BROOKVILLE, Pa. – A man who police say killed his 74-year-old parents to avoid going to rehab was charged with murder Thursday after he tried to enter Canada.
Richard Reed, 44, was stopped late Wednesday after a Canadian customs officer in Fort Erie, Ontario — across the border from Buffalo, N.Y. — noticed that the car Reed said belonged to him was actually leased to his mother, authorities said.
Upon further questioning, Reed allegedly told the officers he had shot his father, John Reed, and then his mother, Mary Lou Reed, in their Brookville home late last week after they tried to persuade him to return to rehab to treat his alcoholism.
The bodies were found after border agents alerted police in Brookville, which is about 70 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Jamie Levier said it was unclear exactly when the Reeds died. An autopsy will be conducted.
Reed said that after the killings he spent "a couple of nights" in a hotel west of Brookville in Clarion before trying to enter Canada, according to court documents.
Reed was in custody in New York. He was awaiting extradition Thursday afternoon, Levier said.
Reed initially told customs officers in Fort Erie he was on vacation, but confessed to the killings when a .38-caliber handgun was found in the car, along with rings, wedding bands, $1,980 in cash and his mother's driver's license, authorities said.
After confessing, Reed allegedly told the officers he was running to avoid being caught.
"I guess that didn't work," he is quoted as saying to the officers.
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