BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — The case against a Battle Creek landlord accused of killing his two tenants is now in the hands of the jury.
Chad Allen Reed’s murder trial started this week.
Investigators say 56-year-old Reed killed 34-year-old Joseph Soule and his girlfriend, 31-year-old Jaclyn Lepird, in October 2020.
Reed previously admitted to killing the pair; however, he claims it was in self-defense and told detectives that Soule pulled a knife on him, so he shot him.
Additionally, investigators say Reed told them he shot Lepird as she tried to run out of the house. They say Reed also admitted to beating and strangling her in the backyard.
Prosecutors continued to present their case to the jury Wednesday, revealing photos and videos taken during the search for the couple that was, at first, reported missing by a friend.
Closing arguments concluded Thursday.
"There was no evidence of planning before the killing. There was no evidence of him gathering belongings before the killing. There was nothing," defense attorneys said. "Hiding the bodies— that says nothing about the how. That says nothing about the why. And that says nothing about the reason. That just tells us that somebody lost their brain. But none of us have killed because thankfully, none of us have been threatened like that."
"All the facts, taken as a whole, paint a very clear picture— the defendant, Chad Reed, brutally murdered Jaclyn Lepird and Joseph Soule. He planned it. He intended it," prosecutors argued. "It doesn't matter how far in advance he planned it, if it happened in a split second, he did it. He's guilty of first-degree premeditated murder."
Jurors began deliberating Thursday afternoon.
