Second arrest made in brutal Lacy Lakeview stabbing | KWKT

Lacy Lakeview, Texas (FOX44) – A second arrest has been made in connection with the violent stabbing death of a Lacy Lakeview man.

Staff at the McLennan County Jail confirmed that Joann Arey Cometsevah, 34, was transferred to their facility from California and booked Wednesday on a murder charge. An arrest affidavit said she was listed as a suspect in the April 24, 2023, stabbing death of David Ralph Peeler at the Village Square Apartments in the 3500 block of Meyers Lane in Lacy Lakeview. Cometsevah's sister, Leah Breuer, 37, was previously arrested and previously indicted by a McLennan County grand jury in the case. Breuer was scheduled to go to trial this summer in the case.

At approximately 4:14 p.m. on April 24, 2023, Lacy Lakeview Police were called to the Village Square Apartments in the 3500 block of Meyers Lane, where the victim was found lying on a deflated air mattress with what the affidavit detailed as “numerous stab wounds throughout.” his torso and the sides of his body. Large amounts of blood were also found on the bedroom walls and in the bathroom of the apartment.

It was noted that there was evidence of food prepared for multiple people and four different types of alcoholic beverages. A neighbor told detectives he heard people arguing earlier in the apartment.

The affidavit details how detectives followed up on a message found on a cell phone in the apartment. The Secret Service helped open the phone and track calls, which led to the identification of a suspect and a series of text messages indicating an argument between Breuer and the victim.

The affidavit also detailed the tracking of a vehicle stolen from the Breurs' adoptive mother in Oklahoma and later found abandoned in Waxahachie. Receipts from purchases in Durant, Oklahoma, were found in the vehicle and helped track Breuer and Cometsevah and identify them in store videos, one of them wearing clothing that was later found in the victim's apartment.

Detectives traced the emails and movements of Uber drivers ordered by the suspects, placing them near the victim's apartment. Nearly four pages of details about the suspect's hunt were presented in an affidavit to Justice of the Peace Pete Peterson as detectives sought an arrest warrant in the case describing both Breuer and the second woman investigators believed be Cometsevah.

Cometsevah's new arrest affidavit stated that during a later interview with Leah Breuer, she told detectives that her sister, Cometsevah, was the person responsible for stabbing the victim multiple times and that she had told him repeatedly asked to stop. The affidavit said she told detectives she only grabbed the knife once when it was stuck in the victim, accidentally twisting him.

Comestevah's affidavit included a statement from detectives saying there likely is sufficient reason to show Breuer did not act alone.

Breuer remained in the McLennan County Jail Thursday awaiting trial, with her bond still set at $500,000 after an unsuccessful attempt to have it reduced.

Cometsevah also remained in the McLennan County Jail with her bond set at $1,000,000 for the murder charge, plus $3,000 for a separate charge of tampering with physical evidence.