Shelly Peca is accused of killing her ailing husband before leaving Oregon and spending 10 days in Washington.

KEIZER, Ore. — A woman accused of killing her 59-year-old husband called police and reported his death before officers found him inside the couple’s Oregon home, according to newly disclosed court records that add details to a case initially marked by a multistate search and statements of support from the couple’s daughter.

The records, made public in August, offer the clearest account yet of how the investigation into Walter Arthur Peca’s death began. A caller who identified herself as his wife, 56-year-old Shelly Rae Peca, contacted the Keizer Police Department’s non-emergency line on July 17 and said Walter Peca was dead at their home, according to an affidavit cited by the Keizertimes and Statesman Journal. Police later found Walter Peca upstairs with a gunshot wound to the head. Shelly Peca was arrested 10 days later in a remote part of Washington and has been charged with second-degree murder.

The call changed what officers knew before they ever entered the house. According to the affidavit, the woman told the dispatcher that she had killed her husband and wanted authorities to find him so the couple’s children would not discover his body. She also said she had the gun and indicated that she planned to surrender after traveling for a time. Investigators later confirmed that the phone number used in the call belonged to Shelly Peca, according to the court records. Police have not publicly released a complete account of what investigators believe happened inside the home or what evidence prosecutors intend to use at trial.

Officers were sent shortly before 10 a.m. July 17 to the 100 block of Cummings Lane North in Keizer, a city just north of Salem. A detective used a drone to look through the two-story home before officers entered, the affidavit says. The drone showed a person down in an upstairs area. Police then went inside and identified the dead man as Walter Peca. The Keizer Police Department initially described the case only as a suspicious death. By July 20, investigators had publicly identified Walter Peca and announced that they were treating his death as a homicide.

Police were also trying to locate Shelly Peca. Investigators said her red or maroon 1999 Ford Explorer Sport Trac had been seen leaving Keizer at about 6:30 a.m. July 16, the day before Walter Peca was found. The same vehicle was later spotted in Brewster, Washington, at about 10 p.m. July 17. Authorities warned the public not to approach her and began a search that extended hundreds of miles beyond Oregon. Police did not initially reveal the details of the phone call or publicly explain why they believed she might be connected to the homicide.

The search ended July 27 when members of a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force located Shelly Peca off a U.S. Forest Service road in a remote area of Chelan County, Washington. Keizer police said she was arrested on a warrant charging second-degree murder and taken to the Snohomish County Correctional Facility while extradition proceedings were arranged. She later waived extradition and returned to Oregon. Court reporting in August said she was being held in the Marion County Jail without bail.

Public discussion of the case widened after comments attributed to the Pecas’ daughter, Summer Peca, circulated online. In comments reported by Law&Crime, the daughter described her father as suffering from serious health problems and said his health had declined sharply. She portrayed her parents as a longtime couple and expressed continued love for her mother. The comments suggested that Walter Peca’s suffering shaped the daughter’s view of what happened, but they do not establish a legal defense and do not show what Walter Peca himself wanted before his death.

Neighbors separately told Portland-area news outlets that Walter Peca’s health had been worsening. One neighbor said he had been hospitalized at least twice in the weeks before his death. Another, Sue Saxton, described the family as pleasant and said the allegations involving Shelly Peca were shocking. Those accounts provide context about Walter Peca’s condition, but police have not publicly released his medical records, a diagnosis or evidence showing that his illness was terminal. There has also been no public finding that his health problems legally authorized anyone else to cause his death.

The family comments also prompted discussion of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, but the state law sets out a process controlled by the terminally ill patient. Under the law, a capable adult with a medically confirmed terminal illness expected to lead to death within six months may request physician-prescribed medication after statutory safeguards are met. The patient must make the request voluntarily, and physicians must confirm eligibility and decision-making capacity. The law does not authorize a spouse or another person to independently decide to end a patient’s life.

That distinction is important because investigators have not said Walter Peca was participating in the Death with Dignity program, had requested life-ending medication or had been found eligible for it. Nothing in the publicly available court reporting establishes that he had taken steps under the law. The daughter’s comments concern his suffering and the family’s experience of his decline, while the criminal case turns on evidence prosecutors must present regarding Walter Peca’s death and Shelly Peca’s alleged conduct.

The August release of the search-warrant affidavit supplied information that police withheld during the initial investigation. In July, the department said only that Walter Peca had been found dead, that detectives considered the death a homicide and that officers wanted to locate his wife. After Shelly Peca’s arrest, investigators said they were working with the Marion County District Attorney’s Office and would not release further information. The later court records filled in part of that gap by describing the reported phone call, the use of a drone and the gunshot wound.

Shelly Peca has not been convicted, and the second-degree murder charge remains an allegation to be tested in court. Her attorney did not respond to questions cited in August reporting. Her next court proceeding was scheduled for Sept. 28, while she remained in the Marion County Jail without bail. Authorities have not publicly disclosed a full prosecution theory, and the public record still leaves unanswered questions about Walter Peca’s medical condition, the events immediately surrounding his death and the evidence that will be presented as the case moves forward.

Author note: Last updated August 30, 2026.