Suspect arrested in killing of Colorado dog breeder; puppies missing

A man was arrested Friday in the killing of a Colorado dog breeder who was found dead after his puppies had been stolen from his ransacked home, authorities said.

Sergio Ferrer, 36, faces murder and aggravated robbery charges in the slaying of Paul Peavey, 57, the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Ferrer was arrested on an unrelated warrant from Nebraska, where alleged he failed to appear for a weapons charge, the sheriff’s office said. 

At the time of the arrest, Ferrer was considered a person of interest in Peavey’s death, the statement added.

The sheriff’s office and other law enforcement agencies recommended the murder charge.

Peavey’s friends found his body down an embankment on his property on Saturday, the sheriff’s office confirmed.

“I’m the one that went up to the property and realized things were awry to the point where the puppies were gone, the house was tossed, anything of value missing,” pal Bruce Boynton told Denver 7.

Boynton called police for a welfare check, but deputies who swept the property had found nothing.

Boynton also told the Washington Post that Peavey’s gun, metal detector equipment and jewelry were missing from his house. The door to the dogs’ shed was open and a few adult Dobermans were roaming the yard, Boyton added.

Police said some of the stolen puppies had already been sold, but had not yet been picked up by their new owners.

All of them, however, are microchipped.

According to his business, Elite European Dobermans, Peavey bred up to two litters of pups a year on a 110-acre property in Idaho Springs, a mountain town about 30 miles west of Denver.

The breeder promised “quality over quantity” and offered to provide buyers with 7-month-old Doberman puppies that were already trained.

As many as 10 Doberman puppies were missing from the kennel, but Peavey’s three adult dogs were left behind and alive.

Peavey was a dog-lover since the age of 10, according to his business website. He walked dogs for the local dog rescue and was active in his local community.