The year’s most mysterious and potentially disturbing death came on a Sunday morning in August. At St. Barnabas Hospital, Billy “Peanut” Murphy, a heavy drinking, big hearted, homeless man who often took refuge in Epiphany Lutheran Church on East 206th Street, succumbed to severe injuries suffered days earlier. Epiphany Lutheran Vicar Bob Rainis, a former NYPD homicide detective, read Murphy his last rites and came away convinced “Peanut” had been the victim of a savage beating that led to his death. But police continue to say Murphy’s death was not a homicide.