Clinton County in Iowa

Clinton in Clinton County

Louis Dale Reed, Sr.

Homicide

Louis Dale Reed, Sr.
53 YOA
Reed’s Auto Salvage
2800 Liberty Ave.
Clinton, IA
Clinton County
February 14, 1974

Case summary by Jody Ewing

On Thursday night, Valentine’s Day 1974, Louis Dale Reed, Sr., was killed by a 410 shotgun blast to the chest inside a shack at Reed’s Auto Salvage, a salvage yard Reed operated at 2800 Liberty Ave. on Clinton’s south side. Reed also had a shotgun wound to his left arm.

Police Chief Wayne Wilke said Reed had been shot at close range. Clinton County Medical Examiner Dr. J. J. Young pronounced Reed dead at the scene.

The 53-year-old grandfather, who resided at 814 Roosevelt St. in Clinton, was known to regularly carry large amounts of cash on him, but neither his cash nor any other items were taken.

Courtesy photo Clinton Herald

The shack at the salvage yard where Louis Reed was killed by a shotgun blast to the chest.

There had, however, been another incident at the salvage yard that same Thursday, prompting Reed to call police around 4 p.m. Reed reported that a man driving a light brown truck had left his salvage yard with seven radiators without paying for them. Reed told police he could identify the radiators by markings on them and by the makes of vehicles to which they belonged.

Approximately six hours later around 10 p.m., police received another call — this time from Reed’s wife, Zepha — who said her husband had not returned home from work.

Police sent patrolman Peter Postma to the salvage yard to follow up on the call. Once there, Postma discovered Reed’s body inside the shack. The medical examiner placed the time of death somewhere between 8:20 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Reed’s body was taken to the Snell-Smith Funeral Home in Clinton, where Young performed an autopsy that same night. The shotgun blast was reported as the cause of death.

Frightened Dog in Hiding

Following her husband’s murder, Mrs. Reed reported the couple’s dog, Shaggy, as missing. The dog had been at the salvage yard with Reed but no one had seen him since the slaying.

More than one week later, Mrs. Reed told the Clinton Herald they’d discovered Shaggy hadn’t been missing after all, but had simply gone into hiding:

“We found him way up underneath the car and still on his chain,” she said. “He just didn’t come out for a long time and we assumed he was missing.”

During that same week, police said they had questioned “dozens of people,” but had not yet established a motive or made any arrests.

Courtesy photo Michael Kearney

Louis Reed’s gravestone at Clinton Memorial Cemetery

Strangely enough, Reed’s right-hand man — who seldom left Reed’s side — had burned to death in a house fire just a couple years prior to Reed’s slaying.

Louis Dale Reed was born August 15, 1920, in Homer, Iowa, to Luetta M. Kreinbing and Louis Reed. He was buried at Clinton Memorial Cemetery.

Information Needed

If you have any information regarding the unsolved slaying of Louis Dale Reed, please contact the Clinton Police Department at (563) 243-1457, or you may also contact Iowa Cold Cases through our Contact form.

Sources:

• Personal correspondence from family members
• David Jindrich, Personal correspondence, February 2012.
• “No Leads in Murder Yet,” The Clinton Herald, Feb. 1974
• “Body found,” Muscatine Journal, Feb. 15, 1974
• “Salvage Yard Operator Slain,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, Feb. 15, 1974
• “Shotgun Slaying Probe is Continued,” Carroll Daily Times Herald, Feb. 15, 1974
• “Clinton Man Found Shot to Death,” The Clinton Herald, Feb. 15, 1974

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