I agree, it's not one of the angles that I have looked into much (until now). But it definitely requires more consideration.
To start with though I think we should establish one thing, if Reed's disappearance was related to a sexual assault then it definitely was NOT a paedophile. Despite the media (and often LE too) referring to anyone who commits a sexual act with a minor as a paedophile this is not the case. A paedophile specifically targets pre-pubescent children (13 years is the maximum age range). I do think it is an important distiction because the M.O. of a paedophile will be very different to the M.O. of someone targetting a mid-late teens. We are not looking at some creep hanging around playgrounds waiting to snatch little kids. No, this person will likely have played a longer game, potentially grooming and building a relationship with his victims.
So below I have tried to build a potentil profile of what I think this person would have been like. This is based on an attack that may have had a sexual motive, rather than just outright murder.
Ok so I think there are 2 possible personality types that we are dealing with here, either:
1) A person who has an uncontrollable, probably violent, sexual desire for young men/teens
OR
2) A gay man, who, for some reason, is unable to meet men of his own age/sexual preference and therefore possibly uses his position to seduce young men/teens.
Now with option 1 I would expect to have seen more crimes of this nature committed in the area, or similar crimes elsewhere (potentially there was a serial violent rapist and murderer and the links have just not been picked up as being committed by 1 person)
With option 2 (which I personally feel is more likely) I think that we may be looking at a gay man who was unable to express his sexuality for some reason such as: he was married, he lived with his parents, he was high up in the church. He may have been in a position of authority (teacher, coach, priest, scout leader...) and used this position to seduce young men. If this is the case then murder was probably not the aim of an encounter with Reed, but something happened that led to Reed's death.
Concentrating on option 2, I have tentatively created the below potential profile:
- Almost certainly male
- Gay, but not openly. Apart from the year being a major factor I think there was something else that prevented this person meeting other men in the usual ways that they did in 1964, so this person may have been:
-Married
-Lived with parents/family
-High up in the church
I think they are aged between 20-40 and most likely 25-35. This is because I think they needed to be young enough to have something in common with the young men but also be older than them.
This person would have been local and was most probably on Reed's paper round. Reed would have known this person well enough to engage in conversation and possibly was even Reed's coach, scout leader, teacher, a friend's parent or another person in a position of authority.
I think it is likely that this person had previously had sexual contact with other young men in the area(possibly even Reed's friends). These encounters may have gone unreported because either the boys were too embarrassed or they had been willing (either they were gay themselves, they had been seduced or had been willing participants)-this happens alot more than is generally realised/reported amongst young men especially with confused and sexually active teens.
This person probably had something he used as an opener to talk to and get close to the young men, so for instance he may have had- a cool car, expensive music system, animals, *advertiser censored* magazines or possibly a camera (it was very common for someone to show their camera, offer to take modelling photos and then use this as a means to initiate sexual contact-in fact I believe a couple if serial killers used this technique)
I think this person had to have their own vehicle OR a property with alot of land. Because Reed was either transported elsewhere to some very secluded spot, or was buried on the grounds of someone's home.
Anyway, if we imagine Reed being lured into this guys house for whatever reason. But it did not go as planned. Possibly Reed refused any advances and threatened to expose this man and was murdered as a result. There could also be many other scenarios; for instance this person could have used drugs on Reed which killed him.
We also need to consider the theory that Reed went willingly to meet this person and had met them before; it may explain Jon's/Reed's friend's behaviour. You would think they would want to name the person, unless it was more important to protect Reed's memory from any action perceieved as damaging to him/the family.
Reed may also have been sex-trafficked (although I don't know if this was even a thing in the 60's?)
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