National

Mom found dead in back of car 17 years ago, Ohio officials say. Now, son is indicted

A mother was found dead in the back of her car days after she went missing, Ohio officials said. Her son was indicted 17 years later.
A mother was found dead in the back of her car days after she went missing, Ohio officials said. Her son was indicted 17 years later. Getty Images/istockphoto

Patricia Peck left work at the hair salon in 2007 to go visit her son. Her co-workers were expecting her to return the following day, Feb. 24, but she never showed up.

Twelve days later, the 62-year-old’s vehicle was found in the parking lot of the now-razed Dayton Airport Hotel. In the back seat, Ohio officials said, was her dead body. At the time, the coroner’s office determined she died by strangulation, according to prosecutors.

Peck’s son was a suspect during the initial investigation, but her death eventually became a cold case, Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney Mat Heck Jr. said in a news release.

Over 17 years later, Peck’s son, 59-year-old Jeffrey Trent Young, was indicted by a grand jury in connection with her death, Heck said in the June 24 news release.

Young’s attorney information was not listed.

Dayton police’s cold case unit took another look at the case in 2023 and got new evidence, Heck said. That and further investigation led officials to determine that Young beat and killed his mother, Heck said.

Young was charged with murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence, according to the news release. He’s held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1 million bond.

He is scheduled to appear in court on June 27.

Read Next
Read Next
Read Next

This story was originally published June 24, 2024 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Mom found dead in back of car 17 years ago, Ohio officials say. Now, son is indicted."

Kate Linderman
mcclatchy-newsroom
Kate Linderman covers national news for McClatchy’s real-time team. She reports on politics and crime and courts news in the Midwest. Kate is a 2023 graduate of DePaul University and is based in Chicago.
Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER