True crime Friday: Paul Dennis Reid, Jr., The Fast Food Serial Killer
Paul Dennis Reid, Jr. was a serial killer. He is known as the Fast Food Serial Killer. He was born November 12, 1957 and died November 1, 2013. He was born in Texas but left to pursue a Country Music singing career in Nashville, Tennessee. Not much is known about Paul Dennis Reid’s childhood with the exception of which state he was born.
He was sentence to death for the murders of seven people. He was also convicted on several fast food robberies in Nashville, Tennessee and also Clarksville, Tennessee which is an hour’s drive from the Nashville area.
His reign of terror began between the months of February and April 1997. Paul Reid was on parole during the time of these robberies and murders. He was on paroled in 1983 on a conviction in Texas relating to the aggravated robbery at a Houston steakhouse. He had served seven years of a 20-year sentence, and was paroled in 1990.
The Captain D’s Murders
Paul Reid forced the two victims to lie face down on the floor and then shot them execution style. Money, including large amounts of change, was found missing from the cash register. Reid used the cash from this robbery as a down payment on a car two days later. The McDonald's Murders
Paul Reid approached four employees as they exited the store after closing. At gunpoint, he forced them back into the restaurant. Reid shot three employees to death execution style in the storeroom. He attempted to shoot José Antonio Ramirez Gonzalez, but his weapon failed. Reid then stabbed Gonzalez 17 times and left him for dead. Gonzalez avoided further attacks by lying completely still and pretending to be dead. Reid then took $3,000 from the cash registers and fled.Baskin-Robbins Murders
After closing the store, Reid persuaded the employees to let him inside. Their bodies were discovered the next day at a local park.The Victims of Paul Dennis Reid, Jr.
Captain D’s
- Sarah Jackson, 16, found February 16, 1997
- Steve Hampton, 25, found February 16, 1997
McDonald’s
- Andrea Brown, 17, found March 23, 1997
- Ronald Santiago, 27 found March 23, 1997
- Robert A. Sewell, found March 23, 1997
- José Antonio Ramirez Gonzalez, found alive March 23, 1997.
Baskin-Robbin
- Angela Holmes, 21, found April 23, 1997
- Michelle Mace, 16, found April 23, 1997
The Capture of Paul Dennis Reid, Jr.
Paul Reid was arrested in Clarksville, Tennessee after going to the house of the manager of the Captain's D's store. He was trying to break in and kill the manager over losing his job. The man called the police and Reid was arrested. It was then that police realized that Reid had killed all of those people from the fast foods robberies.Lady Justice
Paul Dennis Reid, Jr., received seven death sentences, the first two coming on April 20, 1999. Reid's case received national attention among anti-death penalty activists. Reid resided at Tennessee's Morgan County Correctional Complex. His seven death sentences are the most ever handed down to a single person in the state of Tennessee to date.It was argued that Reid was mentally challenged and therefore should not have received the death penalty, Reid exhibited public signs of mental illness because he thought his attorneys were actors and a part of a government project to hurt him. However, doing cross-examinations, the prosecution attempted to counter this defense by claiming Reid was crafty and using mental illness as a way to con the jury.
Reid died at Nashville General Hospital at Meharry, on November 1, 2013. The cause of death was from complications due to pneumonia, heart failure, and upper respiratory issues.
Reference
Paul Dennis Reid | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderersPaul Dennis Reid - Wikipedia