A transient man who’s accused of fatally shooting an acquaintance in July 2017 in Vancouver’s Arnold Park pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder.
William D. Peek, 29, also pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to a firearm enhancement, which will add five years to his sentence. The prosecution and defense are jointly recommending he serve a total of 305 months, or about 25 years, in prison. Peek will be sentenced June 24.
Peek originally faced first-degree murder in the death of Battle Ground’s Cody O’Brien.
O’Brien, whose mother said he had hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid on the brain, went missing July 17, 2017, on his 25th birthday. He had been visiting his girlfriend in Gresham, Ore., before he was reported missing to the Gresham Police Department.
His body was discovered July 26, 2017, in Arnold Park. It appeared he had been dead for “an extended period of time,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.
The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office determined O’Brien died from a gunshot wound to the chest and ruled his death a homicide. Projectiles recovered from his body matched bullets that were in a firearm reportedly stolen by O’Brien, the affidavit says.
After O’Brien had stopped using his cellphone, his mother, Darla O’Brien, went through his phone records and called a number that had recently sent him a text. Peek answered and told her he met with her son on the night of July 17 at a Vancouver park. He said they got into an altercation, because Cody O’Brien wanted to find a drug dealer to rob, according to the affidavit.
Josh Guthrie, a mutual acquaintance of the two men, told investigators that Peek said he was planning on killing O’Brien and taking his car. Peek left to meet with O’Brien and returned about an hour later with an injury to his left eye and right knuckle, Guthrie said. Peek admitted to punching O’Brien, Guthrie said, and pushing him to the ground, court records state.
An unnamed witness also told investigators that Peek had talked about getting “revenge” on people whom he said had jumped him. Peek told the witness that one of those people was now missing and he later saw the person’s body in a wooded area. The “dead subject had ‘bullet holes’ in him, and he was ‘bleeding out,'” the affidavit says.
Peek was arrested about a week after O’Brien’s body was found.
