Brevard killer linked to slaying by DNA gets life for 1988 attack
Nearly 27 years ago, construction workers paving a street west of Melbourne found a woman’s body.
The victim, later identified as 22-year-old Ramona Lee Moore of Melbourne, was in a rain-filled depression when workers found her naked and beaten body that morning while paving a northern extension of Washingtonia Drive.
It was July 14, 1988. Her killer was just sentenced this week.
Robert Edward Peek, 49, of Melbourne was ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison on Monday for killing Moore.
DNA evidence from a cigarette butt found near the crime scene linked Peek to the murder, Major Tod Goodyear said Thursday.
After initially denying he knew Moore, Peek later confessed, saying he was angry because Moore, a prostitute, tried to rip him off after they drove to a then-remote area for sex, Goodyear said.
The cause of death was drown- ing — she was found face-down in water — but she suffered other injuries, including being impaled by two survey stakes.
Circuit Court Judge James H. Earp sentenced Peek after the defendant withdrew his not-guilty plea in the case and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and sexual battery, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said on Facebook.
Detectives got a break in the case when investigators in 2011 matched DNA from the scene of the killing to Peek, investigators said.
Homicide agents then re-interviewed Peek, who has been de- tained at the Brevard County Jail since his arrest on Jan. 16, 2012, in two unrelated cases involving trafficking of stolen property.
“As a direct result of the interview, coupled with the DNA findings, an arrest warrant was obtained and Peek was charged with the murder of Ramona Moore,” Ivey said.
He praised Agent Joe Martin, the agency’s homicide and crimescene units and the State Attorney’s Office for “bringing closure to this senseless crime.”