According to authorities and local news reports, a former Los Angeles police officer died by an apparent suicide in jail a few days after being charged with murder. The incident involved the fatal shooting of her boyfriend at their home in western Arizona.
The deceased, Julia Peat, aged 60, was discovered unresponsive in her cell at Mohave County Jail in Kingman, Arizona, around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Despite attempts by jail officials to revive her, their efforts were unsuccessful.
Peat had been held on first-degree murder charges in connection with the killing of her boyfriend, Mark Corbett.
The shooting occurred on Thursday in Lake Havasu City, a community situated near the Arizona-California state line. Corbett, 69 years old, was declared dead at the scene after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds.
According to the News-Herald, Peat had claimed that she feared for her life as she had learned about past crimes committed by Corbett. However, investigators determined that Corbett had not posed a threat or caused harm to Peat before the shooting.
On Tuesday, an LAPD spokeswoman confirmed that Peat had retired from the department in 2017 and had most recently served in the Harbor Division.
In a statement, Chief Michel Moore expressed the Los Angeles Police Department’s awareness of the alleged murder committed by retired Officer Julia Peat and extended condolences to the victim’s family. It was reported that Peat died by suicide while in custody.
As of Tuesday, the Lake Havasu City police stated that they were unable to release the incident report as they were still in the process of redacting it.
