JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Timothy Peeples has been sentenced to 30 years on charges of manslaughter, tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the death of John Moss.
Moss was found dead, naked and wrapped in plastic and yellow tape, in the Buffalo Creek in Brantley County, Georgia in Nov. 2023. Police say Peeples killed him at a home in Jacksonville and moved the body.
Peeples was charged with manslaughter, not murder, which means that he killed Moss through negligence. Police reports from his arrest show that Moss was last seen by witnesses after a fight with Peeples. Moss was bleeding from his head.
Peeples' arrest report showed a witness told police the narrative of the night of the fight, which happened at Moss's son's birthday party on Oct. 31, 2022. The witness had two children with Moss, but they were not together.
The witness said Moss was drunk that night, and she overheard him say "I'm going to cut my baby mama's" -- the witness's -- "head off." She didn't call the police because she thought it was empty threat, but she told police it angered Peeples.
That's when Moss and Peeples got into a fight and she saw Moss bloody. Police reports were unclear on what happened after this, but Peeples removed the body at some point and it would later turn up in Georgia.
The witness told police that Peeples kept saying he "felt the victim's spirit was still in the home," going so far as to relocate her and her children to Orlando for days.
When they returned to Jacksonville, she went to police and told them what had happened.
It took police until June 2023 to gather enough evidence to arrest Peeples.
