When Selonia Reed Never Came Home

My name is Reggie Reed. It's a lonelier Reed, it's my mother. And Reggie Reed, senior, is my father. My mother, she was the love of my life, my first love. And I was her everything.

It was very rare, I wasn't by her side.

“Take me back and tell me what you remember about that day.”

That day, we went to the mall. That's one of the things to do, and Hammond just go to the mall. Even though if you're not buying anything, wind those up, if you would, went to the mall, came home.

And my mom went out, and she never came home.

My people went off, and it was regional. And he asked me, "Have I seen salonia?" And I said, "No, not just yesterday." I was a patrol officer for the Hammond Police Department. I was dispatched to a missing person's call on the opposite in Hammond, Louisiana.

The complainant Reggie Reed explained to me that his wife had left home the night before, and had not returned, and he was concerned and wanted to follow a missing person's report. I had received a description of the call from Reggie Reed. I started to drive a Range Road, and I noticed the car. Walked up to the car, and noticed salonia's body inside the car.

It was very, very, very obvious that she was deceased. Salonia was 26 years old at the time. When I watched the crime scene video and saw salonia's body in that car, immediately I was sad, I was mad. It was pretty apparent to me right away that whoever did this homicide

hated this woman. It's a call, Reggie, in a bag. That's his Reggie, but have you heard anything? He told me he said, "Yes," he said, "They found her." In a car, and he said that she was dead, and that was...

I was the interview after she was murdered as a six-year-old. When I watched that video, I'll over and over again.

Okay, the day before it finally went to do.

What I see is a six-year-old boy that he told me, "They're alive, it's been changed." That life had been changed. He doesn't understand the bag that's good up here, yet. He told me, "We're busy."

He told me, "Oh, my God, we're busy." And you asked to me, "You trying to find out who killed my mother." Do you remember saying hello to me? You do? Anytime a young woman, Soloni's age, is killed the way she's killed,

“I think most people right away would assume the husband did it, right?”

And that's the easy way, that's the stereotypical way. But it's also not out of the realm of possibility that this was some killing for another reason. From that day on, my life changed forever. This is just a big question, why?

Vladimir duty a reports, the day my mother never came home.

After my mother was murdered, things were fast. Couldn't really understand why was somebody killer like, "What did she do?" It's been decades since Reggie Reed Jr. last saw his mother, Soloni. I feel like I missed out on a human's part of life, that I'll never get back. Reggie was only six years old on August 22nd, 1987.

One of the last things he remembers is his mother buying him a chocolate chip cookie here at the Hammons Square Mall in Louisiana. He told police his mother kissed him when she left the house later that night. But the rest, he says, "Is a blur?"

“When you think about that, what does that feel like?”

When I think about how my mother's life was short and and how my experience was short and I feel empty, somebody says to you, "Who is Soloni?"

Someone says to me, "Who is Soloni?" I would say, "You're looking at her."

“'Cause based on the description, the memories and what things people had shared.”

When I look at the mirror, I see my mother. Reggie's memories are at the heart of the memoir he's written about his mother's murder.

The day my mother never came home.

Within these pages, you will find the memories of a six-year-old boy whose mother was murdered. A 50-year-old young man searching for his place in the world without the guidance and encouragement of his mother. The night my mother went out and never came home. Life for me and my father basically flipped upside down.

Charles Muse, now retired, was the police officer who found Soloni as body.

“After taking the initial missing person's report from her husband, Reginald Reed.”

Soloni's body was in between the bucket seats of the car with a torso over into the back seat of the car. She had 16 pinpoint-like stab wounds in her upper torso, shoulder, and neck. Her blouse had been torn off. Her pants had been removed from her.

She had been sexually assaulted as well. Luis Ana State Police Lieutenant Barry Ward would eventually be assigned to the case years later. He was only 16 years old when Soloni was murdered. In 1987, I was a sophomore in Marshall County High School in Western Kentucky.

“When he eventually did pick up the case file, he took note of the lack of blood in the car.”

It would suggest that she was murdered in another location and then transported to where her body was later discovered at the Johns Car Market. That market was about one and a half miles from the Reed House on Apple Street. At the scene, Officer Muse noticed something else about Soloni's naked body. Our day at sea, a substance that had been placed on the body.

