A Marion County man is behind bars with no bond facing a capital murder charge for allegedly fatally stabbing his father last week.
Samuel Dathan Peak, 32, of Morgantown had a history of alleged violence against Jimmy Peak, 57, also of Morgantown. Jimmy Peak signed an affidavit in July 2019 stating his son caused bodily injury to him by striking him with a fist numerous times in the face and threatening to kill him.
Then at 9:50 p.m. May 28, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call at 156 Carroll Loop and found Jimmy Peak’s body inside his bedroom. Peak had an apparent stab wound to the chest, according a criminal affidavit filed in Marion County Justice Court.
Deputies saw Dathan Peak's vehicle and attempted to catch him. A manhunt in the Carroll Loop area included assistance from the K-9 unit from the B.B. Rayburn Correctional Center in Angie, La., and Peak was arrested without incident. The K-9 unit arrived at 12:17 a.m. Friday, and Peak was taken into custody at 12:22 a.m., according to a news release by Sheriff Berkley Hall.
Dathan Peak is being charged with capital murder, which requires committing another felony at the time of the alleged murder. The charge carries a potential penalty of life with eligibility for parole, life without the possibility of parole or death.
The affidavit said Tommie Peak, who is Dathan Peak's mother and Jimmy Peak's wife, heard a noise in her bedroom and went to investigate. Walking out of the bedroom was her son, Dathan, and she followed him outside the house to talk to him, the affidavit said. She then went to the bedroom, where she found her husband lying on the floor with what appeared to blood all around him and was unresponsive, the affidavit said.
Tommie Peak declined to comment when reached at her home Monday.
Dathan Peak had several previous arrests. In December 2019, he was charged with aggravated assault (manifesting extreme indifference to human life) after allegedly throwing a knife at Randell Baker. Baker, a firefighter for the Morgantown Fire Department, found Peak inside the station. When Baker advised Peak to sit down while he called law enforcement, Peak threw a knife at him and ran, according to a criminal affidavit filed in Justice Court.
Peak has also been previously arrested for DUI - first offense (under the influence of any substance that will impair) in 2017 and grand larceny in 2018.
Justice Court Judge Brandon Rowell denied bond for Peak on the capital murder charge during an initial appearance Friday, and Peak remains in the Marion County Correctional Facility. A preliminary hearing is set for June 11 in Justice Court.
The Marion County Sheriff's Office is investigating the case with help from the 15th Judicial District Attorney's Office, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Marion County coroner, according to the news release.
