Very interesting profile of 32 y.o.Todd A.Reed,awaiting trial in OR,charged w/being the "Forest Park Serial Strangler" of 3 gal hookers,harvested & dumped in same park during 1 MONTH long rampage,last yr,he's SUSPECTED of several older SK's,dating to 1987
Joe1orbit
I've already OVERSPENT my online time limit for today, but can't pass up this
VERY interesting update on Oregon serial strangler of gals, Todd A. Reed, now
aged 32. Todd is believed to be the Portland Forest Park strangler of THREE
gals, in 1999. He DUMPED all three bodies, of gal hookers, inside the same
LARGE, heavily wooded park, dumping them quite CLOSE to each other. Todd is
ALSO a SERIOUS suspect in SEVERAL other unsolved murders of young gals, from
years ago, AND has a criminal record of convictions for still MORE, albeit
non-fatal, violent attacks upon gals.
We get a NICE chronicle of some of the FACTS of Todd's life, just HINTS of
the BRUTALIZATION that he, as ALL serial killers, was subjected to as a
child-slave.
How WONDERFUL it is that DESPITE apparently only being a serial killer of 5
or so, an ENTIRE archive of material & articles has been set aside, devoted
exclusively to Todd. The URL address is:
http://www.oregonlive.com/special/99/murders.html
If you just wanna view a REALLY cool PHOTO of Todd, as he looked in court in
July of 1999, shortly after his arrest, the URL to launch your browser to is:
http://www.oregonlive.com/special/99/bigpicture_murders.html
Looks like Todd was and no doubt still is another one of those PROFOUNDLY
enraged serial killers who also PERFECTED his ACTING and LYING skills, so that
he could come across as being quite harmless and even charming, to many
different folks. We KNOW that he was a VORACIOUS reader, and a POETRY writer.
Once again, SENSITIVE and ARTISTIC. So very MANY serial killers fit this
specific criteria, being both SENSITIVE and artistically creative/talented.
It's quite AMAZING, when you consider how FEW members of the "general public"
PAINT/DRAW or WRITE on a regular basis, and how MANY serial killers choose to
perform these two artistic endeavors.
Todd has been in prison for TEN months now. He faces THREE aggravated murder
counts. Trial is not set to BEGIN until JANUARY, which means Todd will have
spent an ENTIRE 18 months behind bars, locked in a cage, while still PRESUMED
innocent. That is UNJUSTIFIABLE. Prosecutors should be legally COMPELLED to
FREE defendents on minimal bail, if they cannot provide a SPEEDY trial.
Todd's FATAL tactical mistake was to solicit & attract the attention of an
undercover gal COP, POSING as a hooker, in the SAME AREA where he had picked up
his other three gal victims. In fact, ALL THREE hookers he harvested were KNOWN
to police to not only work in the same NEIGHBORHOOD, but to solicit on the
exact same STREET. Not smart, Todd. You to DIVERSIFY a bit, broaden out your
hunting ground a LITTLE, at least.
Cops who searched his car found "suspicious" items, and coupled with his
PREVIOUS arrest record for VIOLENT ATTACKS on gals, he became the PRIME suspect
in these unsolved, recent serial killings. The fact that a BOOK titled "The
Killing Gift" a novel about a woman who kills 16 men without touching them, was
found in the car's GLOVE compartment, certainly didn't HELP Todd in terms of
making himself look like a "harmless" John just looking to fornicate with a
hooker. Still, he was NOT ARRESTED at that point in time. The PIGS already had
his DNA on file, taken back in 1992, when he was convicted of attempted rape of
a gal. When this DNA was found to MATCH DNA found at or NEAR TWO of the
harvested & dumped gals, that's when Todd WAS arrested & charged with the three
murders. Again, as is so often the case, the IMPORTANCE of NOT leaving DNA at
crime scenes, and the importance of not making tactical MISTAKES, such as going
back to the SAME area that you have already claimed three street hookers from &
trying to pick up a 4th, who looks NEW and in fact is an undercover cop, is
CLEARLY illustrated.
It does sound as though Todd has done a DECENT job of at least not ADMITTING
to any of the murders. The DNA evidence against him is medium strength, in
terms of it's damning power. The DNA was found on a CONDOM located about 28
feet away from the dumped body of one of the victims, and ON the body of a
second victim, according to cops. I don't see how that PROVES that Todd
DIRECTLY MURDERED either gal, but the prejudicial juries NEVER seriously follow
the constitution decree that GUILT MUST be proven BEYOND a reasonable doubt.