It was a white liquid type substance on her torso and stomach area. Police believed the white lotion may have spelled out a word, but if there was a message, it had become illegible in the Louisiana heat. The windows were rolled up. It was August at the time. It was very hot out. Detectives bagged any potential evidence, including the butt of a cigarette, a Winston cigarette.

Police canvas the area, but Ward says they didn't find any eyewitnesses or murder women. The following day on Monday to 24th, a neighbor went to his mailbox and discovered a crucifix

and a screwdriver. Given the nature of Soloni's injuries, police at first believed the

screwdriver might be the murder weapon, even though it had no visible blood on it. It was early in the investigation and detectives looked at all the angles, including Soloni's job at Citizens National Bank. She was a teller in the commercial section. She was described as being polite, kind, had a nice smile. Here she is, taking part in a community fashion show, just one week before her murder.

Soloni and Reginald, who was a marine and later a car salesman, met during their high school years. Soloni was known for being devoted to little Reggie, as everyone called them. But the night she disappeared, she left the six-year-old at home with his father, according to what Reginald told police. He and his son, Reginald Jr. were going to stay and play video games while she went out to a local bar with her girlfriend. Officer Muse interviewed

that friend, who denied she and Soloni had plans that night. Reginald told police he suspected Soloni had a boyfriend, and admitted he and his wife had personal differences. But Ward says the police found no evidence of an affair. Based on the research that I had conducted, her co-workers, the people that knew her,

said that she just went to work and came home, that she was always seeing with her little boy.

The day after her body was found, investigators searched the family home on apple street.

The detectives looked for evidence that Soloni had been killed there.

“But all they found was a freshly vacuumed carpet and the gold class of a necklace.”

Reginald gave investigators permission to interview Little Reggie, the only other person in the home the night of the murder. In this police video, a detective questions Reggie as his father fidgets with the bean bag intended for his son. When Little Reggie agrees that everybody stayed home, his father looks at him.

Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Is this just, we just talk? Yeah, we're all in the time, isn't it?

She, she was a few years ago.

You're right, what's the matter, baby? He said he wasn't talking to me. Oh, you know what I'm talking to me? He's didn't know who he was, all of it. Okay, it's alright, what?

“Didn't I tell you before, that I'm not talking to you?”

I'm not talking to you, baby. Oh, he's here, baby. Okay, go on, I won't talk no more, you don't have to. I just can't imagine what it's like as a six-year-old doctor said there. Looking at that, it's still hard to believe that that's me.

Watching that video just brings back so to many questions and and pain, look at the eye, see me cry. In the aftermath of Selonia's murder, her family came forward with more information. Some of it directed at one of Reginald's friends, Jimmy Ray Barnes.

Turns out, Barnes smoke Winston cigarettes, the same brand found in Selonia's car. And Selonia's sister Gwen Smith said that Selonia did not like Jimmy Ray. A family she knew, Jimmy Ray's voice, because she started screaming, "Come inside, I'm not trust him, so she was scared of him."

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In the days after Selonia's murder, there was one name police kept hearing. Jimmy Ray Barnes, a friend of Reginald's senior. Jimmy Ray Barnes was in acquaintance of Reginald Reed, he hung out with him, he worked with him. Lieutenant Ward learned about the disturbing incident at a local beach where Selonia was swimming

with little Reggie just days before the murder. They were on inner tubes. Jimmy flipped Selonia over. She didn't feel that it was a playful thing. She felt that it was deliberate and intentional. She was not a good swimmer, and she said she struggled to make it to the bank.

The next night, her sister Gwen said Selonia became frightened when a relative who was visiting Selonia spotted Jimmy Ray Barnes near her home. And she said Selonia went into hysteria's life. No, no, don't go out there, don't go out there. And within a few moments, Jimmy Ray Barnes walked around the corner of the house. Jimmy told her that he was checking on Selonia, and she ran him off.

Ward would learn that Jimmy Ray, along with Reginald, came under even more scrutiny two days after the murder. A witness came forward to say she had seen two men around John's curb market on the night Selonia was murder. She became suspicious and later wrote down on a piece of scrap paper the license plate. As it turns out, that was the vehicle that Reginald was known to

operate in that was his car. Some two weeks later, police assembled this photo array and showed it to the witness.

