Investigators believe finding a set of missing Doberman puppies could help solve the murder of a Colorado dog breeder.
Paul Peavey, 57, was reported missing on Aug. 21, two days after he had last been heard from, according to the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office.
A private search party found his body, just before noon on Saturday, Aug. 24.
The coroner’s office is conducting an autopsy to determine his cause and manner of death, per police, who are investigating the “suspicious” case as a homicide.
Police say that “many puppies are unaccounted for, possibly as many as 10 from the breeder’s Elite European Dobermans facility near Idaho Springs, Co., and that locating the lost pups – which has become an integral part of their ongoing investigation – “may also help solve his homicide.”
A litter of Paul Peavey’s European Dobermans, which he raised on his Colorado Rocky Mountain property.
Elite European Dobermans
The sheriff’s office, along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office has not yet determined a motive for the suspected killing – the details of which have not been publicly released – and the investigation remains “in its very early stages,” according to law enforcement.
Although no one has been apprehended in connection to the killing, police say the public is not in “imminent danger.”
Peavey bred no more than two litters of European Dobermans each year, per his company’s website. Each puppy was microchipped, according to law enforcement.
Investigators believe the missing pups may have been “sold through social media sites or by other means” since Aug. 20.
Paul Peavey.
Elite European Dobermans
In a Facebook post earlier this week, the sheriff’s office appealed to the public for help in the case, urging “anyone who purchased a Doberman puppy in the central Colorado area within the last week” to “check the puppy for a microchip” and contact the sheriff’s office.
Additionally, law enforcement asks anyone who bought a puppy through Peavey’s Elite European Dobermans since June to contact the sheriff’s office – whether “you received the puppy that was purchased or if you did not receive the puppy” – in an effort to determine the exact number of missing dogs.
On his website, Peavey – the proud owner of an American Doberman and “mutt rescues” — described himself as a “dog lover” from the age of 10 who had been “committed to training dogs at a young age.”
In addition to breeding, he walked local rescue dogs and organized visits with his dogs to senior homes and senior rehabilitation centers.
Noting the toll his death was taking on the community, the sheriff’s office advised this week that on Aug. 29 counselors from the Jefferson Center for Mental Health Mountain Services Team were available to “community members who have been impacted by the death of Paul Peavey.”
