1979 Emma Brewer Unsolved Murder

[Tanningbed]

December 17, 1979, Emma Truitt Brewer, age 62, was found strangled to death in her apartment in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her granddaughter found her body on the floor. She had been strangled with hosiery and an electrical cord. Her hands were bound. The front door was ajar.

The main suspect in Emma's murder died several years ago. He had been a handy man for Emma. His name was Mitch Reed. He never confessed and was never charged.

Theory #1: Emma may have been killed in a robbery. This is unlikely because jewelry and a gun were found near the body.

Theory #2: Mitch Reed may have wanted to move in with Emma. He had only been in Knoxville about two weeks and may not have had a place to live. If Emma refused, he may have flown into a rage. Mitch was known to ask women if they would be his "old lady" and let him move in.

Theory #3: Perhaps Emma owed Mitch money for the work he had been doing, but couldn't afford to pay him. She lived in public housing. It was Christmas time, and she was probably in a bind. So, maybe he became enraged and killed her.

Theory #4: Emma may have been murdered because she saw something she wasn't supposed to see. She lived in Western Heights, a housing project where many people have been murdered over the years. A lot of criminal activity takes place at Western Heights. It is also close to two other rough neighborhoods. A lot of people from those neighborhoods go to Western Heights to commit crimes, and vice versa.

Two other murders occurred that weekend in close proximity, but police don't believe there was a connection.

 

[ghoulnextdoor]

More about the suspect Mitch Reed

Suspect knew how to keep his cool

Mitch Reed knew how to fend off any question, even under threat of the electric chair.

Knoxville Police Department Sgt. Ray Perry, now retired, faced him across the table a year before Peaches Shorts disappeared.

Perry learned Reed had worked for Brewer as a handyman and lived with her not long before her death. He'd hitchhiked to Knoxville the day she died and admitted he stood on Brewer's porch that night - just to say hello, he explained.

"This guy don't get shook up," Perry said. "He didn't get excited. He didn't get mad. I showed him some pictures he didn't want to look at, and he just sort of turned his head. I showed him the extension cord. I put it in his lap. He just sort of got a funny look.

"When he left the police department that day, I told him, 'I hope I hear you went out and hung yourself. You can get away with it now, but one day you've got to stand before your maker. You won't get out of it then.' "

Perry never made an arrest in Brewer's death. Years later, he stood on a corner downtown and heard a familiar voice call his name.

"I turned, and there was Mitch," Perry recalled. "Same as ever."

 

[ghoulnextdoor]

Turns out Mitch Reed is the main suspect in another cold case. This time for the strangulation of Avery Vernie "Peaches" Shorts in 1980.

Knoxville Police Department investigators settled on a single suspect within a day of the girl's disappearance. He smiled and laughed through every interrogation.

He never cracked, never confessed - never gave a team of detectives the break they needed to make their case.

"We tried so hard to get justice for that little girl," said Jim Winston, a retired KPD lieutenant who led the investigation for years. "For all practical purposes, we were able to solve the case. We just weren't able to put him away."

Police thought Mitchell Arvell Reed - or Mitchell Arvell Webb, as he's sometimes known - died years ago. They reopened the case this month after the News Sentinel tracked him down.

Detectives hadn't questioned Reed about the case in more than 20 years - until Friday night, when KPD investigators Ryan Flores and Lynn Clemons paid him a visit.

"He didn't have much to say," Stiles said. "He recalled it fairly well. He's changed his story on some things, but he's still adamant he was not involved. He told us we're barking up the wrong tree."

more about the murder here
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news...-charged-though-police-had-suspect/981134001/

 

[ghoulnextdoor]

Turns out Mitch Reed is the main suspect in another cold case. This time for the strangulation of Avery Vernie "Peaches" Shorts in 1980.

Knoxville Police Department investigators settled on a single suspect within a day of the girl's disappearance. He smiled and laughed through every interrogation.

He never cracked, never confessed - never gave a team of detectives the break they needed to make their case.

"We tried so hard to get justice for that little girl," said Jim Winston, a retired KPD lieutenant who led the investigation for years. "For all practical purposes, we were able to solve the case. We just weren't able to put him away."

Police thought Mitchell Arvell Reed - or Mitchell Arvell Webb, as he's sometimes known - died years ago. They reopened the case this month after the News Sentinel tracked him down.

Detectives hadn't questioned Reed about the case in more than 20 years - until Friday night, when KPD investigators Ryan Flores and Lynn Clemons paid him a visit.

"He didn't have much to say," Stiles said. "He recalled it fairly well. He's changed his story on some things, but he's still adamant he was not involved. He told us we're barking up the wrong tree."

more about the murder here
Who killed Peaches? Little girl's murderer never charged, though police had suspect