DAYTON — After 17 years there has been a new development in the cold case murder of a Dayton mother and business owner.
Jeffrey Young is being held on suspicion of murder and felenious assault, according to online court records.
Investigators confirmed to News Center 7′s Cheryl McHenry the charges were in connection to the death of Patricia Peck, his mother.
News Center 7 previously highlighted Peck’s case in Miami Valley Murder Mysteries in 2023.
Peck was last seen alive in February 2007.
“I had seen her on the Friday night before she went missing just for a few minutes. She told me she had plans with her son,” Ron Rohling, a close friend of Peck told McHenry during Miami Valley Murder Mysteries in 2023.
He knew immediately something was wrong when he learned Peck didn’t show up for work the next day.
>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Miami Valley Murder Mysteries: Who killed Patricia Peck?
Nearly two weeks later, on March 8, 2007, someone spotted Peck’s car in a parking lot at Dayton International Airport.
“Parked legally in a transient lot. Nobody paid it any attention.” Retired Dayton Police Homicide Detective Doyle Burke told McHenry during Miami Valley Murder Mysteries.
Inside the car was her body, covered with blankets and a towel, and stuffed on the rear seat floor.
Burke said, “She was strangled and blunt force trauma to the head, so she was beaten and strangled.” He is now working with the Cold Case Unit to take a fresh look at her murder and said he believes it was a crime of passion.
“She was 62 years old; she’s not going to put up that much of a fight, especially if she’s caught off-guard, strangled,” Burke said.
The most intriguing clue that was found was an imitation rose wrapped in plastic that was found on top of Peck’s body.
“In my mind, that had to be laid there by her assailant,” Burke said.
Investigators told News Center 7 during the Miami Valley Murder Mystery that they found DNA evidence that could help lead them to Peck’s killer.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.