CORINTH – Authorities in Corinth have charged a man with capital murder after the body of his wife was found in the back of his pick up truck. Thirty-six year old Preston Pegg, Jr., was charged with capital murder after authorities found his wife, Joanna Pegg, during a routine traffic stop on Friday. Joanna, 36, had been shot several times and her throat had been slashed.
Officials said the case began in McNairy County, Tennessee and ended in nearby Alcorn County, Mississippi, near Corinth.
Pegg and his estranged wife, Joanna, had a history of domestic violence and were separated, but reportedly had an argument prior to her death.
Joanna’s mother, Mary Jo Sheffield, told police that her daughter was trying to buy a home, but needed Pegg’s signature on some papers verifying that he would not try to seize the property.
Sheffield said that may have been what set Pegg off.
“She was trying to buy a home, but she didn’t have any credit,” Sheffield told The Jackson Sun.
“She had found a bank that was willing to give her a loan, but she needed Preston to sign some papers saying that he wouldn’t try to claim the property. He told her he would sign the papers, if she brought their youngest with her.”
Authorities said Pegg met Joanna, a manager at Dollar General, at a residence in Michie, Tennessee where he allegedly slit her throat and shot her multiple times in front of their 6-year old daughter.
Pegg reportedly put his wife’s body in the back of his truck and then dropped their daughter off at a relative’s house.
Once he reached Mississippi, authorities believe Pegg pulled over and shot his wife again to make sure she was dead.
Pegg was later stopped on County Road 137 and Highway 350 where authorities found Joanna in the back of the blood-soaked truck.
“It was covered in blood,” Captain Ralph Dance of the Corinth Police Department said. “It was a horrible sight. “The female was in the truck covered up with a jacket.”
Reportedly, Pegg confessed to the murder when he exited his vehicle.
At the time of his wife’s murder, police said Pegg was out on bond for the rape of a young family member, statutory rape by an authority figure and sexual battery.
He’d also spent time in jail for several burglaries.
Pegg is being held at the Alcorn County jail without bond, but also faces numerous charges in Tennessee including attempted murder, aggravated assault, child endangerment and kidnapping.
Pegg and his wife have three children, aged 17, 14 and 6, which are now in Sheffield’s custody.
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