Something like:

@inputs = (
    "name: mike jones location: ny", 
    'name: "mike jones" location: ny', 
    "name: jones location: ny" 
);;

$re = qr[ (?: (\S+): \s* ) ["']? (.+?) ["']? (?=\s+\S+:|$) ]x;;

%h = m[$re]g and pp $_, \%h for @inputs;;

("name: mike jones location: ny", { location => "ny", name => "mike jo
+nes" })

("name: \"mike jones\" location: ny", { location => "ny", name => "mik
+e jones" })

("name: jones location: ny", { location => "ny", name => "jones" })
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