Michigan Landlord Allegedly Kills Tenants After Several Noisy Disputes
Written by SOURCE on October 19, 2020
A 53-year-old Michigan landlord turned himself into police on Thursday, Oct. 15, after allegedly killing a pair of tenants over a long-standing series of disputes.
That landlord, Chad Reed, reportedly confessed to killing 31-year-old Jaclyn Lepird and her boyfriend 34-year-old Joseph Soule. Both Lepird and Soule had been considered missing persons since Oct. 12.
Battle Creek, Michigan police say Reed turned himself in shortly after telling someone what he’d done. He’s expected to be charged with two counts of open murder, according to MLive.
Authorities believe Reed killed the couple, who were living in an upstairs apartment in his home, on Oct. 7 after their prolonged feud led him to have a verbal altercation with Soule. This belief is based on a statement that Reed made when he turned himself in.
“He’s claiming that Joey pulled a knife on him and in self-defense he drew a gun and shot and killed Joey. After seeing that, (Lepird) tried running from the residence, at which time he ended up shooting her as well,” Battle Creek police Detective Sgt. Joel Case said. “He also did state he followed her into the backyard and proceeded to beat and strangle her until she ended up passing away in the backyard.”
Reed is reported to have further confessed to wrapping the couples’ bodies in plastic before putting it into the back of his truck. Shortly after Oct. 7, friends and family of the couple made their way to the residence to try and locate the two. At that point Reed allegedly took the truck to an abandoned garage, parked it, and left it there.
The case remains under investigation.
“From everybody we talked to, friends and family, it sounded like they had an ongoing dispute where they just could not get along. They had arguments about money, they had arguments about you-name-it,” Case added.
The Detective Sgt. also stated it was “relatively common” for Reed to tell people he knew about his grievances with the residents. Police say Reed told them about how “they liked to party, keep him up late at night.”
“He would tell other people he had another bad night’s sleep because of all the noise going on,” said Case.
Local reporter Kyle Mitchell posted images showing the scene at the formerly-shared home shortly after Reed’s confession:
However, in the very short period since those tweets were posted, the home was burned. This has led to police looking into the cause of that as well:
Reed was denied bond. He is currently locked up at the Calhoun County Jail.
