Man held in woman’s slaying
Ex-convict says other man shot single mom in late-night assault.
WEST PALM BEACH — Jonathan Peden had been arrested Oct. 6 on an unrelated trespassing charge when he told city police he had information on the 2014 slaying of Holly Richardson.
That information led to his own arrest in the case Sunday evening, one year and two days after the 34-year-old single mother was fatally shot near Good Samaritan Medical Center.
Peden, 30, of West Palm Beach, is being held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail on a charge of murder while engaged in a felony offense. His arrest in the Oct. 23, 2014, slaying brought some measure of closure to Richardson’s family, who marked the one-year anniversary of Holly’s death by lighting candles in her memory.
“I’m relieved,” Robyn Richardson said from her home in Bakersfield, Calif. “I know it’s not over. ... What I really feel is it is the beginning of the end for some closure for all of Holly’s family and friends and (her daughter).
“I’m just so happy that police got this guy. Hopefully, he talks more.”
Peden, who appeared before a judge for the first time on the charge Monday, told police he was not the gunman but had given another man a Glock 19 handgun that Peden said he had stolen from a house in Port St. Lucie the night before, according to a probable-cause affidavit made public Monday.
Peden, the unidentified gunman and two other men had encountered Richardson at the BP gas station at Dixie Highway and Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, the affidavit said.
Richardson, who worked nearby as a surgical technician at the Center for GI Endoscopy, apparently had stopped at the gas station on her way home from the clinic.
Peden told police that he was under the impression that Richardson wanted to buy drugs, according to the affidavit. He said he got into her vehicle to complete the transaction, but fled when he thought she was a police officer and then left the scene when a city police car drove by.
Richardson apparently turned south down Madeira Court and drove to its intersection with Read the latest Palm Beach County crime news at the Lights and Sirens blog. 11th Street, one block from her home, where the gunman tried to grab her purse from inside her blue four-door Kia, Peden told detectives.
Peden heard shots coming from the confrontation and ran, the report states. He told police he took the gun back from the gunman and sold it for $150 a few days later, detectives say.
Peden faces one charge of murder. Under Florida law, a suspect can be charged with murder if he was an accomplice in committing a first-degree felony — such as robbery — when someone is killed.
Police haven’t made any other arrests in connection to the shooting. They are continuing to investigate the slaying, said Sgt. Dave Lefont, city police spokesman.
Peden was released from prison in August 2013 after serving seven years for grand theft and fleeing and eluding police, court records show.