CHAMPAIGN - A Chicago man was arrested Thursday on a warrant accusing him of a 1992 murder in Champaign.

Omar Peterson, now 26, was arrested in Chicago on a murder warrant charging him with the shooting death of Patrick ?Boe? Haymon.

Investigators said a Crimestoppers tip helped police to identify Peterson, along with the assistance of state police in Chicago. Peterson would have been 15 at the time of the shooting, but police had believed him to be 17 at the time.

?Omar Peterson gave an alias name of Omar Johnson at the time he was down here,? said Champaign police Lt. Scott Swan. ?Nobody knew him by any other name. That's why the investigation stalled.?

Swan said Detective Bob Rea revisited the case, which had remained open. Rea was able to link new information with the facts previously collected that led to the real identification of Peterson, he said.

Peterson was arrested on a warrant about 4 p.m. Thursday at a Wendy's restaurant in Chicago, Swan said.

Mr. Haymon, 22, of Chicago was shot at close range outside a building at the former Mansard Square public housing complex at 402 E. Beardsley Ave., C, about 7:45 p.m. July 9, 1992. He died about 1:30 a.m. the next morning at Carle Foundation Hospital. At a coroner's inquest in August that year, it was revealed that the fatal wound was from a bullet that went through both lungs and his pulmonary artery. Another bullet went through Mr. Haymon's left arm.

Police testified at the inquest that they believed the shooting was drug-related and that it appeared that everyone involved was from Chicago. Mr. Haymon and two other men had approached a group of men, including a person now believed to be Peterson. Witnesses told police that a man who used the name ?Omar Johnson? pulled out a gun and fired three shots.

A warrant charging Omar Johnson with the murder was issued at the time.

State prison records show Peterson is currently on parole and has been incarcerated much of the time since the shooting.

Peterson was sentenced to one year in prison in November 1994 for a Cook County charge of possession of a controlled substance. In 1995, he was sentenced to six years in prison on another Cook County drug conviction for delivery of a controlled substance.

In 1999, Peterson was again sentenced to one year in prison for possession of a controlled substance. Also that year, he was sentenced to four years for delivery of heroin.

In 2002, Peterson was sentenced to a year in jail in Kane County for obstructing justice. Also last year, he was sentenced to two years in prison for another Cook County charge of possession of a controlled substance.

You can reach Steve Bauer at (217) 351-5318 or via e-mail at sbauer@news-gazette.com.