A man has been arrested in connection with the death of Paul Peavey, a 57-year-old dog breeder who was found dead last week in Colorado, but the breeder's puppies are still missing, the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office said on Friday.
Sergio Ferrer, 36, of Georgetown, Colorado, is expected to be charged with first-degree murder, felony murder and aggravated robbery. The arrest affidavit, detailed below, provided a look at what investigators found when they went to the scene and interviewed Ferrer.
Peavey, who bred Dobermans, was first reported missing to the Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 21 and his body was found just before noon on Aug. 24 by a group of volunteers in the 1000 block of Two Brothers Road north of Idaho Springs — about 33 miles outside of Denver.
Ferrer was arrested around 4 p.m. that same day — just hours after Peavey’s body was discovered — as he had an unrelated warrant out of Nebraska for failing to appear on a weapons charge. At the time, he was already considered a person of interest in the homicide investigation, the sheriff's office said.
Peavey’s death was ruled a homicide, and the affidavit stated that the Boulder County Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy and determined that Peavey died from multiple gunshot wounds.
“Investigators with the Sheriff’s Office, Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, along with assistance from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, have since been able to establish enough evidence to support today’s recommended charges related to the homicide investigation,” the sheriff’s office said Friday.
Ferrer is being held at the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility on a $1 million cash-only bond and is next due in court on Sept. 18.
Affidavit details interviews investigators had with the suspect
The affidavit for Ferrer's arrest reads that on Aug. 22, deputies responded to the missing person report around Two Brothers Road and Virginia Canyon Road and found Peavey’s camper door open, but he was nowhere to be found.
Two days later, deputies responded to the same area after learning that a body had been found by a large group of people searching for Peavey. A leader of the group, Bruce Boynton, said the body, which was partially covered in branches and rocks and looked like it “had been dragged down the hill,” was about 30 yards from the camper, the affidavit reads.
Boynton told authorities several items were missing from Peavey’s property, including up to 19 Doberman puppies, cash, metal detecting equipment, jewelry and more. He and another member of the search party said they had seen Ferrer’s daughter trying to sell puppies on Facebook, and added that when Boynton tried to call Peavey’s phone, the person who picked up faked an accent and sounded like Ferrer, according to the affidavit.
The deputies contacted the Georgetown Police Department to see if they had an address for Ferrer, and learned where he lived and where he worked.
Georgetown police said they had been trying to find Ferrer to arrest him on an outstanding warrant out of Nebraska, according to the affidavit. Once Georgetown police learned that Ferrer may have been involved in a homicide, they said they would try to get him into custody.
They were able to do so that same afternoon.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is assisting in this case, went to Ferrer’s home to look around his residence. CBI agents saw a package of wipes that appeared to match wipes found around Peavey’s property and two collars for a large-breed dog, according to the affidavit.
While at the property, an anonymous person told CBI agents that he had seen a white Jeep parked near Ferrer’s residence on Aug. 23 with dog crates inside. He said he saw Ferrer holding a small Doberman next to the car, according to the affidavit.
Another witness told CBI agents that on Aug. 21, Ferrer said he got a puppy for his daughter. The witness said he did not know the breed, but noted it was the first time he had seen Ferrer with a dog.
Once a search warrant was obtained, investigators went into Ferrer’s residence and found pepper ball guns, a bag containing jewelry that appeared to belong to Peavey, a handgun, metal detectors that matched the description of those belonging to Peavey, a cell phone with Peavey’s name on it and clothing that appeared to have blood on it.
A CBI agent and chief investigator for the district attorney’s office interviewed Ferrer on Aug. 26 at the Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office.
During that interview, Ferrer said he met Peavey years ago at an Idaho Springs barber shop, where Ferrer worked. He said they were more like acquaintances than friends, the affidavit reads.
Ferrer said he had purchased a Doberman puppy for $3,500 about two weeks prior for his daughter, according to the affidavit. Later in the same interview, he said he paid Peavey a $1,000 deposit that would go toward the final cost of $4,000 — a different price than he had originally stated. Ferrer said he met Peavey at The Sasquatch Station in Idaho Springs to pick up the dog.
Ferrer also gave two different answers when talking about how often he had visited Peavey’s property. He initially said he had been there just once to select the puppy, and later admitted he had been there at least three times, according to the affidavit. Further into the interview, he said he had never been to the property and then later said he had gone there “no more than five” times, according to the affidavit.
Ferrer told investigators he had not seen Peavey since he picked up the dog and had no reason to hurt the man, however he noted that he found it suspicious that Peavey wanted only cash for the dogs and that Peavey appeared to be “in a rush to move from his property,” the affidavit reads. Peavey was having “issues with someone,” Ferrer claimed, but said he did not know who that person was.
One of the interviewers asked Ferrer what he thought about somebody telling authorities that he had sold them a Doberman puppy. Ferrer responded, “I didn’t sell nobody a pup,” according to the affidavit.
They asked if he could explain why people were saying he may be responsible for Peavey’s death and he responded, “What? I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve never even been seen with Paul. I’ve met him to pay him and to pick up my pup. That was it,” according to the affidavit.
An investigator then asked why any of Peavey’s belongings would be in Ferrer’s residence. He said Peavey gave him “the rifle BB gun,” according to the affidavit. He said he got the BB gun from Peavey when he paid the down payment for the puppy. After some hesitation, he told authorities Peavey also sold him two pistol BB guns, two rifle BB guns and one 9mm semi-automatic handgun for $500, according to the affidavit.
The interviewers questioned why Ferrer had Peavey’s cell phone and metal detectors at his residence, and Ferrer claimed he received the equipment from a friend in Dumont. Authorities contacted that person, who said he had “no knowledge of any metal detectors,” the affidavit reads. Regarding the cellphone, Ferrer said later in the interview that “he probably took it and didn’t realize it,” according to the affidavit.
