Murder With My Husband - 338. The Double Wedding Killing - The Murder of Thad Reynolds

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

On this episode, Payton and Garrett dive into the case of Thad Reynolds and his relationship with high school sweetheart Michelle. After divorcing and eventually remarrying, the couple’s second chance at love becomes entangled in a deadly love triangle. Links: Netflix Video Every Monday @11am PST, 12pm MST, 2pm EST 1pm CST https://www.netflix.com/murderwithmyhusband Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband NEW MERCH LINK: https://mwmhshop.com Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case Sources: NBCNews.com - https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna37321880 NewsBreak.com - https://www.newsbreak.com/comingsoon-1584027/3540078454153-dateline-unforgettable-where-are-thad-reynolds-killers-now TheCinemaholic.com - https://thecinemaholic.com/thad-reynolds-murder-how-did-he-die-who-killed-him/ Oxygen.com - https://www.oxygen.com/dateline-unforgettable/crime-news/scotty-harper-michelle-reynolds-thad-murder WSBTV.com - https://www.wsbtv.com/news/woman-admits-killing-husband-in-love-triangle/241793877/ WFMYNews2.com - https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/rome-mans-wife-church-member-charged-in-fatal-stabbing/83-402328709 ThatsLife.com.au - https://www.thatslife.com.au/real-life/thad-reynolds-murder/ NorthWestGeorgianNews.com - https://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/richard-scott-harper-pleads-guilty-to-murde-local-new/article_60e37249-074f-5410-810f-6fe987a2377b.html Murderpedia.org - https://murderpedia.org/female.R/r/reynolds-michelle.htm Archive.org -https://archive.org/details/KNTV_20110730_040000_Dateline_NBC/start/300/end/360 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19-speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and Optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. You're listening to an Ono Media podcast.

Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Morland. And I'm Garrett Morland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. We have some beef right now. We're jumping right into it.

Go ahead, babe. I just told Garrett, we were at a work lunch before this, like lunch meeting. I'm pissed. I'm so mad right now. I don't even know what it was. I couldn't have anything. It happens so fast. And Garrett's like talking and I look over.

And I, I. I can see this like bugger slowly. It was hard. It was hard. I can see it like slowly moving out of your nose and I'm like, oh, I'm going to tell him, but I'm going to wait for him to finish talking obviously because like everyone's looking at you. You just keep going.

You just keep talking with so much passion. Flies out of your notes and onto the floor. That makes me so mad because listen, it bugs me when I'm talking to you or I'm talking to somebody and like I have something in my teeth. And nobody tells me. That's me. I've mentioned this before. Or if I have a booger in my nose, tell me.

You're like, hey, dude, you got a booger nose. Hey, did you got something in your teeth? I don't tell anyone. Because I just hate when I'm talking to someone, I'm like, wait, they're staring at something on me right now. I can just tell. Well, he couldn't see it like, it was in my nostril view, not his. But when it flew out, then he couldn't see this. Do you think he saw it?

I don't know. Did you see him look down? Passionately. You were like, bagels. Did you see him look down? No. Oh, my gosh. And the worst part is I was like, whatever.

Oh, that thing's like inching out. I'm going to tell him. Why didn't you just tap my leg and like Gary? You got a booger in your nose. Because you were like talking. Yeah. Anyways. Okay, that's fine.

No big deal. It was a crusty sucker. Ew. Well, it would have been worse if it wasn't crusty and it flew. I would have stuck to the table or something. What if it flew in my food? You're sushi. That's crazy.

Oh, my sushi wasn't that great, but my chicken was. I just had chicken and rice, the yush. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I guess that's my 10 seconds. That's fine. Good 10 seconds. Thank you for listening.

Thank you for watching. Thank you for supporting us. Reminder, we have bonus episodes. Reminder, Payton's also having a baby here pretty soon. Pretty soon. Technically us. I say pain, but it's us. Well, I'm having the baby.

I'm the father. and you're taking care of it and you are not the father you are the father but i am the father i know i've been working slowly to try to get ahead so i can take a little bit of maternity leave but i haven't made much progress over here on murder with my husband so we really have it you guys might be seeing me literally days after i give birth no we're going to get ahead because payton needs uh Payton needs a couple, paint needs a little bit off. I mean,

we're getting there. Everything else is going good. We hope you guys are doing well. Anything else you guys got for us? I got nothing for you. You got anything for me? If you got nothing, then we're going to jump into this week's case.

That we do it? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. Our sources for this episode are NBCNews.com, newsbreak.com, thecinemaholic.com, oxygen.com, WSbbbTV,

WFMI, News 2. dot com. That's life.com.com.A.U. Northwestgeannews.com and murderpedia. Sometimes life gives us second chances. An opportunity to turn things around, learn from our mistakes, and make better choices the next time around. A lot of people see second chances as a gift, but I'm not so sure that's always the case. Sometimes the universe steps in for a reason, says, hey, maybe. this wasn't meant to be. Don't take the second chance. Maybe it's time to move on. And when that happens, I think it's important to listen because there's usually a reason why things didn't turn out right the first time.

