Murder suspect Cortemius M. Peoples entered a not guilty plea Thursday in court. Peoples, 42, is currently being held in custody at the Daviess County Detention Center on charges related to the June 8 shooting and homicide of Owensboro resident Nick Decker.
Decker, 25, was shot in the chest on June 8. Court documents state that the Owensboro Police Department responded shooting in the 1500 block of West Ninth Street and found Decker in the entryway with a single gunshot wound. Decker was pronounced dead at the scene.
Prior to the shooting, cash and marijuana had been stolen from the residence. The victim had installed security cameras that monitored the outside of the home and inside a stairwell within the residence.
Detectives uncovered security footage that showed two males breaking into the home — one was wearing a mask, and the other a hooded sweatshirt. Peoples is believed to have been one of those individuals.
Decker’s brother told police that his brother’s safe had been moved during the burglary. Inside the safe, which was logged into evidence at OPD, investigators uncovered $1,050.04, several comic books and miscellaneous documents.
“Affiant states that the safe was moved during the incident according to the victim’s brother, which is indicative that the suspects tried to make entry into the safe,” the report states.
The case was waived to the grand jury, and Peoples has been charged with murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and persistent felony offender.
OPD believes Peoples and Decker knew of each other before the shooting. While OPD is still searching for the second individual shown in the surveillance videos, they have reason to believe Peoples was the primary shooter.
Peoples will be back in court on October 16 for a pretrial conference.
