Suspect in 2009 beating confirmed dead

7-2-2013 Oklahoma:

Remains found last year are wanted man’s

Muskogee County sheriff’s investigators have closed the case on a man wanted for the brutal beating of his grandfather.

Skeletal remains found in December proved to be those of the suspect in the case, Timothy Curtis Peterson (33) of Oktaha, Sheriff Charles Pearson said. When and how Peterson died has not been determined, he said.

Peterson’s skull and several bones were found in December in a wooded area near Quinton in Pittsburg County on private property, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

The remains were believed to have been there between two and five years. Peterson would be 34 if he were alive.

Peterson was wanted by the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Department for assault and by the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force for failing to register as a sex offender, Pearson said. A $2,500 reward had been offered for his arrest.

Muskogee County Sheriff’s Investigator Coletta Peyton was the lead investigator in the September 2009 beating.

Peterson was wanted for allegedly beating his grandfather, leaving him unconscious and stealing $2,000 from the 70-year-old man, according to court records.

When Peyton heard that Peterson had been confirmed dead, she looked through the case file, which includes photographs of the brutally beaten man.

“He had stitches and staples. And I believe his leg was in traction,” Peyton said. “He beat him with a stick or a pool stick until it broke, then he went and got a limb off of a tree and kept beating him until he was unconscious.”

A warrant was issued for Peterson’s arrest on Sept. 18, 2009, in the case. But he never appeared in court and was never seen by law enforcement again.

He was charged with:

• Assault and battery by means or force likely to produce death, after former conviction of a felony.

• Robbery by force or fear.

• Grand larceny in house or vessel.

• Unauthorized use of a vehicle.

Another warrant for Peterson’s arrest was issued in August 2012 for failure to register as a sex offender.

Peterson was required to register as a sex offender after he pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing a 7-year-old girl in 2000, according to court documents. ..Source.. by Wendy Burton Phoenix Staff Writer