This interactive map and timeline pinpoints key locations and dates in the Melissa Peacock and Ben Hare murder cases. On Wednesday, July 4, brothers Dustan Joseph Preeper and Joshua Michael Preeper were charged with the first-degree murder of 20-year-old Peacock. Police also charged Dustan Preeper with second-degree murder in connection with 26-year-old Hare’s 2010 death.
Timeline of Melissa Dawn Peacock and Ben Hare murders
October 9, 2012 – Dustan Joseph Preeper and Joshua Michael Preeper appear in Truro provincial court. The date for their preliminary hearing is set for December 2, 2013.
September 7, 2012 – Next court appearance for Dustan Joseph Preeper and Joshua Michael Preeper.
August 1, 2012 – Joshua Michael Preeper makes a brief court appearance in Truro. The 20-year-old’s lawyer, Brian Bailey asks for an adjournment. He’ll return to court on Sept. 7, along with his brother Dustan Joseph Preeper.
July 19, 2012 – Funeral for Melissa Dawn Peacock held in Cole Harbour.
July 12, 2012 – Court appearance for Barbara “Barby” Elizabeth Marshall
July 5, 2012 – The woman arrested outside Truro Provincial Court July 4 is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Ben Hare. 24-year-old Barbara “Barby” Elizabeth Marshall was apprehended about an hour before brothers Dustan Joseph Preeper and Joshua Michael Preeper were arraigned on first-degree murder charges, in the death of Melissa Dawn Peacock. Truro Police also charged 24-year-old Dustan Preeper with second-degree murder in the Hare case – a charge he faced in 2010, but the Crown withdrew the charges in September of that year due to insufficient evidence. Marshall is originally from Truro, but lives in Halifax.
July 4, 2012 – Brothers Dustan Joseph Preeper, 24, and Joshua Michael Preeper, 20, were charged with the first-degree murder of missing Dartmouth woman Melissa Dawn Peacock. Dustan Preeper also faces a second-degree murder charge in the 2010 death of Ben Hare, in Truro. Justice Minister Ross Landry credited a tip made to Nova Scotia’s Rewards for Major Unsolved Crimes program with leading investigators to the suspects. The Preeper brothers were arraigned in Truro Provincial Court. Joshua Michael Preeper has been remanded in police custody until August 1, while Dustan Joseph Preeper (pictured below) has been remanded until Sept. 7. Before the Preepers made their court appearances, Truro Police Service arrested a 24-year-old female outside Truro Provincial Court, in connection with the Ben Hare homicide investigation.
July 3, 2012 – Police find human remains on a property in Colchester County, N.S. That night officers make two arrests in Kennetcook and Halifax. Melissa Peacock’s parents are notified of the arrests.
May 18, 2012 – Nova Scotia’s Department of Justice adds the Melissa Peacock missing person case to its Rewards for Major Unsolved Crimes program, offering $150, 000 for information leading to the conviction. This was also the first time investigators said they believed Peacock had met with foul play.
February 9-11, 2012 – Three months after Melissa Peacock was reported missing, investigators begin searching a mobile home and property in Centre Rawdon, Hants County. Southwest RCMP Major Crime investigators were on the site, at 51 Douglas Rd., for several days. On Sunday, Feb. 11 forensic investigators removed items from the residence to be sent for analysis. The property was owned by Michael Verge, but police say the man had never lived there.
January 21, 2012 – Dustan Joseph Preeper is given a suspended sentence and 20 months probation after pleading guilty to assault. The Truro Daily News reported Preeper assaulted Cordell Paris in January 2011.
December 21, 2011 – As Christmas gets closer, Ruth Slaunewhite – Melissa Peacock’s mother – holds out hope her daughter will return. The 20-year-old has been missing from Dartmouth since Nov. 7. Slaunewhite speaks with Global News about her daughter’s disappearance, saying “We’re worried sick. The kids are worried sick. My daughter asked me yesterday how many days it was till Christmas. I told her 5 and she started crying and said it’s not enough days to find Melissa. It was heartbreaking.”
December 16, 2011 – Police release new information about the Peacock’s disappearance. Tracing her cellphone signal, investigators determined she headed north from the Sackville area, where she was last seen, on Highway 354.
November 28, 2011 – Melissa Peacock has not been seen for three weeks, but police say there is no indication she has met with foul play. Halifax Regional Police spokesperson Theresa Rath says, “We’re continuing to ask anyone with information on where she may be, who she’s with and ultimately that she’s safe to please contact police. We’re asking that people come to us with information that based on fact, because we have been dealing with quite a bit of information that’s built on speculation, So, we really would ask for some concrete details on where she might be.”
November 17, 2011 – Halifax Regional Police reach out to the public to help locate Melissa Dawn Peacock. Previously there had been conflicting information as to whether she was missing or had left on her own accord. Police say she had gone off on her own before, but family insisted she had never been gone for this length of time (10 days at this point). Police say there is no evidence to suggest Peacock had met with foul play and issue a news release asking “Melissa, or anyone with information on her whereabouts” to contact authorities or Crime Stoppers.
November 13, 2011 – Friends and loved ones begin a social media campaign to help locate Melissa Peacock, reaching out to media and putting up posters around Dartmouth and Halifax.
November 9, 2011 – Family report Melissa Peacock missing, saying she hasn’t been seen since two nights before.
November 8, 2011 – Peacock’s last known whereabouts are in the area of Gore, about 63 kilometres west of Halifax in Hants County.
November 7, 2011 – Melissa Dawn Peacock leaves her home in Dartmouth at about 7:30 p.m. At about 10:30 p.m., she sent her mother, Ruth Slaunehwite, a text message that raised concerns about her safety. The last place she was seen in the Lower Sackville-Beaver Bank area.
September 10, 2010 – Citing insufficient evidence, the Crown withdraws the second-degree murder charge against Dustan Preeper. He is released without conditions and police say the investigation into the death of Ben Hare will continue. Ben Hare’s family were upset with the decision to drop the charge and set Preeper free.
July 13, 2010 – Dustan Joseph Preeper appears in Truro Provincial Court to be arraigned on a charge of second-degree murder, after the Crown withdraws an earlier charge of manslaughter. The family and friends of murder victim Ben Hare faced-off with Preeper’s supporters outside the courtroom: The sheriff had to break-up the confrontation.
July 11, 2010 – Family and friends mourn the death of Ben Hare at a skate park in Truro.
July 8, 2010 – 26-year-old Benjamin Denim Hare was found dead outside an apartment building, at 67 Lyman Rd. in Truro. Police were called to the building after complaints from tenants of a brawl outside. Two others suffered injuries and seven people were arrested. Truro police charge 22-year-old Dustan Joseph Preeper, originally from Noel, with manslaughter. Preeper had been charged with assaulting Hare’s brother in October 2009, but was later acquitted.
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