Jimmy Ray was given a polygraph test and police at the time said he passed.

“But it wasn't long before Jimmy Ray left Hammond.”

Reginald denied having anything to do with Selonia's murder. But neighbors told police the marriage was trouble. Family members say Selonia had accused her husband of physical abuse. And there was talk of divorce.

The police continued investigating, but prosecutors never brought the case to a grand jury.

There's a lot of circumstantial evidence in 1987 that pointed to Reginald Reed and Jimmy Ray Barnes as far as a smoking gun. It was not there at that time. I saw it feeling like nothing was going to be done about her murder and we would not get justice. Time passed and Reginald continued to live in Hammond. He even ran for mayor in 1998.

Are you ready, Regi Reed? No, babe. You can count on me. Thank you. He lost that race, but he and little Regi stayed in the family home, which today has fallen into disrepair. So this is it.

“What's it like for you to just come back here? I know you don't like to, but what does it feel like?”

I feel numb. You know, I feel numb. This is where it all started. You know, this is the halls.

I used to run. This is the TV room. This was the TV room. When you were playing Nintendo with your father, the night that your mother was murdered was that here, that was in this room. Regi went on to attend college and later got an MBA. He moved out of Hammond and began working for a pharmaceutical company.

There were no new developments on his mother's murder until 2011. When Lieutenant Barry Ward of the Louisiana State Police got involved. After I started interacting with slonyas, family, her sisters, I realized how important it was. Before Beary Ward came into the picture, I just felt like nobody cared about slonyas. Case.

This was just the last opportunity I felt before more witnesses passed away. Then we would have a chance to find justice for. This terrible crime that happened to slonyas. As far as Ward could determine, the crucifix and screwdriver found within days of the murder led nowhere. But the detective was drawn to several life insurance policies

regional had taken out on slonyas that paid out more than $700,000. Some of those policies were taken out the same month that slonya was murdered. Ward wanted to re-interview Reggie Jr. in 2012. Reggie was 31 years old and living in Texas. Ward sent a Texas Ranger to begin the questioning.

He told me why he was here and it was to discuss my mother's murder.

And the Ranger then told Reggie, something he said he'd never heard before.

He was not aware that his father was a suspect in the murder of his mother. That was like, "Where's this coming from?" It's been all worth three decades. He told my mother that like, "Kill my mom."

“Like seriously, I remember asking, "Is it any new evidence that will surface?"”

And it was not the new. It's true that the insurance policies had been discovered by the original detectives, but Lieutenant Ward had organized them in a way that he felt was damning. The Texas Ranger asked Reggie about those policies. He showed me a graph, a timeline,

this showed each insurance policies that were taken out, close to her death. Did you all of a sudden say, "I need to get to the bottom of this," or, "What?" It was eye-opening, because they were like, "Well, that doesn't look good. I had to learn what like, what's all this?" Reggie struggled to make sense of it all.

I did talk to my dad about it over the phone, and his response was, "A.T. took out policies on everyone." Reggie said he finds it hard to square what the investigation revealed with the loving father who raised him. "I look back on my man, he really did do some great stuff for him. He was a great provider." Ward took a deep dive into the case file and focused on that Winston's cigarette,

but found in Sloania's car. He sent it out for DNA testing, something that was not widely available in 1987. There was a match in the National Crime DNA Database, Codes, but not to Jimmy Ray.

Billy Ray was Jimmy Ray's identical twin brother, and the DNA supervisor had another surprise.

"He let me know that identical twins share identical DNA." Lieutenant Ward decided he had to interview Jimmy Ray, and it turned out that Jimmy Ray

“had been holding on to some key information all these years.”

Jimmy Ray Barnes did tell me that resin read offered him $50,000 to quote unquote knock off his wife. In July 2012, Lieutenant Barry Ward went on the hunt for Jimmy Ray Barnes, who had become a prime suspect in the Sloania read murder case after his DNA was linked to the crime scene. Ward found Barnes in the Atlanta area where he said Barnes told him he'd fled Hammond because he was afraid of regional read. Barnes said back then he'd been shot

at three times and hit once in the neck. Barnes suspected the shooter was regional, but had no proof. Jimmy said he was known to carry a gun, but he fast forward 25 now 30 years. Regional read was now an old man. "We are." Barnes was ready to talk about read without a lawyer. "But they got done the head." Barnes told Ward that a few days before Sloania was killed,

read asked him if he would quote knock off his wife. "Regional to ask you if you would quote by your time, knock off his wife and that means you

“took that to me to kill her tomorrow." What was your response to that?”

