WATERTOWN, S.D.(KWAT)–For three and a half years, Jeremiah Peacemaker sat in the Codington County Jail awaiting trial for the brutal killing of Kendra Owen.

Now, Peacemaker is a free man.

On Tuesday, following 10 hours of deliberation, a jury found him not guilty on all three counts he faced in the 2020 killing of Owen, whose decapitated and decomposing body was found in her small Watertown apartment.

The jury with their verdict sent a clear signal to the prosecution that they did not reach the burden of proof required for a conviction.

Attorney General Marty Jackley prosecuted the case and was disappointed by the ruling.

Jackley was asked if there’s anything he would have done differently at trial.

And his message to the Owen family????

Peacemaker sat in the Codington County Jail for just shy of 1,300 days before the jury set him free Tuesday night.