MO MO - Melissa Peskey, 40, shot and killed, Boonville, 13 Dec 2018

The friend on the GH video stayed that his excuse for not answering the phone at 11 pm was because he had taken a sleeping pill. She then further stated he DID answer during the middle of the night - sounded like 3 to 4 am timeframe. She thought it was strange he didn’t pick up for the first call but did the second call. Maybe give him time to drive back home. I need to do some calculations next.
 
They should be able to solve this case soon hopefully especially if they already suspect her husband.

I wonder if he didnt answer his phone the first time was because he purposefully left it behind knowing if he took it with him it could be tracked? So he wasnt home when first call came in. Imo

I know they are going to investigate whether he rented a vehicle so she wouldn't recognize it was him.

If he is the one then he is heartless because he killed her but he also put his children's lives at risk. He had no idea where the vehicle would wind up once she was gravely wounded. Or was she stopped at the time? I may have overlooked that info.

People have received serious injuries when colliding with something while only going 35 mph.

It's not has hard to shoot a moving human target as some may think. Over the years there have been numerous victims shot and killed when they were in moving vehicles.

Imo
 
The friend on the GH video stayed that his excuse for not answering the phone at 11 pm was because he had taken a sleeping pill. She then further stated he DID answer during the middle of the night - sounded like 3 to 4 am timeframe. She thought it was strange he didn’t pick up for the first call but did the second call. Maybe give him time to drive back home. I need to do some calculations next.

Great post, cpeacock1!

I'm thinking he'd have had plenty of time to do the round trip from their home in Hartford, SD to Boonville, MO (Western Cooper County). The location of the accident was on I-70 Eastbound near mile marker 96. A rough estimate on google maps showed that the trip (one-way) was approximately 522 miles (estimated travel time 7 hours and 42 min.).

Yeah, the sleeping pill. We had reports from patients who "sleep drove" under the influence of Ambien, so that ain't getting him a pass with me!
 
They should be able to solve this case soon hopefully especially if they already suspect her husband.

I wonder if he didnt answer his phone the first time was because he purposefully left it behind knowing if he took it with him it could be tracked? So he wasnt home when first call came in. Imo

I know they are going to investigate whether he rented a vehicle so she wouldn't recognize it was him.

If he is the one then he is heartless because he killed her but he also put his children's lives at risk. He had no idea where the vehicle would wind up once she was gravely wounded. Or was she stopped at the time? I may have overlooked that info.

People have received serious injuries when colliding with something while only going 35 mph.

It's not has hard to shoot a moving human target as some may think. Over the years there have been numerous victims shot and killed when they were in moving vehicles.

Imo

OBE -- I always get a lot out of your insightful posts! Glad to see you here. We need you!
 
They should be able to solve this case soon hopefully especially if they already suspect her husband.

I wonder if he didnt answer his phone the first time was because he purposefully left it behind knowing if he took it with him it could be tracked? So he wasnt home when first call came in. Imo

I know they are going to investigate whether he rented a vehicle so she wouldn't recognize it was him.

If he is the one then he is heartless because he killed her but he also put his children's lives at risk. He had no idea where the vehicle would wind up once she was gravely wounded. Or was she stopped at the time? I may have overlooked that info.

People have received serious injuries when colliding with something while only going 35 mph.

It's not has hard to shoot a moving human target as some may think. Over the years there have been numerous victims shot and killed when they were in moving vehicles.

Imo

We don't know whether Melissa was stopped at the time of the shooting, or did she crash due to being shot. I'm thinking that she crashed after she was shot because she ended up crossing over the "ditch" that divides Eastbound I-71 (the direction she was traveling) from Westbound I-71. She ultimately ended up on the Westbound I-71 side where she was found.

I know that when you rent a vehicle you must do it with a credit card. I could be wrong about this. Maybe you could pay cash, but would have to guarantee the rental with a credit card that wouldn't be processed unless you owed more for the rental (damages, fuel, etc.). So, maybe there is a way it can be done without a paper trail. Honestly, in this day and age, I think a paper trail is unavoidable.

I wish we knew more because, at this point, anything is possible.
 
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I think Gray Hughes has done a good job reporting on this case. The only drawback was the "call in." I didn't think that was the direction he wanted to go with that particular caller. The anonymous interview was great. Maybe that person will agree to appear on his show again. I miss the Websleuths Radio when Tricia did all those fantastic interviews. Hopefully, her new collaboration with Levi Page ("Into the Case") will pick up where her former show left off!
 
We don't know whether Melissa was stopped at the time of the shooting, or did she crash due to being shot. I'm thinking that she crashed after she was shot because she ended up crossing over the "ditch" that divides Eastbound I-71 (the direction she was traveling) from Westbound I-71. She ultimately ended up on the Westbound I-71 side where she was found.

I know that when you rent a vehicle you must do it with a credit card. I could be wrong about this. Maybe you could pay cash, but would have to guarantee the rental with a credit card that wouldn't be processed unless you owed more for the rental (damages, fuel, etc.). So, maybe there is a way it can be done without a paper trail. Honestly, in this day and age, I think a paper trail is unavoidable.

I wish we knew more because, at this point, anything is possible.

I think you are right Alex.

Dont they also require you to show a current driver's license?

I havent rented a car in decades so I'm not sure what procedure they have in place now.

Jmo
 
I think you are right Alex.

Dont they also require you to show a current driver's license?

I havent rented a car in decades so I'm not sure what procedure they have in place now.

Jmo

I haven't rented one either, but I'm sure a driver's license would be required. So they would probably make a photocopy of it. The records would be available to LE with a subpoena, at worst, and with a simple request -- at best -- but I don't think that flies anymore. Probably a search warrant would be required. I just don't know.
 
