BUSHNELL, Fla. — A search continued Tuesday for a 35-year-old Bushnell man who assaulted two 16-year-old girls, killing one of them, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said.
Tavares police asked deputies Sunday afternoon to conduct a well-being check on Aleaya Jackson at a home on South Pine Street near East Seminole Avenue in Bushnell, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Michelle Keszey said.
Deputies found Jackson's body in the home, Keszey said. Her cause of death hasn't been released.
His vehicle was found Tuesday afternoon in Ft. Pierce, investigators said. Two Sumter County deputies said they're heading there to investigate.
Peavy brought the girls to the home Saturday night for a party, deputies said. He drove the sexual assault victim to Tavares, where she called detectives, investigators said.
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Jackson's mother, Nycole Jackson, read text messages sent between Peavy and his other alleged victim.
"He told her she was not allowed to see Aleaya because Aleaya was unconscious, and he proceeded to take her home -- the other girl," she said. "I knew then in my heart that she wasn't coming home."
Nycole Jackson said that she trusted Peavy and that he was a family friend of seven years.
"We let him stay here. He stayed here months at a time sometimes," she said. "She called him Uncle Larry. They had a song together. They were just cool with each other."
Nycole Jackson said that she struggled to grasp that Peavy is accused of killing her daughter.
"Why my baby?" she said. "What in the hell did she do that made you do this to her? Why?"
Michael Lee Jenkins, Aleaya Jackson's father, said that he once worked with Peavy at Dura-Stress -- a Leesburg concrete manufacturer -- and that Peavy had recently made inappropriate sexual comments about his daughter.
"The devil just came and took something from me," Jenkins said. "I'm numb within, and it's only the Holy Spirit that's keeping me together."
Jenkins said that Peavy should surrender to deputies.
"I hope you realize you broke the hearts of a lot of people," Jenkins said. "It's just best that you go ahead and give yourself up, and go ahead and lay on down, man."
Deputies said that Peavy is armed and dangerous.
No other details were given.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 352-793-2621 or Crimeline at 800-423-8477.
Cox Media Group