"I love." Did he discuss any money with you? "Yeah, he discuss money." Ward pressed Barnes to tell him how much money? "More than 5,000." "More than 10,000." "More than 50,000." "50,000." "The only you $50,000." "Is that a guess or is that the amount of your money off?" "Yeah, it's the money off." But Barnes told Ward that he would not repeat the story in court. "I love chose to love,

no more." Ward confronted Barnes about that polygraph test from the original case file. Barnes allegedly had passed that polygraph, but Ward suspected Jimmy Ray secretly had asked his identical twin Billy Ray to take that test. "I talked to Billy and he said he took that polygraph test. And if Billy looked like you and was questioned over a murder that you took part in, and he doesn't know anything about it, he's probably going to pass that polygraph test.

Would that be fair to say? "I don't know, I'm not going to answer that, but I know I'm the one to fire your test." Ward believed he had a solid case to finally bring charges. He had Jimmy Ray's DNA connected to the crime scene, and his video tape statement about

Reggie offering him $50,000 to kill Selonia. But, Ward said, prosecutors always wanted more.

"I will get phone calls to the ears from prosecutors who'd ask me to re-interview family members, find out additional information, test more evidence." "It was busy work." Then, in 2018, a newly hired prosecutor, Taylor Anthony, got a sign in the case. "Why reopen a 35-year-old case? What was the trigger?" "Well, why reopen it's interesting question? This was a case to me right away when I looked at it that there was a story

to be told." Anthony was impressed by all the investigative work done by Lieutenant Ward. So, he reached out. But Ward told Anthony, he was too busy, and that he felt he'd been let down by other prosecutors. "Myness or response was to just get this guy off the phone." He said, "Look, I've already poured hundreds of manhours into that case, and y'all didn't do anything, and he said, "You're wasting your time, kid.

Having a nice life, basically." But Anthony was undeterred, and promised Ward that this time,

“things would be different. "Thank you, Saul, what I saw. I think that made all the difference in”

the world." Like Ward, Anthony was sure, Jimmy Ray Barnes knew a lot more. So, he in Ward took a road trip to Atlanta. "We're able to locate Jimmy. He was staying in the camper at his employer's place. We pulled up early in the morning when the sun was coming up, and he was coming out of this camper, putting a belt in his pants." And he said, "Hey, who y'all looking for?" I said, "You, Jimmy." And he goes, "Oh, you again." But this time, the new prosecutor had with him

he knew about Salonia's murder. So, to the layperson, you offered him a deal. So, I offered him

what I would say would be the golden ticket. But Barnes rejected the offer. He did not trust me, he did not believe me, he did not want to talk to us. Ward and Anthony were about to drive back to Louisiana when Barnes said something that took them by surprise. As Barry and I were getting back at the car, Jimmy Ray Barnes came over to us and he said, "I want you boys to know that

“I'm the key to it all." And he said, "If you think you can indict me from murder, then do it."”

Anthony was quick to take him up on that challenge. A couple of weeks later,

Grand Jury and Tans will perish, return, second-degree murder indictments for both the

Reginald Reed and Jimmy Ray Barnes. Immediately, we went to Reginald's home. I knocked on the door, identified who it was, and that I had an arrest warrant for him for the murder of his wife. He really had no emotion. The date was June 21, 2019, more than 30 years after Solonia's murder. When Reginald was arrested, it was like a burden just got much less like a burden was lifted off. I got a call that my father was indicted for second-degree murder and conspiracy,

along with a code defendant for my mother's murder.