I wish I had the TIME to comment further, as some REALLY interesting bits of
info are revealed in the below articles, but I don't. As ALWAYS, if any of you
want me to comment upon a SPECIFIC detail or issue, in ANY of the articles I
post, all you have to do is ASK, and of course MEET my posting STANDARDS, as
outlined in my AFL.
Stay Strong, Todd!
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's Associated Press news wire:
Monday, May 8, 2000
Portraits differ on suspect in killings
by The Associated Press
PORTLAND - People who know Todd Reed say he's a sensitive guy, a poet who held
two jobs to support two sons.
Police say he strangled three prostitutes and left their bodies in a remote
corner of a Portland park.
If Reed, 32, is the serial killer Portland police say he is, the idea that he
lived two starkly different lives disturbs those close to him.
"This whole thing has got me," said Robert Reed, his adoptive father. "You
don't expect to hear that sort of thing about your family."
Todd Reed has been in jail since July, charged with aggravated murder in what
has become known as the Forest Park killings. He already had served prison time
for attempted rape.
A Multnomah County, Ore., judge has entered not-guilty pleas to the murder
charges in Reed's behalf. A trial is scheduled for January.
Reed was born Todd Alan Thomas in Portland on May 22, 1967, nine days after his
mother, Ronnie Thomas, and his father, Marine Sgt. Alfred Thomas, were married.
He was 4 when his parents divorced. His mother's second husband, Robert Reed,
adopted Todd and his younger brother.
"Todd was a little standoffish," said Robert Reed. "He went from having a dad
to not having a dad. I think he took that hard."
Todd Reed was 12 when his mother and Robert Reed divorced. By age 14, Todd Reed
had his first run-in with police. He was picked up for theft and sent to a
residential program for at-risk youths.
Todd Reed earned a high-school-equivalency certificate and took college-level
courses in accounting and horticulture.
In summer 1986, Reed, then 19, met Gail Bennett, 15, and they began living
together. They didn't have much money, so they crashed at friends' homes and
pitched a tent in a field. Reed burglarized homes, stealing meat and bread from
freezers, and loading bags with wine. In 1987, Gresham, Ore., police caught him
breaking into a home.
The same Multnomah County judge who sentenced Reed for the burglaries married
Reed and Bennett in October 1988. Bennett said they chose the same judge
because she wanted to prove to the judge they could amount to something.
Reed's first job as a married man was at a Sizzler restaurant. He later worked
at a fruit distributor and then at a Safeway store.
For a hobby, he wrote poems and read them at a downtown cafe.
"It was about longing," Bennett recalled. "No pretty-flower butterflies."
While he appeared to others to be a hard-working father, his marriage was
falling apart. When Reed worked nights, he showed little interest in anything
during the day. Bennett said that he was secretive, that he hid porn magazines
and a telephone bill for phone-sex lines.
A year later, he was arrested in an attack on a 24-year-old pregnant woman he
lured to his car. He forced her into the car at knifepoint, had her perform
oral sex and fastened a belt around her neck, court records show.
He pleaded no contest to attempted rape and was in prison from 1992 to 1995.
Police took DNA from him and stored it in the state crime lab.
Reed and Bennett divorced in 1997. He was ordered to pay child support and was
granted visits with his sons every other weekend.
While employers described him as a quiet, easy-going gentleman, police say he
would sometimes pick up prostitutes after leaving his night job.
The bodies of Lilla Faye Moler, 28; Stephanie Lynn Russell, 26; and Alexandria
Nicole Ison, 17, were found between May 7 and June 2, 1999. Each had worked as
a prostitute on West Burnside Street.
On July 7, a female police officer who resembled the victims posed as a
prostitute on Burnside, hoping the suspect might reappear.
Police say Reed stalked the decoy. A sergeant questioned him as he sat in a
black Mitsubishi Eclipse. Police found "The Killing Gift" - a mystery novel
about a woman who kills 16 men without touching them - in the car's glove
compartment and yellow strapping material in the hatchback.
Police let Reed drive away, but they arrested him July 18 after the police
crime lab found that DNA from a condom discovered 28 feet from Moler's body and
from swabs taken from Russell's body matched Reed's DNA profile from 1992.
-----------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 5/7/00 online edition of The Portland
Oregonian newspaper:
Serial killer case portrays suspect with two faces
To those closest to him, Todd A. Reed is a hard-working divorced dad; to
police, he's a rapist who killed three women
Sunday, May 7, 2000
By Maxine Bernstein and David R. Anderson of The Oregonian staff
Depending on whom you ask, Todd A. Reed was either a gentleman who enjoyed
fiction or, as police think, a coldblooded strangler who carried the book "The
Killing Gift" in his car while preying on prostitutes.
