BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — The Battle Creek Police Department says the landlord of a missing couple has confessed to their murder and to hiding their bodies.
Police announced the confession during a press conference Thursday.
Before Thursday, police said they had very little information on the missing couple, but they did believe their disappearance to be suspicious.
The couple's landlord, Chad Allan Reed, 53, is being charged with two counts of murder. Police said it started with a tip from a source who said Reed had confessed to the killings.
A short time later, Reed showed up to Battle Creek Police Department and turned himself in.
Reed did not get along with the couple and they had frequent arguments, according to police.
Police said Reed claims there was an altercation between him and the couple at their residence on Post Avenue on October 7, 2020.
Reed told police Joseph Soule, 34, pulled a knife on him, and he shot him in self-defense.
Reed said after the shot, Jaclyn Lepird, 31, tried to run out of the house. He said he shot her too, then beat and strangled her in the backyard.
"He did also tell us that he ended up wrapping them in plastic and put them in the back of his pickup truck. Sounds like they were actually left there at 203 Post Avenue for maybe a few days. Then as family members and friends started coming over and checking on them or looking for them, he decided that he needed to move the bodies, and he ended up moving his truck, that still had the bodies in it, over to another house in the Post-Addition where he found an abandoned garage. He parked the truck with the bodies inside of it and closed it off," said Detective Sergeant Joel Case with the Battle Creek Police Department.
The garage is located around the corner from Post Avenue at Marjorie Street and Lathrop Avenue.
Police said family and friends said there had been ongoing issues between the couple and Reed, including fights about money and noise issues.
Reed is in custody and is being charged with two counts of open murder.
The investigation is ongoing.
Watch the press conference:
