Montana News

Details emerge in Victor arrest of 1996 WA murder suspect

Posted: Dec 4, 2012 7:09 PM by Irina Cates - KPAX News

MISSOULA - A cold case dating to 1996 in Washington State may have reached a climax in the Bitterroot as a Victor man was arrested at a local business for the murder of a woman who was once his co-worker.

Ravalli County and Seattle detectives grabbed Clifford Reed, 59, on Monday afternoon and he's behind bars in Hamilton, where he's being held on $5 million bail.

Reed appeared in front of a Ravalli County District Court judge on Tuesday where he was read his rights, but he refused to tell the judge his name. That move means prosecutors now have to prove the man who appeared in court is the man wanted by Washington authorities.

Reed is accused of killing Sandi Johnson, who was 28 when she disappeared in April of 1996. Her skeletal remains were finally found along a Washington state highway in 2004.

Seattle cold case detectives say the evidence they have now is not any different than what they had when they arrested him in 1997, but back then they didn't have a body.

"We had a lot of hairs, a lot of DNA tested, carpeting from his apartment tested. We had her car gone through. It was gone through a couple of times by lab personnel. [The] items [were] collected from the car and tested at the lab," explained Det. Jim Allen with the King County Sheriff's Office.

Allen is asking for help in this investigation from anyone in our area who knows Reed, including friends and ex-girlfriends. He can be reached at (206) 263.2092 or (206) 510.9450.