Neighbors, co-workers and roommates saw a divorced man who biked to and from
work, held two jobs to support two sons and spent free time reading, writing
poetry and barbecuing on the porch of a North Portland home he shared with a
girlfriend.
Law enforcement officials depict that same man as a violent predator who served
prison time in the early 1990s for an attempted rape in which he tried to choke
a woman with a belt. And, since July 18, 1999, he has been behind bars in
Portland, suspected of sexually assaulting and strangling three women and
leaving their bodies in a remote area of Forest Park. Hikers found the first
woman's body a year ago today.
If Reed, 32, is the serial killer Portland police think he is, the idea that he
lived two starkly different lives disturbs those close to him.
"This whole thing has got me," said Robert Reed, his adoptive father. "You
don't expect to hear that sort of thing about your family."
Yet criminal justice experts say such a dual persona would not be uncommon for
a serial killer.
"They just don't look like the monsters they are," said Jack Levin, a
criminologist and director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern
University. "They're extraordinarily ordinary, and that's the secret to their
success."
Now, prosecutors and Reed's defense lawyer are in the evidence-discovery phase
of the case. A Multnomah County judge entered not guilty pleas to multiple
aggravated murder charges on Reed's behalf; a trial is scheduled for January
2001.
Todd Alan Thomas was born in Portland on May 22, 1967, to Ronnie G. Thomas and
U.S. Marine Sgt. Alfred Lee Thomas, nine days after the couple were married.
Todd never formed a significant relationship with his biological father, and by
the time he was a teen-ager, two other men had assumed a brief role as dad, but
neither for long.
He was 4 when his parents divorced, and his father moved to Arizona. Eleven
months later, Todd's mother remarried, and her second husband, Robert Reed,
adopted Todd, then 5, and his younger brother, Dustin, in 1973. They lived in
Southeast Portland, then moved to Oregon City.
"Todd was a little standoffish," said Robert Reed. "He went from having a dad
to not having a dad. I think he took that hard."
Robert Reed described the boys' mother, who declined to be interviewed, as
strict, but as someone who always had dinner on the table and kept a clean
house. Adopting the two boys, he said, ended up being more than he could
handle.
Todd was 12 when his mother and Robert Reed divorced. By age 14, Todd had his
first run-in with police. He was picked up for theft and sent to a juvenile
residential program for at-risk youth.
"The only permanence (the boys) had was their mom," Robert Reed said.
Todd Reed earned a high school equivalency certificate and took some
college-level courses in accounting and horticulture. His 18th summer, he
worked on fish-processing boats in Alaska.
In the late '80s, while he was meeting new friends in Gresham, police say he
simultaneously was leading a life of crime.
Diana Zook, who met Reed through a friend, said he seemed quiet and uptight but
that as she got to know him found him to be articulate and intelligent. "He
didn't say much. He did a lot of writing. He kept a journal," Zook said. "He
seemed like just anybody."
In the summer of 1986, Reed, then 19, met Gail Bennett, 15, and they began
living together. They didn't have much money so they crashed at friends' homes
and pitched a tent in a field. Reed burglarized homes, stealing meat and bread
from freezers and loading duffel bags with wine. In 1987, Gresham police caught
him breaking into a home. He confessed to five burglaries, including stealing a
trombone from a church.
Gresham police suspected that while he was on probation from those crimes and
living with Bennett, he was involved in two killings they've been unable to
solve. Mindi C. Thomas, 12, disappeared Aug. 3, 1987, and was found two months
later in a wooded area near her Gresham home; she had been strangled. Jennifer
L. Tchir, 15, disappeared July 3, 1987, and was found a year later in woods
near her home. She, too, had been strangled.
"In both of these cases, (Gresham) Detective (Robert) Peterson told me Todd
Reed was a focal suspect," Portland Detective Kris Ferrell wrote in a 1999
police affidavit. But Reed was never charged. Police renewed efforts to solve
the Gresham cases after his arrest in the Portland killings, but attempts to
compare DNA from the old crimes with Reed's DNA have been inconclusive. No
additional charges have been filed against Reed since his arrest July 18, 1999.
Gresham police said Bennett, who has a police record of her own, might have
information about the killings but has been uncooperative. Bennett has denied
any knowledge.
The same Multnomah County judge who sentenced Reed for the burglaries married
Reed and Bennett in October 1988. Bennett said they chose the same judge
because she wanted to prove to the judge they could amount to something.
