A lot more info in this article plus a pic of one of the puppies by the look of it.
Sergio Ferrer admitted to killing Paul Peavey, but said it was in self-defense, court records said.
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Paul Peavey, a breeder of Dobermans, was found dead in Colorado.Credit...Meredith Mazutis
By
Hank Sanders
A Colorado man was charged with murder on Friday in the death of a dog breeder who was found shot to death in his Idaho Springs home last Saturday, the authorities said.
The man, Sergio Ferrer, 36, of Georgetown, Colo., had been “considered a person of interest” in the death of the breeder, Paul Peavey, 57, within hours of his body being found, the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado said in a statement. Mr. Ferrer was arrested the same day for failing to appear in court on an unrelated weapons charge out of Nebraska.
On Friday, the sheriff’s office charged Mr. Ferrer with first-degree murder, felony murder and aggravated robbery in Mr. Peavey’s death.
Mr. Ferrer’s possible connection to Mr. Peavey was first brought to the attention of the sheriff’s office by a member of a community search party that found Mr. Peavey’s body on Aug. 24, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant prepared by Detective Joel Buehrle of the sheriff’s office. The search party member believed that a relative of Mr. Ferrer’s had been selling Doberman puppies on Facebook.
After witnesses said that they saw Mr. Ferrer with a new dog, the authorities obtained a warrant to search his home.
During a search of Mr. Ferrer’s home on Aug. 25, the authorities found several items belonging to Mr. Peavey, including a phone with his name on it, jewelry and metal detectors, according to the affidavit.
In interviews with the authorities, Mr. Ferrer changed his story about his relationship with Mr. Peavey several times, the affidavit shows. Mr. Ferrer said that he met Mr. Peavey “years ago” through a barbershop where Mr. Ferrer had worked and that he had arranged to buy a puppy from Mr. Peavey.
Eventually, according to the affidavit, Mr. Ferrer admitted to shooting and killing Mr. Peavey, but he said it was in self-defense after a fight between the two involving illegal activity, the affidavit said.
The case has received widespread attention, in part because as many as 10 of the breeder’s Doberman puppies were missing and the authorities believed that finding them could help in the investigation.
When the Doberman puppies went missing, a local veterinarian supplied the authorities with the list of microchip codes that Mr. Peavey had put in his puppies, the affidavit said.
It added that the authorities discovered that on the same day Mr. Peavey was reported missing, someone had bought a Doberman puppy that matched one of the listed codes and had paid for it through a Cash App account that was linked to Mr. Ferrer.
Mr. Ferrer admitted to taking more than three of the puppies, which he transported to Denver to give away, the affidavit said. He said he took one home.
It was unclear if Mr. Ferrer had legal representation. Efforts to reach relatives of Mr. Ferrer on Friday were not immediately successful.
Mr. Peavey, 57, was last heard from on Aug. 19 and was reported missing on Aug. 21, the sheriff’s office said.
“Paul was a wonderful person,” Meredith Mazutis, a Doberman breeder and friend of Mr. Peavey, said on Friday.
Ms. Mazutis said she was relieved that there had been an arrest in Mr. Peavey’s killing but said the authorities needed to do more to find the missing puppies.
“Paul’s gone,” she said. “We’re never going to bring him back.”
Mr. Peavey bred European Dobermans on a 110-acre property in Idaho Springs, a town about 30 miles west of Denver. Although his three adult Doberman dogs were found safe on the property, as many as 10 puppies were reported missing and are “still unaccounted for,” the sheriff’s office said Friday afternoon.
An investigation into the dogs’ location is continuing. The authorities said that anyone who had bought a puppy from Mr. Peavey’s business since June should contact them.
For buyers in the United States, a European Doberman puppy typically costs $3,000 to $4,500
from a breeder.
“There absolutely has been an increased demand in the past few years,” John Walter, a Doberman expert who runs
DobermanPlanet.com, said of European Dobermans, adding that Dobermans are great family dogs. “Dobermans are the only breed that were bred for the sole purpose of protecting humans.”
Susan C. Beachy contributed research.