Viswa Vanapalli
In October 2005, a distraught John Peek called the authorities regarding his wife being dead. What the police then uncovered was a similar case from nine years prior where the victim was John’s partner. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Calls From the Inside: Murder Strikes Twice’ chronicles how Kasi’s murder was solved along with a double homicide from the past, thanks to witness statements from prison inmates. So, let’s find out more about this case then, shall we?
How Did Kasi Peek Die?
Kasi Alane Peek was a Dallas, Texas, native and lived in Smyrna, Georgia, at the time of the incident. She worked as a computer programmer at a healthcare company and resided in a condo. The 44-year-old was a divorcee when she met John Peek in 1999 at a party. The couple married in May 2000. However, they had been estranged as per the show, with Kasi living by herself elsewhere.
On October 2, 2005, John called 911 from outside Kasi’s house to report that she was dead. The authorities entered the home to find her lying on her side in the bed. Kasi had been shot in the back with a .30-caliber rifle. While no items of value were missing from the house, it seemed there was an attempt to stage a burglary. There were no signs of forced entry, but the kitchen drawers and cupboards were all open.
Who Killed Kasi Peek?
The authorities talked to John Peek and learned that the relationship hadn’t been going well. According to the show, Kasi once caught John cheating on her and moved out of their house about eight months before the murder. John told the police they were trying to work on their relationship at the time. However, he had also been living with another woman, Liza. John pointed the finger at her, saying she had a rifle, but the authorities quickly ruled her out.
It later came to the fore that John was also the prime suspect in a double murder case in July 1996. His common-law wife, 46-year-old Carol Marlin, and her friend, 64-year-old Margaret Ginn, were found murdered at a home in Cobb County, Georgia. Back then, George had called the police and said Carol failed to return home after dinner with a friend. The authorities found the women beaten to death inside the house.
As per the show, just like with Kasi’s crime scene, the killer staged a burglary inside. While John was the prime suspect in that case, no arrests were ever made. About nine years later, in October 2005, the police took John into custody. They believed that he would financially profit from his partner’s death in both cases. Once inside, the evidence against John was built up through inmate statements and by listening to prison phone calls.
It was stated on the show that one inmate, Gerry Edwards, came to the police claiming that a man named Steve Edge confessed to killing Carol and Margaret in 1996. When Steve was questioned, he vehemently denied the claim. The authorities then learned that Gerry had been locked up with John. Soon, other inmates came forward and said John would pay them or their family in exchange for them planting evidence around Kasi’s crime scene or mailing things to the press and the attorneys.
Where is John Peek Now?
John faced three counts of murder, and before a trial, he was also charged with interfering with witnesses. In exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table, John pleaded guilty to killing Carol, Margaret, and Kasi. In April 2007, then 54 years old, John was handed down three life sentences without the possibility of parole to be served concurrently. Prison records indicate that he remains incarcerated at the Wilcox State Prison in Abbeville, Georgia.
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