Sister of woman charged with stabbing boyfriend 52 times returned to McLennan County

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - The sister of an Oklahoma woman charged with stabbing and slashing her estranged boyfriend 52 times in April 2023 was returned to McLennan County Wednesday, charged as an accomplice in the murder.

Joann Arey Cometsevah, 34, remains in the McLennan County Jail under $1 million bond in the death of her sister’s estranged boyfriend, 44-year-old David Ralph Peeler.

Cometsevah is charged with murder and tampering with evidence in Peeler’s death. Her sister, Leah Cecelia Breuer, 37, also is charged with murder and remains jailed under $500,000 bond.

Breuer attempted to have her bond reduced at a hearing last week. However, 54th State District Judge Susan Kelly denied her request after determining she is a danger to society and a flight risk.

Cometsevah was arrested last week in California on the McLennan County warrant.

Peeler’s brother-in-law discovered his body on a deflated air mattress at the Village Square Apartments, 3500 Meyers Lane. He suffered multiple stab wounds to his torso, police said at the time.

At Breuer’s hearing last week, Assistant District Attorney Ralph Strother argued against the bond reduction, telling the judge that Peeler was stabbed and slashed 52 times and declined to prosecute Breuer in a previous assault because he had feelings for her. He said the sisters are linked to the murder and authorities believe they put the murder weapon or weapons and other evidence in a dumpster at the Kate Ross Apartments.

According to the tampering with physical evidence arrest affidavit against Cometsevah, Breuer told investigators in a taped interview that her sister took a knife from the scene.

“At a later date, detectives spoke with a jail informant that was housed with Leah at the McLennan County Jail,” the affidavit states. “The jail informant advised that Leah also told said jail informant that the defendant (Cometsevah) had Leah assist the defendant in gathering the weapon by removing it from his neck, the victim’s phone and blood-soaked items from the scene and threw them in a garbage dumpster located near the Kate Ross Apartments, 937 S. 11th St.”

An Uber driver who drove the sisters from the scene confirmed that she was asked to drop the sisters near the front of the apartment complex, according to the affidavit.

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