SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 11, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Detectives from the Salt Lake City Police Department Homicide Squad, with the help of South Sioux City, believe they have solved a 37-year-old cold case which led to the arrest of a 55-year-old suspect.
Bryan Reed is currently awaiting extradition to Salt Lake City, from South Sioux City, Nebraska, said a press release from the SLCPD.
On Aug. 18, 1982, Wilhelmina Reid, a 72-year-old female, was found dead in her apartment at 959 W. California Ave., the news release said. Her death was determined to be caused as a result of blunt force trauma.
Given new technology in forensics, detectives were able to process evidence from the crime scene and located DNA from an unknown male, officials said. They determined that Reed had been in the area at the time of the murder.
A search warrant was written, and Reed’s DNA was collected. Detectives interviewed Reed and developed probable cause to make an arrest in the case. Reed has not been convicted and is innocent until proven guilty.
Reed, who was 17 at the time of the homicide, moved to Nebraska shortly after the 1982 incident.
“These are cases that we want to get solved,” said SLCPD Chief Mike Brown. “Cold cases are just as important to our detectives as are current cases and we are constantly reviewing them. If we have leads, we exhaust them. The implication of being able to solve these cases is immense, both for the victim’s family and for the community to know that a killer has been caught. We are proud of the hard work put in by our investigators to solve this case.”
