Often times, I get curious about the worst cases detective have ever worked. Especially because someday I could have one of them. I wonder about the toll it takes. This case perfectly shows the weight put on homicide detectives, who are tasked with finding the truth in death.
“The man I was before this job, and the man I am now are two completely different people.This job will tear you apart.”
Eddie Herman
Detective Eddie Herman was working a late shift when a missing person’s report made it’s way to his desk. Typically these reports are not immediately investigated. A husband hadn’t seen his wife for four hours, Detective Herman believed this would be a quick solve. It was anything but.
Detective Herman went to talk to the husband of Carol Marlin, who said she had received a threatening letter at work. Mr. Marlin had last known Carol to be with a friend by the name of Maggie Ginn. Herman got basic questions and answers. ‘Are there marital problems? No, we’re happy. Do you know where Maggie lives? No. Do you have a way to contact Maggie? A phone number was given. What car does your wife drive? Blue Buick Regal.’
Herman called Maggie’s number twice with no answer. A search for the car, nothing found. Called local hospitals, hotels, and jails, with ultimately the same results. Nothing. Herman got an address for the residence of Maggie Ginn.
“I remember, to this day, turning onto that street and there was Carol’s car. Down in my gut, I knew this is not good. Whatever it was, it was bad.”
Herman, alone, peered into the vehicle. He saw what he suspected to be Carol’s purse, and phone sitting in the passenger seat. He proceeded to knock at the front door of the residence. Nothing. He scanned the inside of the house from a window by the front door. He recalled a feeling he couldn’t ignore. He forced entry into the house. He found the body of Maggie in the kitchen. he continued upstairs to find the body of Carol in a bedroom.
My life is surrounded by death. But being first on the scene? You never get used to that.
Herman called backup once he had vacated the house. This missing persons case had turned into a double homicide case. The investigation began in a chaotic flurry of teams. Forensic teams determined that there was no forced entry. The car was being photographed finger printed, officers taped off the scene from the public. Herman went back to the bodies.
It’s chilling to think about now, but looking at them, it hurt. They were comfortable with whoever did this to them. They knew who killed them.
He began with the body of Carol, who was sprawled out on a bed, with a vice grip on a piece of paper that looked to be a invoice document. Carefully extracting the piece, Detective Herman knew there was a reason that her last living act was to try and save it. On the piece of paper was name, Barry Webb. While investigating the scene Carol’s husband, John Peek, came to Maggie’s residence hysterical. Herman noted that John must have lied about not knowing where Maggie lived.
Some people are emotional. But with Peek, something about it made me sick.
Peek was brought in for interrogation. Peek claimed that a man, Barry Webb, had issues with the marriage of Peek and Carol. Webb supposedly believed that Peek was having an affair. Then the Carol received the letter. Herman recalls the interrogation being confusing and hard to keep straight. He told Peek he wanted to see the threatening letter. Peek evaded.
We have two dead bodies. No witnesses. No murder weapon. No finger prints. Nothing.
A need to find anything took a foothold in the heart of Herman, he went back to the scene to completely re look at what could’ve happened. The team splayed out to search for murder weapon. Something that could have been used to bludgeon the women. A pipe was found roughly three miles away from the house. The possible weapon was sent to forensics to be tested for blood traces. It came back completely clean.
While Herman was at the office looking at all the paperwork a woman (whose name is changed for privacy), Linda, came in to talk about Barry Webb. She said he couldn’t have hurt the women, but he did hate John Peek. The woman showed Detective Herman texts from John Peek who routinely asked Linda out despite being told no. Linda claimed that Barry attempted to get John Peek to leave her alone.
Barry Webb was next for interrogation. Herman placed the bloody fragment of an invoice that Carol once held in front of Barry. Barry claimed the signature was not his own, not in his handwriting. He was honest with the tension between Peek, Linda, and himself. Webb claimed that John Peek broke into his house. Webb saw John escape from the house carrying a black bag.
Something for Herman clicked. He got his partner (not named) and went to John Peek’s house. He drove the ten miles from Peek’s residence to Maggie’s. They crossed along bridge, Herman remembered looking at his partner and saying “a good place to hide a murder weapon?”
On the drive, Herman stopped at the workplace of John Peek, Carol Marlin, and Barry Webb. Herman wanted the letter had had been waiting for. He went to the security office where he discovered Carol Marlin did not report the letter. John Peek was the one who had reported it. He left with a copy of the letter.
Herman kept track of all the lies John Peek had been racking up. He needed something to connect him to the murder of Carol and Maggie. In his digging, he found that John and Carol had changed life insurance policies two days before he disappearance. At this point, he knew who killed the women.
Herman truly believed he could get a confession out of John Peek. A risky move that many detective do not take. The interrogation went south fast. John began with an emotional approach, sobbing and shaking. Suddenly and immediately he went deadpan, and asked if he was being charged. Herman knew he took the wrong chance.
I felt like I had failed. I couldn’t handle that feeling.
A few weeks had passed, when John Peek’s father filed a missing person report. John Peek had written a suicide note and disappeared. Herman knew that John Peek was not going to kill himself. That this was his attempt at hiding the weapon. A 48 hour search went on looking for John. They didn’t find anything or himself. A lawyer showed up at the office with John Peek behind him. The detectives couldn’t speak to John without his lawyer now.
I screwed up. I thought because of me, that he was going to get away with murder. My anger grew. I couldn’t stop being angry.
Life went on. Herman carried that anger. The case remained open, but it slowed. Then, something had caught Herman’s attention. Peek remarried.
At every account I have found of this case, there is something that every reporter, writer, anyone had emphasized. The absolute pain on Herman’s face when he talked about discovering that John Peek’s new wife was found dead. The pain on Herman’s face was crippling, his eyes get glassy when recounting it.
When Herman went to the scene, he openly cried over the body of John Peek’s second wife. Then the anger Herman had rose.
Kasi Peek was shot in the back twice. No murder weapon. All they had was circumstantial evidence, the detectives needed just one piece of physical evidence. The team compiled all the circumstantial evidence in an effort to secure a search warrant. It worked.
In the end, he (Peek) got to where he needed to be. Unfortunately there was one more victim and that weighs on me.
John Peek was convicted on all three counts of murder, and is currently serving 94 years without possibility of parole.
Sources: Real Detective (Season 1 Episode 1) Podcast: Murders in the Suburbs
Musing Murder Mysteries 