Then the investigators asked if there was any reason Ferrer’s DNA or fingerprints would be inside Peavey’s trailer. He responded that he had been up at the camper the previous week.
“This is contrary to what Ferrer had previously stated in the interview, where he stated the only time he had been to Paul’s home was so his daughter could pick out her puppy,” the affidavit reads.
He said he had visited Peavey to pay “the last thousand dollars he owned” for the puppy, which also contradicted his previous statements about payment to Peavey, according to the affidavit.
During the interview, Ferrer told authorities that he went to Peavey’s residence at 10 p.m. on Aug. 19 and found his trailer door open and the residence in disarray. He said he did not see any of Peavey’s four large dogs, and changed his story to say he had taken Peavey’s metal detectors, along with his guns, a box of jewelry and “dog registration-type papers,” according to the affidavit, but denied taking any puppies or hurting Peavey. He said he “saw an opportunity to take some stuff and put money in my pocket,” the document continues.
“Ferrer then admitted to ‘ransacking’ Paul’s house,” according to the affidavit.
He didn’t tell police about the trashed trailer because he had a warrant and assumed he would be arrested, he said.
The interviewers asked what he would think if the 9mm handgun he had matched the weapon used to kill Peavey, and he responded, “Then I took the wrong f***ing 9mm and I’m really f***ed,” the affidavit reads.
The investigators then asked him why his DNA would be found on Peavey’s clothing. Ferrer said he embraces people whom he knows in a “man hug” and he did that when paying Peavey, according to the affidavit. He added that he had helped Peavey move branches and boxes about a week earlier and that his DNA may have ended up on some of those items that were covering Peavey’s body. He also told investigators he could not explain how Peavey’s blood got in his car.
This concluded Ferrer’s first interview with investigators.
Afterward, deputies learned that Peavey had microchipped 10 Doberman puppies on Aug. 19 at a local veterinarian, before his death. The vet provided the list of microchip numbers to authorities. A vet in Golden reported that she had treated a puppy with one of those microchip numbers, and provided authorities with the phone number of the owner, according to the affidavit.
The owner told deputies that she bought the puppy on Aug. 21 from a seller, and paid $775 via Cash App to Ferrer, the affidavit reads.
The following day, a CBI agent and chief investigator for the district attorney’s office once again interviewed Ferrer.
They went over Ferrer’s visit to Peavey’s property once more, when Ferrer claimed he had entered the camper and did not find Peavey.
During the interview, the CBI agent told Ferrer “that he was there to give Ferrer the opportunity to tell him what happened on the property” and that “he had information and evidence but not Ferrer’s version,” the affidavit reads.
Ferrer then claimed that Peavey was about to kill him. He requested to talk to the FBI and then “said that his problem involved the cartel,” the affidavit reads, and made allegations that Peavey was part of the cartel and had gotten Ferrer involved.
The CBI agent redirected him, asking again what had happened to Peavey. Ferrer then said Peavey had tried to shoot him over “missing drugs” and he defended himself by returning fire an unknown number of times, according to the affidavit.
The agent asked how Peavey’s body ended up down the hill from the trailer and Ferrer did not answer. Shortly afterward, Ferrer said he went back the next day and moved the body to somewhere where somebody would find him. He covered him “out of respect,” the affidavit reads.
The agent asked Ferrer when he moved the dogs, which Ferrer had previously denied taking from the property. This time, he answered it was “that night,” the affidavit reads, and said he took them to Denver to give away, as he did not “have time” to sell them for money.
The conclusion of the affidavit reads that investigators believe Ferrer committed first-degree murder and aggravated robbery.
Clear Creek County sheriff apologizes
Earlier this week, Clear Creek County Sheriff Matt Harris apologized in a statement for not doing enough to search for Peavey after the initial missing person’s report.
Scripps News Denver spoke one-on-one with Sheriff Harris on Wednesday to respond to failures within his department and expressed his disappointment.
“Our initial response was unacceptable,” Harris said. “For lack of a better phrase, we blew it off and didn’t investigate it thoroughly.”
Peavey was first reported missing Wednesday after he hadn’t been heard from for 48 hours, and according to Harris, a deputy called the reporting party back but did not go out to Peavey’s property.
The next day, the reporting party called again and spoke to a different deputy who entered Peavey as a missing person in state and national databases, went to Peavey’s property, interviewed several people, pinged his cell phone location and requested a welfare check in the county where Peavey was planning to move.
Harris said his office should have searched the property more thoroughly, shared information on social media and took part in the search on Saturday.
Harris vowed that his office would do better in the future.
“Somebody called our department asking for assistance and we didn’t investigate it thoroughly,” Harris told Scripps News Denver on Wednesday. “It’s very disappointing, but it is what it is. We failed and we didn’t handle it correctly. … As humans, we often learn from mistakes and this is certainly going to be a learning experience for our agency.”
Harris was sworn in as sheriff in December 2023, taking over a department reeling from the June 2022 shooting death of Christian Glass that saw multiple deputies charged in the killing.
In trying to rebound the department’s approach and reputation, Harris has pledged transparency and accountability from the sheriff’s office.
“I made a commitment to the community, to the public, to our commissioners when I was appointed as sheriff that we were going to bring accountability, integrity and professionalism to the county and to the department,” he said.
Anyone with information about this case can contact the sheriff’s office tip line at (303) 670-7567 or crime_tips@clearcreeksheriff.us or can submit an anonymous tip here.
This story was originally published by Joe Vaccarelli and Stephanie Butzer at Scripps News Denver.
