Police Sergeant Charged With Killing His Ex-Girlfriend

NEW YORK -- A police sergeant was arrested and charged Tuesday with killing his ex-girlfriend, an immigration officer, in 2001 amid a dispute over child support payments, authorities said.

A Brooklyn judge ordered Sgt. Martin Peters, 41, held without bail after he pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree assault and other charges. The defendant, a native of Trinidad, already was facing federal charges that he became a naturalized citizen through a sham marriage with a second woman.

Federal and local law enforcement officials had previously identified Peters as a key suspect in the brutal slaying of Juliette Alexander but had never brought murder charges.

The body of Alexander, 29, a newly hired detention officer with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, was found in the foyer of her Brooklyn apartment building Jan. 16, 2001. She had been shot several times in the back of the head.

A second victim, described as a friend of Peters, Nigel Callender, was found inside the apartment with gunshot wounds. At the time, Callender insisted Alexander was shot by a stranger, police said.