Regity Jr. put up his father's $250,000 bail bond. My dad being my rot for so many years,

I felt the need to try to help him. Now that you're both adults, did you ever ask him those questions that you have that you're questioning even now as we sit here? Yeah, I asked him, I asked him, and he, he, he made ties his innocence. Sitting in another hand in jail cell was Jimmy Ray Barnes. He now had a lawyer, and asked to speak with Detective Barry Ward and Taylor Anthony. So Barry and I went met with him again,

and exchanged for him telling us everything he knew. He was offered a deal to plea to accessory after the fact to murder and was given a five-year prison sentence. In November 2022, the murder trial of Reginald Reed began in Amit, Louisiana. Reed was represented by the mother and daughter defense team of Vanessa Williams,

“and Latoya William Simon. What makes you think that he did not murder Solania?”

Their entire case is circumstantial. William Simon says the state's case was weak. There was no murder weapon. No fingerprints or DNA tying Reed to Solania's homicide. I was confused as to how they were really going to prove their case. There's no direct evidence. But prosecutor Taylor Anthony believed his prosecution would deliver justice to Solania. The reason I became a prosecutor is to fight for people like this. I see a woman whose body's

been desecrated, violated, mutilated and nobody spoke up for her and there's a quote that I love. And it goes, "The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is the duty of the living to do so for them." And that's my job. Anthony told jurors about the $700,000 from the insurance policies on Solania's life. So what was your theory? Once you put all these pieces together?

My theory was that Solania and Reginald were in a marriage that was about to come to an end. There was a history of abuse and that Solania was tired of it and she was ready to leave Reginald.

“I think he was angry and he saw an opportunity for some money. I think that's why he killed this woman.”

The case that they're presenting, which is this man takes out all these life insurance policies on a young, healthy 26-year-old woman. What is his rationale for having done that? But they're missing the biggest part of it. It wasn't just on her. Was on himself? Was on the child? It was family policies. So it's not like he just went and took out policies on Solania only.

Prosecutor Anthony was frank with jurors, telling them that the state would not produce a murder weapon. Or the exact location where Solania was stabbed. He focused on what the prosecution did have,

Later police were able to find a bottle of lotion in the Reed Household that matched that type of

“lotion that was on her body. The prosecutor also showed jurors a photograph of some scratches”

on Reed's neck taken on the day Solania's body was found. They wanted to take photographs of his neck and he was very hesitant. Anthony said Reed told police two different stories about how he got those scratches. But after forensic testing, it was determined that none of Reed's DNA was found under Solania's fingernails. They believe that the killer is misdirectional Reed. So anything that goes to contradict that, they're going to completely block out. William Simon pointed that

Jimmy Ray's long criminal record of arrest. It couldn't be introduced that trial. And the reason why his criminal rap, she couldn't be introduced that trial is because these aren't convictions. But William Simon says, Jimmy Ray's arrest were for violent crimes. False imprisonment and aggravated assault aggravated battery with a dangerous weapon murder, these are things that the jury had a right to know, but because of the law, they didn't find out.

“Jimmy Ray Barnes ultimately took the stand as part of his plea agreement.”

Jimmy, will you please tell me there were no cameras in the courtroom? So this recording is taken from Barnes's police interview conducted by Ward before the trial. He told the same story when he testified. On the night of the murder, Barnes said he promised to meet Reed in the parking area outside John's curb market where Solonia's body had been found. Oh, when I got there, he was getting out of the blue club. The blue club was fucked up.

Barnes said, "Regional asked for his help in moving Solonia's body." And I said, "No, I'm not going to get involved in that. You want me to move the body." And I didn't move the body. Barnes says that Solonia was fully clothed when he saw her. And sitting in the passenger seat. "I just hear about you, and I pay."

“My understanding after the fact is that Jimmy Ray Barnes talked to Reggie and said,”

"Where's the money? You told me $50,000. He says he never got a penny of it."

Prosecutor Anthony contends that after the manager of a way, Reed returned and staged the crime scene. Stripping off Solonia's clothes, covering her with that white lotion, and leaving other evidence to make it up here as a sex crime. And what does your dad say to that? He says completely BS. He says, "It's no way. We were at home playing Nintendo."

William Simon had her own theory of what happened that night. All of the information that we've received about Jimmy Ray Barnes is that he was borderline obsessed with Solonia. I believe that maybe he encountered her, tried to make a passer that was rejected, and that's where you see that anger, that rage, that hatred. Sitting through the trial, Reggie admitted that the relentless focus on his mother's murder

was upsetting, especially as he watched that crime scene video, which he had never seen before.

