Heather Diane Peardon Rivenbark, 41, a White woman, was living in the Bartow, Florida area when a morning argument at the apartment she shared with her boyfriend and another couple turned into a deadly burst of violence on November 8, 2020. Deputies were dispatched around 8:40 a.m. to what was reported as a domestic-violence situation, but inside the home the fear had already been building—she had gone to the roommates’ bedroom and confided that she was scared her boyfriend, Christopher
Pequeen, was going to kill her. She told them he had covered her nose and mouth so she couldn’t breathe, and she spoke about getting a restraining order to protect herself.
Not long after, the tension snapped. According to investigators’ accounts and witness statements summarized by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Pequeen came into the roommates’ bedroom with a gun and aimed it at the three people in the room. The female roommate was struck in the face with the pistol, and then Pequeen opened fire, shooting Heather multiple times. When the roommate tried to shield her, she was shot too. In the chaos that followed, Pequeen turned the gun on the male roommate, demanding their cell phones, then fled as the roommates ran to a neighbor for help and called 911.
Polk Fire Rescue and deputies rushed the wounded women to a hospital, but Heather did not survive; authorities said she died there. The other woman, shot while trying to protect her, was reported in stable condition. In the aftermath, investigators said Pequeen tried to get rid of evidence—discarding the phones and attempting to hide the firearm—before deputies captured him a short time later.
The arrest that followed quickly turned the tragedy into a sprawling criminal case. The sheriff’s office announced that Christopher Pequeen, 33, was arrested and booked into the Polk County Jail, accused of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, along with additional charges including shooting into a building, tampering with physical evidence, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, robbery with a firearm, tampering in a felony life proceeding, battery of a police dog, and resisting an officer without violence. Officials also described a lengthy criminal history, saying his prior record included numerous felony and misdemeanor charges and a pattern of violent and weapons-related allegations.
As for suspects, law enforcement identified only one: Pequeen, the boyfriend accused of carrying out the shooting. Public reporting in the days after the killing echoed the same core timeline—an argument, a desperate attempt to seek protection, and then the gunfire—while emphasizing how quickly the situation escalated once he entered the roommates’ bedroom armed.
