On July 26, Major Crimes Detective David Chamblee was sent to the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail, which runs through Arnold Park near Northeast Arnold and St. James roads. A man’s body had been found in the park lying next to a log. He appeared to have been deceased for “an extended period of time,” the affidavit said. It appeared personal items had been removed from his clothing and his pants pockets had been turned out.
The body was taken to the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office, which identified the body as Cody O’Brien and determined that he died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Projectiles recovered from his body matched bullets that were in a firearm reportedly stolen by O’Brien, the probable cause affidavit said. His death was ruled a homicide.
O’Brien, a Battle Ground native, had been visiting his girlfriend in Gresham, Ore. The Gresham Police Department reported him as a missing endangered/suicidal person. The police report also said that O’Brien reportedly stole a firearm.
When O’Brien stopped using his phone July 17, his mother Darla O’Brien, 51, began going through his phone records and called a number that had recently texted him. Peek answered and told her that he was with her son on the night of July 17. He said they had met at a park and “smoked a bowl.” Then, he said, they got into an altercation after an argument. Peek claimed that O’Brien wanted to find a drug dealer to steal money from and that he was looking for “white stuff,” the affidavit said.
Darla O’Brien believed that the white stuff referred to methamphetamine, but she told Chamblee that her son had been clean for a few years. She said he used marijuana for back pain and had hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid on the brain, that would make him not reasonably able to be part of a fight, the affidavit said.
According to court records, Peek had visited mutual acquaintance Josh Guthrie at his house and they also texted. Guthrie told Chamblee that Peek was planning on killing O’Brien and taking his car. Peek left to meet the victim somewhere July 17 between 12:30 and 1 p.m., returning an hour later with an injury to his left eye and right knuckle. Guthrie said Peek admitted to punching O’Brien and pushing him to the ground, the affidavit said. He claimed to have taken an expandable baton from O’Brien during the fight.
The Vancouver Police Department served a search warrant for Peek’s cellphone records. Records showed that between 11:53 a.m. and 1:32 p.m. July 17, Peek’s phone was in the area of a cell tower near where O’Brien was discovered July 26.
An unnamed witness told Vancouver police detectives that Peek had talked about wanting to get “revenge” on people for allegedly jumping him. “Peek actively searched for these subjects and said he was trying to get to one of them by pretending to sell him fake drugs,” the probable cause affidavit said.
He also told the unnamed witness that one of those people was now a missing person and that he later viewed this person’s body in a wooded area. “He added that this dead subject had ‘bullet holes’ in him and he was ‘bleeding out,’” the affidavit said. Peek told the witness that the missing person’s mother had called him to ask about her missing son.
After Peek was arrested he told police that he was with O’Brien in his car and that they had “words” because O’Brien wanted to commit a robbery. Peek then asked for an attorney.
According to court records, Peek has felony convictions for a 2010 residential burglary and theft of a motor vehicle and 2008 residential burglary.
Additional arrests are possible, police said.
In an interview, Darla O’Brien described her son as someone who loved riding motorcycles, being outdoors and doing jobs riding forklifts. He was a huge fan of WWE Wrestling and attended events in Portland with his grandpa.
He just wanted to have friends and fit in, she said, and was trusting of people. Cody O’Brien had some developmental disabilities.
“He didn’t deserve this,” she said. “He was a good person with a big heart and would help people.”
Cody O’Brien went missing on his 25th birthday.
Peek’s older brother, Joseph Peek, 31, went to his first appearance Friday morning. He said after the proceedings that he hasn’t talked to William Peek for three years, but recently saw him near a grocery store on St. Johns Boulevard a couple of weeks ago.
“I don’t know what to think because I’ve got a lot of emotions,” Joseph Peek said. “I was completely surprised, taken aback.”
He said his brother had drug issues and has been homeless for a while. Joseph Peek paused his interview with media as he watched his brother be escorted out of the courthouse in shackles with other jail inmates.
“If he’s responsible,” Joseph Peek said, “hold him accountable.”
But, if William Peek is innocent, he advises him: “fight for your life.”
Reporter Jessica Prokop contributed to this story.
