BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) — A landlord who regularly argued with two tenants is accused of killing them and stashing their bodies in the back of his truck, police said.
Chad Reed confessed to investigators Thursday, eight days after Joseph Soule, 34, and girlfriend Jaclyn Lepird, 31, were last seen, Battle Creek Det. Sgt. Joel Case said.
Reed, 53, told police that he shot Soule in self-defense and shot Lepird as she tried to run from the house, Case told the Battle Creek Enquirer.
The bodies were wrapped in plastic and in a truck.
“As family and friends came over checking on them, he decided he needed to move the bodies and still had the bodies in the pickup and moved it to the abandoned garage and closed it off,” Case said.
Friends told police that Reed didn’t get along with Soule and Lepird, who lived upstairs.
“They had arguments about money and arguments about you name it. ... They liked to party and keep him up at night,” Case said. “He had another bad night’s sleep and couldn’t sleep because of the noise going on.”
Reed was in the Calhoun County jail. He hasn’t appeared in court yet and doesn’t have a lawyer who could comment on the allegations.
