party identified Ferrer, who was known to Peavey, as a possible suspect, saying that his daughter had been trying to sell puppies on Facebook and that when they called Peavey’s phone, a man answered, sounding like Ferrer using a fake accent.
Deputies contacted the Georgetown Police Department, where Ferrer reportedly lived, and learned that they’d been “trying” to arrest him on a warrant from Nebraska. They told deputies they’d try harder since he was now wanted for questioning in a murder and took him into custody that afternoon.
A Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent and an investigator for the district attorney’s office interviewed Ferrer on August 26, and that’s when his stories went all over the map.
At one point, he said he’d been to Peavey’s property just once to pick a Doberman puppy out for his daughter, then said he’d been there three times, and later said it was “no more than five” times. He also said he’d paid $3,500 to Peavey for a puppy, but later said he’d only paid $1,000 of a $4,000 cost for a puppy. Later, he said he’d gone to Peavey’s property to pay him the last $1,000 for the puppy.
He didn’t take any of the property missing from Peavey’s camper, he said, but later said Peavey gave him a BB gun and he bought others, a 9mm handgun, and metal detectors from Peavey when investigators found them during a search of his home. When investigators said they’d also found Peavey’s phone at his home, he said “he probably took it and didn’t realize it,” the affidavit said.
Ferrer also told the investigators that when he met up with Peavey to get the dog he was reportedly buying, Peavey told him he was “having issues with someone” and that he was “in a rush to move” away from his property.
Then he explained his DNA on Peavey’s clothing as coming from a “man hug” when he paid the dog breeder, and said he had helped Peavey move some brush a week earlier, which would explain his DNA on items covering Peavey’s body. He had no explanation for Peavey’s blood in his car, however.
During a final interview, Ferrer said he had gone to Peavey’s property at about 10 p.m. on August 19 and found the trailer door open and the camper in disarray. He said he didn’t see any of Peavey’s dogs, this time admitted that the took the metal detectors, guns, jewelry, and “dog registration-type papers.”
In a second interview, Ferrer alleged that Peavey was trying to kill him and that Peavey had been involved with “the cartel” and had gotten him involved. In the same interview, he said that Peavey tried to shoot him over “missing drugs” and that he shot him to defend himself, the affidavit said.
During that interview, he admitted taking Peavey’s dogs, saying he took most of them to Denver to give away because he did not “have time” to sell them.
Ferrer was charged Friday with murder and aggravated robbery. He’s being held on a $1 million bond.
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[Featured image: Paul Peavey/Facebook. Inset: Sergio Ferrer/Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office]
