Man convicted of smothering East Ridge woman
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) – A Hamilton County jury has convicted a man of killing a 70-year-old woman for whom he had built a fence.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press (http://bit.ly/15hTzwl ) reported the jury took just three hours to find Randall Reed guilty of killing Jane Stokes in her East Ridge home in June 2011.
Within hours of Stokes’ body being discovered by a neighbor, ATM cameras captured images of Reed withdrawing money from her bank account. He turned himself in after news media ran the ATM photos.
Reed took the stand Wednesday and told the jury he didn’t kill Stokes, whose body was found with her head wrapped in cellophane and her wrists bound behind her back with zip ties.
Reed faces a life prison sentence, convicted of murder, theft and robbery.