Reed's first job as a married man was at a Sizzler restaurant. He later worked
at a fruit distributor, then at a Safeway store in Southeast Portland. At one
job, co-workers nicknamed him Lenny, because he was haphazard like the
character Lenny on TV's "Laverne & Shirley."
"He was never macho," Bennett said. "He said, 'My mom didn't raise me to be a
man, but a gentleman.' "
While he appeared to others to be a hard-working father, working days and
nights to support his family, his marriage was falling apart. He eventually
wound up in prison but concealed from those closest to him exactly why.
When he worked nights, he showed little interest in anything during the day.
Bennett said he was secretive, that he hid porn magazines and a telephone bill
for phone-sex lines, but she found them.
She said he seemed to wear different faces for different people and was never
comfortable socially. "He could just turn off, no emotion, no nothing, just
like a calculator," she said. "Nothing would faze him, absolutely nothing."
Bennett considered divorce. Their money problems mounted. When they filed for
bankruptcy in September 1991, Reed was a Safeway produce clerk, earning $16,801
a year. His secrets, she said, turned to lies.
A year later, he was arrested in an attack on a 24-year-old pregnant woman he
lured to his car on the pretense he needed directions. He forced her into the
car at knifepoint, had her perform oral sex, raped her and fastened a belt
around her neck, court records show.
She escaped. He pleaded no contest to attempted rape and was in prison from
1992 to 1995. Police took DNA from him and stored it in the state crime lab.
The sample became the key evidence that helped detectives link Reed to the
Forest Park killings.
Recently, Robert Reed said he "had no idea" his son had spent time in prison.
After Reed's arrest in 1992, Bennett said he told her it was for a hit-and-run
and parole violation. She said it was several days before she realized he had
raped a woman.
Reed and Bennett divorced Nov. 15, 1997. He was ordered to pay $400 a month in
child support and was granted visits with his sons every other weekend.
Before the divorce was final, Reed had moved into a North Commercial Avenue
home with a girlfriend. Reed and Bennett battled over child support payments,
and in September 1998 he got a restraining order against her.
While those he worked for described him as a quiet, easy-going gentleman,
police say he'd sometimes pick up prostitutes in the early morning hours after
leaving his night job.
In the year before the Forest Park crimes, Reed held two jobs: driving trucks
during the day for Precision Images, a printing company off West Burnside
Street, and unloading produce trucks at night for Rinella & Sons Produce in
Southeast Portland. A co-worker at Precision described him as the "perfect
gentleman," and a Rinella manager, Fred Pittman, said Reed was "one of the
better" workers, reliable and punctual. "He looked very harmless," Pittman
said. "He looked kind of like a nerdy guy, with thick glasses and stringy brown
hair."
Neighbors said he mostly kept to himself, but they often saw him sitting on the
porch or riding his bicycle. Elijah Cochran, who lives next door, said, "He
didn't bother you, and you didn't bother him."
Meanwhile, the bodies of Lilla Faye Moler, 28; Stephanie Lynn Russell, 26; and
Alexandria Nicole Ison, 17, were found in Forest Park between May 7 and June 2,
1999. Each had worked as a prostitute on West Burnside Street. All were heroin
addicts and had similar physical features. Portland police came to realize they
were looking for a serial killer.
On July 7, police had a woman officer who resembled the victims pose as a
prostitute on Burnside, hoping the suspect might reappear.
Police say Reed stalked the decoy. A sergeant questioned him as he sat in a
black Mitsubishi Eclipse in a parking lot across the street. Police found "The
Killing Gift"-- a mystery novel about a woman who kills 16 men without touching
them -- in the car's glove compartment and an opened, unused condom and yellow
strapping material in the hatchback.
Police let Reed drive away, but they arrested him July 18 after the police
crime lab found that DNA from a used condom discovered 28 feet from Moler's
body and from swabs taken from Russell's body matched Reed's DNA profile from
1992. Short black fibers collected from Ison's body later were found to be
"visually similar" to fibers taken from Reed's boots, a police report says.
In a search of Reed's home, police found three books on his living room table:
"Suspicion of Guilt," "Criminal Justice" and "Blood Relations."
Each of the Forest Park victims had used heroin shortly before death, and each
had been strangled. Police took 10 swabs of blood from the car Reed had been
driving and suspect he forced each of the women to have sex with him, as he had
done in 1992.
The victim of Reed's 1992 sexual assault said she was close friends with Moler
and that she feels no solace knowing her case helped police link Reed to the
Forest Park killings.
"That was my friend who got killed," she said. "He only got three years. He
should never have been out."
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