Background: The burned remains of the house where Chad Allen Reed’s victims were slain in October 2020. YouTube Screengrab Fox affiliate WXMI. Inset: Booking photo Chad Allen Reed from Battle Creek Police Department.
Two years ago, after her boyfriend was gunned down in their apartment, Jaclyn Lepird ran for her life as her landlord Chad Allen Reed fired shots at her before finally strangling, beating and killing her in the backyard of the home she had rented from him.
A jury in Michigan on Friday found Reed, 56, guilty of murdering Lepird, 31, as well as her boyfriend Joseph Soule, 34, after an incident at his property in Battle Creek, Michigan, in October 2020.
Calhoun County prosecutor David Gilbert told Law&Crime News in a phone call Monday that jurors found Reed guilty of second-degree murder in the case of Soule and first-degree murder in connection with Lepird’s death. The jury also found Reed guilty of felony firearm possession. It was Reed’s fourth offense, Gilbert said, and the first-degree murder charge carries a penalty of life without parole. The second-degree murder charges carries a maximum penalty of life in prison or for a set number of years, but the charge still leaves room for parole eligibility. Court records show Reed is slated for sentencing in circuit court on Nov. 30.
Reed’s trial lasted roughly a week.
According to Battle Creek police, in October 2020, friends and family of the victims started to have concerns about not hearing from Soule or Lepird for several days. Local Fox affiliateWXMI aired testimony from the trial last week where one witness said the two would often take trips without talking to anyone about their plans. But after five days of no contact, a family member reported the missing couple to police.
In dashcam footage recorded from right outside of Reed’s house days after the couple went missing, a family member can be heard just off camera telling police that this is the house where they lived.
“But I haven’t heard from them. Nobody’s been able to reach them. They haven’t answered me or any of messages for a couple days,” the witness said.
Days after police checked on the home, Reed called into a police tip line where prosecutors say he first admitted to the murders.
The landlord told police that Soule had pulled a knife on him, so he drew a gun in self-defense and shot Soule dead. Prosecutors say Reed also admitted to chasing Lepird down after she saw him shoot her boyfriend. When she fled, Reed gave chase, shooting at her at least once before capturing her.
With Lepird cornered in the backyard, Reed beat her and then strangled her until she died.
Prosecutors said Reed next took both of the bodies, wrapped them clear plastic, and moved the bodies into his truck. He then threw tarp and debris over them followed by a series of large boards. Then, Reed parked the truck at a vacant garage roughly a block from his house.
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Before Reed was finally arrested, police said someone had tried to burn down the residence-turned-crime scene no less than five times.
In court, his public defender Susan Mladenoff argued Reed only acted in self-defense.
Lepird “had a bad temper,” the attorney said, and she and Soule struggled with substance abuse. Medical examiners who testified on the last day of trial, according to local NBC affiliate WOTV, said Soule and Lepird both had cocaine and alcohol in their systems.
They were also both positive for COVID-19 but the examiner said this was not the cause of death for either.
The killings, Reed’s defense layer argued, were brought on by the couple’s alleged mental health issues. They fought daily, she claimed, and there were “rumors of flirting and cheating and that no one was immune from their rage.”
At trial, Battle Creek police sergeant Trevor Hoard testified that 911 dispatchers had received a call while Soule and Lepird were still considered missing that Reed “may have been cleaning out their apartment with Clorox or bleach,” he said.
The area he was cleaning was the second floor of Reed’s house, where the couple lived. Reed lived on the first floor.
Evidence is removed by Battle Creek Police from the residence where Chad Allen Reed shot and killed two of his tenants. A jury found Reed guilty on two counts of murder on October 6. 2023. Screengrab YouTube Fox affiliate WXMI.
Drops of blood were found on the floor just near the kitchen, detectives said. A family member of one of the victims testified that he saw several pieces of flooring by the trash outside of the home when he first came looking for the couple.
Medical examiners also told the jury that Soule’s had been dead at least a day or more prior to his body being found. He was in a “moderate state of decomposition,” an examiner said.
Reed’s defense attorney did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.
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