And yes OBE possibly left his phone at home so it wouldn’t ping his location. That’s why he couldn’t answer at 11 pm. Hmmmmmm

We need more WEBSLEUTHS folks on this case.
This is why I ask whether local law enforcement in South Dakota were contacted by Missouri law enforcement to make the notification in person. That would establish whether or not he or at least a vehicle was at the home.

Within minutes of arriving on scene Missouri law enforcement would have run the plates on the vehicle and would have an address, a name, etc. The kids would know who their dad was and where they lived. Even after handling the scene they should have come across her purse, wallet and/or her phone so they would have information from that. Those things (purse, phone) might take longer to be able to look at since with a death involved they would have to await a coroner and do some processing before things could be moved.

Now, when it comes to the unanswered call, if the phone went straight to voice mail it would mean the phone was off. If there was a true "ring" at all the phone was on and the location of the phone would be known. The key in all of this is what time did he answer a later call. If that was fewer than 6 hours later it would mean that his phone would ping somewhere distant from the home.

The above presumes that law enforcement called his cell phone rather than a landline for the home. If law enforcement called the landline then there is no way to know whether he was home or not but we can know that if he did answer a landline only 4 or 5 hours later then he could not have been in Missouri.

There is much we don't know yet.
 
We don't know whether Melissa was stopped at the time of the shooting, or did she crash due to being shot. I'm thinking that she crashed after she was shot because she ended up crossing over the "ditch" that divides Eastbound I-71 (the direction she was traveling) from Westbound I-71. She ultimately ended up on the Westbound I-71 side where she was found.

I know that when you rent a vehicle you must do it with a credit card. I could be wrong about this. Maybe you could pay cash, but would have to guarantee the rental with a credit card that wouldn't be processed unless you owed more for the rental (damages, fuel, etc.). So, maybe there is a way it can be done without a paper trail. Honestly, in this day and age, I think a paper trail is unavoidable.

I wish we knew more because, at this point, anything is possible.
Anyone can rent a vehicle and have another person drive it. So even with a way to check on rentals it might not be obvious, i.e. her husband rented a vehicle. That said, when you rent a car they want to know whether you plan on taking the vehicle out of state and they charge different rates for doing so, unless you are near a border area, but in general they want to know if you are taking the vehicle on a long trip at the time of rental. All the major rental companies GPS track their rental vehicles. So, law enforcement would be able to go to the rental companies and see if any of their vehicles were in proximity of the shooting/accident at that time.

I wish we knew more as well.
 
Anyone can rent a vehicle and have another person drive it. So even with a way to check on rentals it might not be obvious, i.e. her husband rented a vehicle. That said, when you rent a car they want to know whether you plan on taking the vehicle out of state and they charge different rates for doing so, unless you are near a border area, but in general they want to know if you are taking the vehicle on a long trip at the time of rental. All the major rental companies GPS track their rental vehicles. So, law enforcement would be able to go to the rental companies and see if any of their vehicles were in proximity of the shooting/accident at that time.

I wish we knew more as well.

Thanks, Jethro, good to know. That pretty much rules out a rental car, IMO.
 
I am curious why it is that her kids spent so much time in foster care after the accident (it isn't clear if the kids still are in foster care). I would think that even if law enforcement or cps would not want the kids with their father that there would be Melissa's mother or siblings or other relatives that could get temporary custody.
 
I am curious why it is that her kids spent so much time in foster care after the accident (it isn't clear if the kids still are in foster care). I would think that even if law enforcement or cps would not want the kids with their father that there would be Melissa's mother or siblings or other relatives that could get temporary custody.

Maybe Melissa's relatives petitioned the Court for temporary custody at the same hearing where RP appeared in Missouri to attempt to retrieve his children. We don't know the outcome of that hearing.

We really don't know much at all.
 
Maybe Melissa's relatives petitioned the Court for temporary custody at the same hearing where RP appeared in Missouri to attempt to retrieve his children. We don't know the outcome of that hearing.

We really don't know much at all.
It would not surprise me if they did, but wasn't that hearing on the 26th? 12 full days after the incident and missing out on Christmas seems to make for an awful situation for the kids that could be avoided.
 
An interesting article with anecdotes from the parents and kids she grew up with in her hometown of Chatsworth, IA.
Homicide hits home

In this article we have ...

Preliminary results of the investigation at the scene and an autopsy performed on Peskey in Columbia, MO, indicated that she died of a gunshot wound caused by a weapon fired from outside the vehicle.

White would not say when the gunshot occurred — whether it was fired before or after the SUV crashed — because of the ongoing investigation.

“We’re not going to discuss the sequence of events,” he said. “Our major crash investigation unit was initially called to that scene. They’re reconstructing the scene.”

And we learn that the children are back in Hartford with their father.

White said Melissa’s children were in the vehicle when the crash occurred and they were uninjured. They now are back home in Hartford with their father, Ryan, a licensed massage therapist and South Dakota National Guard member.
 
So, based on what is in the most recent article I linked above it is clear law enforcement knew this was a shooting early on - at the scene of the accident. Since that is the case it would seem that law enforcement would have wanted to have law enforcement inform her husband in person as they would prefer to observe his reaction to the news and what he might have to say and what questions he might ask of the law enforcement that came to him.

If law enforcement screwed that up and just tried a phone call I would really be shocked.
 
Folks I can’t get my “like” button to work. But I LOVE the comments posted here.

It’s been 2 weeks and 1 day since the death of MP. Why don’t we have more information?

Now gonna check to see if GH has anything else posted. BTW he did really good video work on another case (McStay Family).
 

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