Clear Creek County man sentenced to decades in prison for murder of award-winning dog breeder

CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – A Clear Creek County man will spend decades behind bars after pleading guilty to killing a champion dog breeder in Colorado back in 2024.

According to our Denver news partners at 9News, Sergio Ferrer was sentenced to 55 years in prison on Monday afternoon for second-degree murder and aggravated robbery, charges he pleaded guilty to back in December.

Police allege he killed 57-year-old Paul Peavey and stole several Doberman puppies that he had bred in August of 2024. Ferrer also faced charges for first-degree murder, tampering with a dead body, burglary and theft, but those charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

Peavey, who bred and sold Doberman pinschers, was reported missing on Aug. 19. Days later, his body was found buried in a shallow grave by a search party of community volunteers. A coroner ruled Peavey's death a homicide, with his cause of death being a gunshot wound.

According to CNN, Ferrer was arrested just four hours after Peavey's body was found on an unrelated charge from Nebraska; at the time, he was considered a person of interest in Peavey's death.

Peavey had recently bred a litter of 10 puppies, who became a key part of his case after they went missing from his Clear Creek County property. According to 9News, a search of Ferrer's phone by investigators showed numerous attempts to sell those puppies on social media.

One of the puppies was located after it was brought to a veterinarian, who identified its microchip as matching one of Peavey's puppies. The woman who had purchased the dog told police she had paid for the dog via CashApp to a seller named "Ferrer Ferrer."

Only two of the ten missing puppies were ever located, according to a statement from the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office in 2024.

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