A murder that just won’t go away

On Nov. 11, 1996, someone shot Alton Peek near Boxelder, Texas, in southeast Red River County. Peek, 34, was found lying facedown near a barn, where he had been feeding cattle. By the time EMTs and sheriff’s deputies arrived, people had tromped all over the site, wiping out any footprints or other evidence.

At first, people said, “He must have had a heart attack.” Then somebody turned over the body and saw the bullet hole in Peek’s chest.

Peek was a county commissioner, popular as a hardworking man, honest. People said he didn’t have any enemies. A former Red River County judge, though, said, “He had at least one.”

Just about every elected official in the county was mentioned as a suspect or accomplice in killing Peek. Red River County is that way. Nothing is allowed to be simple. Every act is brought about by conspiracy or double dealing. The county’s motto should be “Suspect everybody.”

Frankly, the sheriff’s department was not capable, through expertise or personality, of conducting a thorough investigation. Investigators did, however, understand the concept of “Look at the simple answer first.”

The simple answer was a man named James Humphries was rumored to be in an affair with Peek’s wife, Michelle. Investigators questioned Humphries, but could not get any hard evidence. In December 1996, Humphries killed himself, in what some residents said were “suspicious circumstances.” To conspiracists, though, everything in the murder and investigation was suspicious.

Everybody had an opinion on who did what, or two opinions … Not an unusual circumstance in the county.

Opinion 1 was Peek’s widow hinted to Humphries of a possible marriage if her husband was out of the way. Holders of that opinion said Humphries did the killing, but then killed himself when the widow backed out, or because the law was closing in.

Opinion 2 held the killing a conspiracy of other county commissioners, the county judge, the sheriff, the county constable and persons unnamed. Holders of that opinion said Peek planned to blow the whistle on illegal dealings by other elected officials.

No one was arrested in the case until 2008, when a county grand jury returned a conspiracy indictment against Peek’s widow, Michelle. After 12 years, someone would face a jury.

Or maybe not.

On Nov. 29, 2012, Bill Hankins of The Paris News reported, “A 16-year-old murder case will finally reach trial in February 2013 in Red River County.

“Red River County Commissioner Alton Peek was found shot to death Nov. 11, 1996, on a farm in the Boxelder community southwest (sic) of Clarksville. He had been feeding livestock when he was shot.”

The trial was scheduled for Feb. 19. But The Clarksville Times reported on Feb. 13: “At press time, the jury trial of Andrea Michelle Boswell McClure for murder of her former husband and former Red River County Commissioner Al Peek is still on the docket for the 102nd Judicial District Court, February 19th, with the venue of this trial moved to Bowie County.

“However, Tuesday, the district’s clerk’s office reported that a motion to dismiss had been filed by the prosecution. A judge could dismiss the trial before the court date.”

http://www.clarksvillenews.net/articles/2013/02/15/news/doc511b9f45de481225714775.txt