Reginald Reed’s murder trial starts Monday
Jury selection begins Monday, November 14, in the second-degree murder trial of 1998 Hammond mayoral candidate Reginald Lathan Reed. In June 2019, the 2lst Judicial District charged Reed, now 62, with the second-degree murder of his wife thirty-five years ago.
Sunday morning, August 23, 1987, the Associated Press reported:
“The mutilated body of Selonia Smith Reed, 26, was found in her car on U.S. 190 East in Hammond, Police Chief Roddy Devall said today. Her husband, Reginald Reed, he said, told police that his wife left their home Saturday night, saying she was ‘going out.’
“This morning, a Hammond police officer who knew the woman saw and recognized her car and found the body inside. Authorities said she appeared to have been raped and beaten about the head.
“Tangipahoa Parish Coroner Vincent Cefalu said specialists were preparing a report Monday on the cause of death. The report may tell investigators what caused a small puncture wound to the woman’s chest, which could have been a stab or bullet wound.”
The following Tuesday, The State Times in Baton Rouge added:
“An autopsy showed the cause of death to be four puncture wounds in her heart, according to Dr. Vincent Cefalu, Tangipahoa Parish coroner. An ‘instrument larger than an icepick, but smaller than a knife, about the caliber of a screwdriver,’ caused the wounds, he said.”
That week, The Hammond Daily Star reported:
“The autopsy report revealed the victim had an umbrella forced into her vagina, and her face had been beaten. In addition, the coroner said a substance that looked like white toothpaste had been spread over part of her body. ‘It was truly a bad sight,’ he said.
“He said the woman probably had not been dead over three hours when officers found her at 9:30 that morning.
“Hammond Police Captain Jim Richardson said they found the partially clothed woman in the front seat of her car, leaning on her left side. The officer said a white lotion [or melted toothpaste] was on her right side, but the police found no container [for the substance].”
In 1987, I worked as a newscaster for WFPR and WHMD in Hammond. I also worked as a stringer for the Associated Press and investigative reporter for the Hammond Vindicator and The Ponchatoula Times. In those roles, I covered the murder of Loni Reed, a young lady I met only once. She was a teller at Citizen’s National Bank, within walking distance of my office.
At a press conference that week, reporters speculated how Selonia Reed’s murderer may have left the scene. For example, if the killer drove the victim’s car, did an accomplice pick them up, or had the murderer escaped on foot?
The week following her death, I took a walk.
From the location of her abandoned car on Thomas Street, behind the convenience store, I walked through the woods and into the neighborhood where Selonia Reed lived. I made the trip to the front door of her home in under 15 minutes.
In Reginald Reed’s 2019 pre-trial, retired Hammond Police Detective Vincent Giannoble spoke to the court. The detective described how a witness identified Reginald Reed and a co-defendant, Jimmy Ray Barnes. She saw the two men in a parking lot Saturday night, August 22, 1987. In the same parking lot, police discovered Selonia Reed’s body the following morning.
Assistant District Attorney Taylor Anthony asked Giannoble, a 40-year law enforcement veteran, to testify in response to a motion filed by court-appointed Defense Attorney LaToia Williams-Simon to suppress that identification. Also standing by were potential witnesses Barry Ward of the Louisiana State Police and retired Hammond Police Chief Roddy Devall.
Before Judge Beth Wolfe, Giannobile said the witness was sitting in her car in front of the gas pumps at John’s Curb Market. Writing a check to pay for gas, she noticed what she believed to be a suspicious vehicle circling the parking lot. Two black males climbed out of a perceived clean car after parking in a nearby carwash. The witness wrote the vehicle’s license plate number on her checkbook in case someone robbed the store later that night.
The following morning, police found Selonia Reed’s body inside her car near that same carwash. Hearing about the murder, Giannoble explained, the witness called the Hammond Police Department. She supplied the license plate number to Lieutenant Steve Raacke. He provided the information to the lead detective on the case, Vincent Giannoble.
After running the plates and finding the car registered to Reginald Reed’s mother, Giannoble prepared a Polaroid photo lineup. This lineup included all males Giannoble learned had access to the vehicle: Reginald Reed, his three brothers, and two family friends.
According to Giannoble, he presented the lineup on September 10, 1987. The witness reviewed the six color photos and identified Reginald Reed and Jimmy Ray Barnes within seconds.
Among those The Defense is believed to have subpoenaed to testify at the murder trial are prominent Hammond attorney Ron Macaluso, former Hammond Mayor Mayson Foster, and the author of this newspaper column.