ALTON, Maine — Blood spatter evidence and the angle of the bullet that entered the head of a man found dead last week at the scene of a murder-suicide involving his best friend and the friend’s estranged wife are likely to be used to determine whether the man killed himself or was slain.
In yet another domestic violence murder-suicide in Maine, Scott Reed, 43, stabbed his wife, Danielle Reed, 39, to death at their Alton Tannery Road house in the early afternoon of Nov. 19 and later killed himself after meeting up with his friend, Daniel Young, 41, of Bradley.
Both men, who may have had a suicide pact, their friends have told police investigators, spent the afternoon together and returned to the rented Alton home at about 5:30 p.m. They were found dead inside the home about two hours later.
“The two men both died of close contact gunshot wounds to the head,” Stephen McCausland, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman, said Sunday.
Reed left a suicide note, which McCausland described as “rambling,” and one of the two handguns recovered by Maine State Police from the cedar-covered house was owned by Young.
“It appears both guns were used and the lab work will hopefully determine whether Young fired a gun,” McCausland said Monday. “The suicide pact info came from interviews.”
The state’s chief medical examiner concluded that Scott Reed committed suicide but needed more investigative work to determine Young’s manner of death, McCausland said.
Reed telephoned a female friend at 6:52 p.m. and told her to meet him at the house. She called police at 7:23 p.m. after finding one of the three bodies in an upstairs bedroom. Police later found the other two in that room, McCausland said.
Suicidal ideation is a strong indicator in many domestic violence homicide cases, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese said last week at a domestic violence education program held in Bangor.
“We do have a lot of homicide-suicides that are not prosecutable and those percentages this year and last year have been pretty high,” she said.
Six of the 13 Mainers who committed domestic violence homicides in Maine between March 2008 and July 2011 also took their own lives, and nine of the 13 exhibited suicidal behavior before committing the crimes, the Maine Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel said in an April report.
“A staggering statistic that emerged through the review process is that 70 percent of the perpetrators showed suicidal ideation prior to the murder-suicide,” Marchese said in the report.
When police investigate domestic violence homicides, there are always signs of trouble, she said.
“Homicides don’t happen in a vacuum in the domestic violence arena,” said Marchese, one of a handful of homicide prosecutors for the state. “There is always a build-up. One of the things police do very well is they go back and interview family members to try and understand what has been going on in that relationship.”
In the Alton case, police investigators are looking into two relationships — the marriage between the Reeds, who were separated, and the friendship between Scott Reed and Young.
Scott Reed was involved in a serious car crash almost a year ago and suffered severe injuries, including head trauma, that left him with “a very different personality, and lingering physical problems,” McCausland said.
Determining how someone died is a science, and “evidence only takes you so far,” Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards said Monday. Edwards, a blood spatter expert for his department, is not involved in the Alton investigation but has experience investigating other suspicious gun deaths.
The blood evidence left behind, called the “back spatter,” the positions of the body or bodies and where the bullet entered the body are all details that are used to determine the manner of death in a gunshot case, the sergeant said.
“They would just have to look at every angle of impact, the angle of the blood, the gunshot — where it entered and where it exited — if it did exit,” Edwards said. “It’s a lot of angles. It’s going to be very difficult.”
When a death is a possible suicide, the tests are run and rerun to ensure the findings are correct before family members are informed, he said.
Finding out a loved one died at his own hand is hard on those left behind, so “you better be right,” the sergeant said.
For that reason, “It’s easier to prove homicide than a suicide,” Edwards said.
A gunshot residue test — often used on television detective shows to determine who used a weapon — are “just not that reliable,” the sergeant said. “It’s not like DNA.”
The three deaths in Alton bring the number of homicides in Maine this year to 19, with nine of those deemed domestic violence-related deaths, McCausland said.
“Young’s death [is] not included until we know for certain if it is homicide or suicide,” he said.
Bangor Daily News writers Nick Sambides and Nick McCrea contributed to this report.
You know that any news article that begins with the words “Blood spatter evidence” ain’t gonna be good.
1 homicide + 2 suicides = 3 dv related homicides?
Perifunl, your mathematical question raises a factual point. There have not been 9 Domestic Violence Homicides (DVH) in Maine so far this year. A DVH occurs only when an individual dies directly as the result of murderous action by an intimate partner while also sometimes including the death(s) of relatives (children, in-laws, parents) at the same time. Every other death is either simply a suicide or a homicide. Steve McCausland stated, “domestic violence-related deaths”, not “Domestic Violence Homicide”, explaining his false overstatement at the “9” level. DVH from a statistical (and solution) standpoint, at it’s baseline, requires both “intimate partner” and tightly time constrained sequential deaths (not including any suicides) if more than one person passes away. There was only one DVH in this case…not three. The other two deaths were either two suicides, one suicide and one homicide, or one suicide and one forced suicide (substantially less likely). As more people die at a given scene, the more complex the algorithm of death.
It is just odd that regardless of the DV relationship two suicides are being counted as homicides in this quote “The three deaths in Alton bring the number of homicides in Maine this year to 19, with nine of those deemed domestic violence-related deaths, McCausland said.”
It is odd…because a suicide is as much a homicide as wet sidewalks cause rain. There are some very funny numbers in Maine. On August 21st a DV connected death in Sebec Lake was classified as a non-homicide as the deceased was being retrieved from the lake after “swimming” with the individual against who she had a Protection From Abuse Order…before any homicide investigation or autopsy. So that one goes down as a natural death from that morning forward, very fascinatingly.
Although the term homicide is sometimes used synonymously with murder, homicide is broader in scope than murder. Murder is a form of criminal homicide; other forms of homicide might not constitute criminal acts.
