John Peek
John William Peek is an American serial killer responsible for the 1996 double murder of his first wife Carol Marlin and her friend Maggie Ginn, and the 2005 murder of his second wife Kasi Peek. He would marry women, take out six-figure life insurance policies on them and then kill them and claim the insurance money.
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Biography edit
On 13 June 1996, Peek's wife Carol Marlin, who Peek had recently taken out a $700, 000 life insurance policy on, went out with her friend Maggie Ginn. Four hours later Peek called the police and reported his wife missing. The next day, a police officer searching for Carol saw her car outside Maggie Ginn's house and found the dead bodies of both women inside. Both had been beaten to death. No fingerprints were found in the house and the only witness was a neighbor who had seen a man running across his lawn the previous day but had been unable to get a good look at him.
When interviewed, Peek blamed Barry Webb, a co-worker of his who had allegedly sent him and Carol death threats and whose signature was on a receiving memo in Maggie Ginn's hand. However, when Barry Webb was interviewed he denied it was his signature and told police that on 13 June he had caught Peek trying to break into his house. Police realized that Peek had lied to them several times throughout the investigation; he had denied knowing where Maggie Ginn's house was but was able to drive there without being told the location, he had claimed Carol reported the death threat allegedly sent by Barry Webb but his supervisor said he reported it and he had failed to mention the break-in at Barry Webb's. John Peek became the prime suspect in the murders but not enough evidence was found to charge him. The murder weapon was never found; Peek is thought to have thrown it in the river. It is also thought that Peek was breaking into Barry Webb's house so he could plant the murder weapon there, but was interrupted before he could do so.
Over the course of 9 years Peek married a second wife, Kasi Peek, and took out a $500,000 life insurance policy on her. On 2 October 2005, Peek called the police and reported that he had found Kasi dead in her bedroom. She had been shot in the back of the head with a shotgun. Police were able to link the crimes together because Peek had taken out a life insurance policy on both of his wives and were able to convince the District Attorney to grant an arrest warrant, hoping to convict Peek of all three murders based on circumstantial evidence. Ahead of his trial Peek was charged with witness tampering after attempting to bribe several people into giving him a false alibi. Ultimately Peek confessed and pleaded guilty to all three murders and received three life sentences.