South Dakota beheading case to see trial Tuesday; suspect points finger elsewhere

WATERTOWN, S.D. — A Watertown, South Dakota, man is set to stand trial this week in the 2020 death of 28-year-old Kendra Owen, despite his claim that another individual is ultimately responsible.

Jeremiah Peacemaker, 44, of Watertown, is charged in Codington County with first- and second-degree murder. His trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Feb. 20.

The charges stem from the evening hours of Sept. 2, 2020, when police in Watertown were called to an apartment in the 300 block of North Broadway Street to conduct a welfare check. Inside, they located Owen’s body, noting she appeared to have been dead for several days.

Though many details regarding the crime scene remain unclear — as a probable cause statement prepared by investigators sits under seal — Attorney General Marty Jackley confirmed to Sioux Falls Live this month that Owen’s body had been decapitated.

It took police less than 24 hours from the discovery of Owen’s body to arrest Peacemaker.

Investigators have

publicly acknowledged

that Peacemaker and Owen were “recent acquaintances,” but were not a couple. Court documents indicate Peacemaker admitted to being present in Owen’s apartment before her death.

Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement took DNA samples from both Peacemaker and Owen to be tested at the South Dakota Forensic Laboratory in Pierre, alongside multiple other pieces of evidence recovered from the scene.

According to court documents, lab results found the presence of blood on multiple items, including a towel taken from Peacemaker’s apartment. DNA analysis from the towel, however, did not match a sample taken from Owen’s body.

Two cigarette butts were also tested for DNA. One was found to have multiple DNA profiles — and could not be narrowed down to whom the DNA belonged — while the other was found to contain none of Peacemaker’s DNA.

One of the cigarette butts was compared to DNA of one of Owen’s former roommates, but court documents say it was not a match.

In Owen’s car, investigators located a pair of women’s panties “encrusted” in semen. Forensic analysis found that the semen did not match Peacemaker’s DNA profile.

Hundreds of pages of public documents reviewed by Sioux Falls Live do not make mention of whether any sort of weapon was recovered or whether it was tested for fingerprints or DNA.

An alleged lack of DNA evidence against Peacemaker has resulted in his attorney’s argument that a third party, whose identity is unclear, may be responsible for Owen’s death.

Court documents indicate the defense plans to introduce evidence that two of Owen’s former roommates could have committed the crime, making specific reference to the cigarette butts located by investigators.

Neither former roommate has been charged in connection with Owen’s death.

Tuesday’s trial is scheduled to last as long as March 8, unless a verdict is reached sooner. According to court records, more than 60 civilians, law enforcement officers and experts have been subpoenaed in the case.

If convicted of either first- or second-degree murder,

South Dakota law mandates

life in prison as a minimum punishment. Prosecutors have declined to pursue the death penalty.

Outside of the murder charge, Peacemaker is also facing three counts of simple assault across three separate criminal cases. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in a county jail.

A South Dakota native, Hunter joined Forum Communications as a reporter for the Mitchell (S.D.) Republic in June 2021 and now works as a digital reporter for Sioux Falls Live, with a primary focus on crime in Sioux Falls and government in Lincoln County.