Killer spiked his wife's ice cream to run off with old flame

Peggy Pettis was looking forward to retirement with husband David – but he wanted her gone so he could pursue his highschool sweetheart

- GAIL SHORTLAND

After driving a school bus for more than 20 years, Peggy Pettis had been looking forward to retiring. The 64-year-old loved gardening at the home she shared with her husband David Pettis in Cheney, Washington, although her life was made difficult by the pain she had lived with since a freak accident.

In 2016, Peggy had been gored by a boar while working on their family farm. The sharp tooth had sunk deep into her leg and the injury left her with a limp as well as persistent pain. She took the opioid painkiller hydrocodone and her husband helped her to manage her discomfort.

Peggy and Pettis had been married 33 years and had an adult son and daughter. But while Peggy was proud of her three-decade marriage, Pettis was distracted.

In November 2017, he had gone to New York to attend a funeral and while he was there, he reconnected with Robin, an old childhood friend and high-school girlfriend.

It sparked an infatuation. Robin was separated from her husband and Pettis made it very clear he wanted to be with her.

Over the next seven months, he messaged her constantly, telling her that he was no longer intimate with Peggy and referring to Robin as his “New York wife” or “East Coast wife”. He spoke about Robin coming to Cheney during the summer of 2018, and talked about proposing to her and moving to New York so they could be together.

Pettis even put a picture of him and Robin on social media with the caption “feeling in love”. When family members saw it, they were concerned he was having an affair.

Robin was confused about the situation – and even more so when she got a message from a woman claiming to be Peggy, saying it was OK if she was intimate with her husband. Pettis said he would visit Robin soon – but then tragedy struck.