And it really struck a car by just seeing my mother there. Life loose and just alone. And that... Reginald Reed never took the stand, and after less than a week of testimony, the case went to the jury. Reggie Jr. Brace for the verdict. [music playing]

As a prosecutor, when the jury deliberates, it's painstaking. You're just waiting and waiting and waiting. Some of Reginald Reed's brothers and sisters were waiting as well. Kennedy Reed, Belinda Reed, Cox, and Claude Reed. Claude, you don't believe your brother. Murdered Solonia. No. I don't. I don't believe Reggie did that. Mum is not a murderer.

He's not.

But, on this day, November 18, 2022, Reginald Reed was found guilty of second-degree murder

after the jury deliberated for just over three hours. But when he was found guilty, I feel like he died without dying. And I saw myself in that same, six year old crying out for my dad as I did in that video. I just wanted to end. Reggie tried to recapture the moment his father was found guilty in his book.

My father grabbed me up into a big hug. I wanted to stay there forever. He pulled back for a moment, looked me in the eyes and kissed me on the forehead.

I wanted to tell him I'm sorry for the loss of your mother. I'm sorry for your father going to prison.

I can't even imagine the grieving process that he's got to go through. Reggie says, sitting through the trial was excruciating. But when it was over, he still wanted answers. So a parent's row. Lieutenant Ward has told you that one of his theories is that your mother may have been killed in this room. In this row, I just go back thinking of the manner in a way which he was killed.

“If she was killed here, how did possible that they couldn't find anything?”

Where was I? Did you leave the house after I fell asleep? Questions Reggie cannot answer because he simply cannot remember. On January 30th, 2023, everyone piled back into the same courtroom where Reggie agreed was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He did not offer any kind of explanation or statement and said nothing. You know, I want justice, but I didn't think

justice was going to come at the price of my dad going to prison for life. So my question is, do you believe that your father murdered your mother?

“I don't know. Another question, do I think my dad had some involvement? Maybe?”

I don't know though. I don't know. So that's where I'm just, it's like a tug-of-war game. Just knowing the type of father he is, I can't just turn a page

and just look at my father's complete monster. Selonia's sister Gwen Smith always believed

Reginald was Selonia's killer, although she and Reggie Jr. are estranged. She still worries about him. I've just kind of filled, bad for him, you know? Because if my mom was taking away from him, when it was a little annoying. What do you want people to know about this case if you could sum it up for me? I know one thing my brother did not commit this murder. For Barry Ward, who worked on the Selonia Reed case for a decade, the conviction was just,

and he appreciates that Jimmy Ray Barnes agreed to testify. Jimmy Ray Barnes was the key. Barnes served his sentence for being an accessory after the fact to murder. He was freed from prison and shortly after. On January 27th, 2024, he was killed in a car accident. He was in Hammond to attend the funeral of his identical twin. There are several cases throughout my career that stick out to me and this is probably the

D-Maine one. Charles Mews, the Hammond police officer who found Selonia's body, is pleased he got to see the outcome of the case. I mean her death, you know, didn't just go in Bane, I found some peace in them. You say that you wish you would have gotten to know her better,

“but then you realize too, you must, that she's living through you, that she's here,”

because you're here. Absolutely. And I think about that she's in a place where she's consistently watching over me. As for Reggie's father, he calls Reggie from a Louisiana state prison once or twice a week. This call is not private, it will be recorded and they be monitored. Hey, Ray. Hey. How are you doing? Yeah, how are you? A 48 hours producer was present during a recent call. Do you think you got a fair trial?

No, of course not. Of course not. What no evidence. What do you got to tell us about your son? Oh, remarkable. I think the law is for me every day.

And he was able to understand something that was going on, but that I would never leave him.

These days, Reggie has his own family. His son, Nathan, is nearly the age he was when Selonia

And in January, 2024, Reggie and his wife Paula were blessed with the baby girl.

“When our daughter was born, we both agreed it's no other name that we should name her”

except Solonia. You know, give that name an opportunity to live life and be recognized

in a positive way. It's beautiful.