A suicide cannot be a homicide though. There was 1 homicide and potentially 2 suicides in this situation but some how the three deaths bring the maine homicide count to 19?
What about testing them both for GSR??
A gunshot residue test — often used on television detective shows to determine who used a weapon — are “just not that reliable,” the sergeant said.
Why use taxpayer money in this manner? They are DEAD!~ You can’t bring them back, and you can’t punish them. Let the insurance companies investigate.
Because it’s the authorities’ job, it keeps them active, and they may learn something for another case.
And maybe they would turn up evidence of a fourth person in the house. I’m just saying that it isn’t solved until it’s solved.
I am a taxpayer and think the families deserve to know how their loved ones went out.
What did the note say?
What difference does it make? The details of any suicide note would be extremely personal and I seriously doubt would be made public. How would you feel if a member of your family committed suicide, leaving a note behind, and the authorities made that note public? What possible benefit could there be other than to satisfy someones morbid curiosity?
You put your own spin on what I said. “What does the note say?” meant: does it offer a clue as to the situation the investigators say they know nothing about? If the note said something like my boyfriend and I cannot live the lie anymore, then I guess that would provide some answers wouldn’t it? Or if it said my best friend has screwed me for the last time, etc…see what I mean? A note was left. It must have information in it as to the writer’s motives.
There is frequently much within suicide notes (generally about 60-65% of the time) that can be used quickly and simplistically toward murder and/or suicide prevention in the future. We have read many of them. In 3 cases with which we have worked, the sucide note(s) make crystal clear what the killer misinterpreted or imagined…that actually led to the death(s) by his/her hand.
I see what you are saying. Prevention also comes from finding a doctor to correctly diagnose someone with what they have, anxiety, bipolar disorder, etc. Then the individual would know what they are up against.
The degree of detail is overkill for a newspaper article as is the ongoing straining to to keep it in the forefront as “news”. The reporting of who, what and why will not change it nor produce anything to change it. Only feeds the morbidly curious. .
By basic and inarguable definition, secrecy and non-disclosure prevents learning and crime (homicide/suicide) prevention. It is very old school to keep anything secret except in cases of prosecutorial preparation…and it is also a recipe for future homicide disasters. Unfortunately, in the northern 11 counties of Maine there is a distinct and mistaken preference for such non-disclosure.
You have choices and don’t have to read the newspaper. Friends and family appreciate the on-going updates about the case as it is the only way they are getting any information.
“2 guns used in Alton murder” AND A KITCHEN KNIFE!
There have been no family interviews to help determine ‘relationships’. The Reeds were not estranged. Not that it changes the fact that they are dead but frustrating to read such inaccuracies.
The real information here are the mental health and spousal abuse problems so common in this world. It sounds as though other people had seen the warning signs, just like the murder in Lamoine. Did they try to intercede? We should be talking about how to limit these incidents, not play detectives.
It is extremely disturbing that the “grusome” murder of a sweet young woman is being shoved aside here, while everyone debates how many actual DV homicides are taking place in Maine. This comment section should be reserved for leaving encouraging messages to the family/friends left behind in such an unimaginable nightmare. Please keep in mind that posting irrelevant rants about state statistics, just adds to the frusterations of the people who are picking up the pieces of their lives after saying goodbye to someone who was taken far too soon. Put yourself in the place of the ones burying this woman, and imagine it’s your sister/wife/daughter and how you would feel if people were trivializing it in this way. Find a story a little less life altering, and rant away.
So agree with you, The manner in which the family found out the gruesome details of her death is horrible, The detectives could have taken the time to call the family before they had to learn it on the news.
Comment sections are for comments. If you want well wishes and condolences try a funeral home website. Don’t complain because people want to question what authority figures say and how they may be manipulating statistics.
Oops. Wrong answer. You don’t get to define the purpose of the Comment Sections either. In fact, they can complain away about what they view as the trivializing of the brutal murder of this young woman. To date, there has been no opportunity to offer well wishes or condolences, as the family has not been able to make those arrangements. My wish is that once everyone has had an opportunity to debate the statistics, maybe they’ll also choose to visit the web site of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence and review some of the statistics/videos there. Someone may also gain valuable insight into how they can best assist a family member, friend or coworker who they feel may be in danger of having this happen to them. The more people who try to educate themselves about this topic, the better…if they are genuinely interested in trying to make sure this doesn’t happen to someone they love and care about.
I am assuming you are being purposefully obtuse but in case you need it spelled out for you I wrote “Comment sections are for comments” which is factually correct and in no way am I trying to redefine anything. Condolences and well wishes are a sub category or type of comment and restricting the section to just that would be redefining the purpose of the comment section. Nice try though.
Definition of Obtuse: Annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand. Hmmm. Pot>Kettle. There are obviously two groups of people reading these posts. Some, like yourself, are here to have an intellectual discussion of the case. Unfortunately, others are here to learn what they can about the facts of the case, as they have been directly affected by it, and have no other source of information at this time. Although you may be factually correct, is it absolutely necessary for you to prove that point to someone who is obviously distressed about seeing their loved one being bantered about as a statistic. “Try a funeral home web site”? Come on buddy, please be a little less “obtuse” yourself.
Maybe a grieving family member should not be reading the comments of a newspaper article if they are so easily offended. If they want to see only the nicest thoughts possible, have their funeral home open up a memorial webpage for that only purpose. It is a very common thing to be done.
Otherwise, they should stop complaining because people are not showering them with condolences and pity.
Thanks for the segue to a point I’d hoped to make here. One common theme I’ve discovered points to a personality disorder that may help potential victims understand what they are dealing with. Although this may or may not apply to this case, some of the information in this article may be helpful to others: http://www.melanietoniaevans.com/articles/narcissism-understood.htm