Chad Allen Reed
MDOC #20 3000
Charles Engler Reception & Guidance Center
Born August 15, 1967
1. Chad Allen Reed had previously lived in Zephyrhills Florida and North Dakota.
2. It appears that he headed to Michigan around 1987.
3. Chad has bounced around Michigan having lived in Grand Rapids, Three Rivers, Sherwood and finally Battle Creek, which is where this story takes place.
4. Prior to his move to Michigan, Chad had already racked up a bit of a crime sheet.
5. In 1985 he had some burglary, assault and grand theft charges in Florida.
6. He moved to Michigan and added to it by unlawfully driving away an automobile in 1988.
7. In 2001 Criminal Sexual Conduct and assault with a dangerous weapon adding him to the sex offenders list.
8. Then in April of 2015 he pled guilty to intent and possession of a controlled substance. That situation took place in North Dakota.
9. Chad Allen Reed owned his own home on Post Avenue in Battle Creek.
10.If you look into this story, you will find him labeled as the landlord killer or something like that.
11. While he was technically a landlord, he didn’t own numerous rentals and like bust in and murder people.
12. In fact, he turned the upstairs of his home on Post Ave into an apartment and rented it out.
13.At the time, he was renting it out to Joseph Soule and Jacly Lepird who were both in their early 30’s.
14.The relationship between landlord and tenants quickly became rocky.
15.Joseph & Jaclyn and Chad were all starting to bitch about each other to their family members and coworkers, probably friends.
16.Although they never called the police over any of their arguments, the contention between them continued.
17. Joseph and Jaclyn would end up missing.
18. On October 7, 2020 was the last time anyone saw them.
19. Friends and family tried to contact them to no avail.
20. One person even went over to their apartment and didn’t find them.
21. On October 12, 2020 Josephy and Jaclyn were reported missing by a family member and a missing persons file would be opened.
22.When the Battle Creek PD went to their apartment, they spoke with Chad. Their bodycam records the interaction. You can hear both family members and Chad in the video.
23.Chad said that the couple does this sometimes…they just go canoeing or something and don’t tell anyone. He did not appear worried about them at all.
24. Jackie’s car had been found on Lark Street and a few days later, their family and friends gathered there as a starting spot to look for them.
25. They all searched the area and went to the apartment but found nothing.
26. A couple of tips came in finally giving BCPD a few clues.
27.One tipster said they saw Chad cleaning the upstairs with bleach.
28. On October 15, 2020 another tipster called in and told police that Chad Allen Reed just confessed to killing Joseph and Jaclyn.
29. Not too much later, Chad turned himself into the BCPD.
30. After Chad turned himself in, he gave his full confession to the police officers and investigators.
31. In the evening of October 15, 2020 just one week after Joseph & Jaclyn went missing BCPD Detective Sergeant Joel Case gave a press conference giving us the details of the murders and the timeline of everything that happened.
32.Chad told police that Joseph pulled a knife on him.
33.In self defense, he had to pull a gun and shoot Joseph…dead in his tracks.
34.Jaclyn seeing her boyfriend shot down right in front of her eyes, went running out of their upstairs apartment.
35.Chad chased after her, shooting her at least one time.
36.After he caught her, he proceeded to beat her and then strangle the life out of her…right there in his backyard.
37.Upon many questions and getting their answers, they tossed Chad in jail, and he was charged with 2 counts of open murder.
38.The crime lab and forensic teams descended upon Chad’s house.
39. They start videotaping and taking photos of everything.
40. They take note that it appears there was no break-in.
41.They also walk away with a bit of evidence to utilize in court.
42.They found a pipe in the back yard.
43.A knife on something upstairs and small drops of blood on the kitchen floor.
44.These photos and videos will end up being used as evidence in court against Chad Allen Reed.
45.Approximately a block away, just where Chad told them it would be, the video would show investigators opening a garage door and the ass end of a Dodge truck facing them.
46.The bed of the dodge was loaded, it wasn’t overfull like Sanford & Son’s….it was just kind of filled to the top of the truck bed.
47.Visibly, you could see a few black plastic barrens, some 2x4’s and other random shit.
48.The investigators and crime lab team slowly removed items from the truck bed to reveal a tarp and eventually the bodies of Joseph and Jaclyn wrapped in clear plastic.
49.Chad had placed their bodies in the truck bed the night that he murdered them.
50.In fact, when that first person came over to check on them…the truck was in the driveway.
51. He moved it after they left, and he knew that the family knew that they were missing.
52. I couldn’t tell in the video if he had already moved the truck when the BCPD went there for the missing person’s report or not.
53.After all of that anyways, he moved the truck to an abandoned garage just a block from his home.
54. Then, the Post Avenue house found itself among a string of arsons in the Battle Creek area in 2020 & 2021.
-A vehicle fire on Habli Ave
-3 fires on Oaklawn Ave
-The Post Ave house caught fire on October 18, 2020….March 20, 2021 and April 7, 2021
55. By the time that Chad Allen Reed went on trial this home on Post Ave would catch on fire no less than FIVE times.
56. After Chad’s arrest he went through the whole competency see a psychiatrist thing.
57. It was discovered that he was not insane.
58. Trial by a jury of his peers started in October of 2020.
59. Chad was issued a state-funded public offender named Susan Mladenoff. (not a type-o, Boot)
60. If you watch videos of them during trial the disdain he holds towards her seem obvious or maybe he just always has a bitch face.
61. Susan, as his lawyer, did her thing and tore down the victims as much as possible.
62. We can’t blame her, it’s her job to do this shit, it’s not personal, I hope.
63. She tore down the victims by stating that there were mental health issues, constant fighting between the couple, that Jaclyn had a bad temper, they were partying all of the time, etc.
64. Testimony was heard by the person who went to the house for the first time when they went missing, they testified that there were floorboards out by the trash bin when they stopped by.
65. The Medical Examiner would go on stand and testified to a few facts:
-The couple did have alcohol in their system.
-The couple had cocaine in their system.
-The couple had Covid 19 in their system but was SURE to follow that comment up with “that’s not what caused their death.”
66. A few police officers testified regarding the first visit to the home and the tipster call about cleaning the upstairs.
67. Another investigator testified to evidence found at the house.
68. Obviously, numerous people were called to the stand but I don’t have court records to tell you about everyone.
69. Court lasted about a week before the jury went to deliberate.
70. The jury had their decision within a day. I believe it was a Thursday…they probably were not going to let this guy hold up their weekend.
71. When the jury first filed into the court room, Chad started spewing forth things about “this being illegal”….”You need to….” I don’t know. Crap he spewed forth legal crap.
72. The judge quickly shut down Chad’s arguments and he went back to stank eyeing his lawyer.
73. On Friday, November 1 2023 Chad Allen Reed was sentenced to life without parole for 1st and 2nd degree murder.
74. He also received 4 firearm violation charges.
75. As of today, January 2024, Chad Allen Reed sits his happy ass in the Charles Engler Reception and Guidance center.
76. Odd fact: Chad Allen attempted to get released by using a “motion for compassionate release” due to covid 19 fears and the fact that he was diagnosed with asthma. He also stated that his elderly parents needed help. Wah. Call the waaaahbulance. DENIED.
77. I do hope that the families of Joseph and Jaclyn are able to just move on and put it all behind them. NOT to every have to go to trial again and/or think of Chad Allen Reed again.
78. However, I did read somewhere that despite the life sentence, there is wiggle room for parole and that would piss me off.
79. I used Fox 17 News West Michigan for most of this information. I also found some on Law and Crime dot com.