Maybe we ignored the warning signs. Maybe we convinced ourselves things would be different. Maybe we told ourselves what hurt us once surely couldn't hurt us again. So no, a second chance doesn't always mean redemption. Sometimes it's just giving the thing that hurt us a chance to actually finish the job. In today's case takes us to Rome, Georgia. Did you think I was going to say Italy? Rome, Georgia. This is a town about 75 miles north of Atlanta, a little hub in the Bible belt that centers heavily around strong family values and a dedication to the job. the church. And it's in this little town of Rome that Thad Reynolds has dedicated his life to. He grew up in Rome. He spent all 36 years of his life so far here. So that was a name that by 36, basically

everyone knew around town. And that's because as he was growing up, he was really involved in sports in high school. When he wasn't golfing or wrestling, he was one of the star players on the local football team. He even caught the attention of girls at the competing high schools, like a young, beautiful blonde cheerleader named Michelle Solens. Michelle couldn't keep her eyes off the boy in the number 15 jersey. When she ran into him at a school dance in the fall of 1985, the two were introduced formally and the rest was history.

It was a match made in all-American heaven. The cheerleader and the football player went on their first date at a tractor pole a short while later in this small town. What is that? Oh, a tractor pool. Yeah. Okay. And even though Thad's whole entire family was there, this first date was one for the history books. The two became known around Rome as Ken and Barbie.

The couple everyone wanted to be. But while Thad had a solid home life with a loving and churchgoing family, Michelle, his girl, friend's life behind closed doors wasn't exactly the object of envy. Michelle's parents separated when she was little and her father passed away when she was only 13 years old. And as a way to get through it all, Michelle's now single mother turned to the church to help her through the difficult time. And Michelle, at 13, turned to other people for a distraction. She loved to be the center of attention. It was like she knew from an early age just how far her looks could get her. She loved to be in the spotlight.

She loved having her photo taken. And just knew that when she walked into a room, she kind of was the center of it. So it was no surprise when she became Homecoming Queen in 1986. But even before that, it seemed like she really was just out to get everything she wanted. Her relationship with that moved quickly and just a few short months after day. dating in high school, Thad had given her his class ring to wear, which in 1986, it's a pretty big deal. This is a sign that he was devoted to her and planned to stay committed. The date was January 28, 1986. But not even an hour after putting that ring on Michelle's finger, the country

was rocked by some devastating news. That day, the Space Shuttle challenges. Challenger had exploded only 73 seconds after launching, killing every single astronaut on board. And in some twisted way, it was a metaphor of what their relationship would later become after putting this ring on this same day. But in the meantime, it seemed like smooth sailing for the young picture perfect couple. They went to prom together, Fad graduated. Michelle, with still one more year to go, took home the title of, homecoming queen. And after she graduated, the couple decided to make it official. They chose August 15th, 1987 to get married. Matching Thad's jersey and what they considered their shared lucky number.

So 15, that was his jersey number. This is their lucky number. They're getting married August 15th. In front of their loved ones, they tied the knot at the Hollywood Baptist Church, both of them just shy of 20 years old. And immediately, after getting married, the two get to work, building their lives together. Thad found work at a grocery store. He saved up for a house, vacations, a family, and they got all of it. Around 1992, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, they named Olivia. But after six years of marriage for these high school sweethearts, things get to be a bit rocky. Both ended up stepping out and cheating on one another. The foundation was now broken.

The trust seemed irreparable. It was at that point that Thad and Michelle realized, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe the Challenger crash was a bad omen after all. So they ended up getting divorced in 1993. Thad moved out and got an apartment. Michelle got a job working at an office. She begins dating other people.

but that he was having a harder time getting back on the horse. So instead, he took this time after the divorce to strengthen his connection with God, which, interestingly enough, him starting to focus on his connection with God somehow leads him back to Michelle. Okay. Okay, so they're divorced. She's also now having a hard time in the dating scene. And apparently this time apart, it made her realize maybe Thad, her high school boyfriend and ex-husband was the one for her. So soon they started spending holidays together again and then they actually end up going on family vacations.

And after some time, it was like the two had never even gotten divorced at all. They went to couples counseling and then finally in 1997 after four years apart, They decided that's it. We really are soulmates. We are meant for each other. So they went back to that same church they were first married at, Hollywood Baptist. And in front of the same friends and family members, they exchanged their vows for a second time. And now this time, their daughter Olivia, is looking on too.

And I'm only, I know I have some, like, chuckling in my voice. but it's more of like I'm a sucker for a love story. For remarriage? Yes. Like I'm not laughing in like this is ridiculous. I'm laughing in. I've actually heard of this happening before where people get divorced just to reconnect and like get remarried again.

Yeah. I feel like I've heard of it happening a few times. Seems like quite a bit of trauma just to go through, you know, just to get there. But who am I to judge? And for Olivia, this really felt like a kid's parent trap dream. I mean, she's like, oh, my gosh, my parents are back together. Even the local newspapers reported on this about how this estranged couple actually now found once again their happy ending. And after that, they built a new house right next door to Thad's family.

And over the years, they have three more daughters. Meanwhile, Thad felt he owed this second chance to his faith. And he made sure to pay it forward. He started volunteering as a deacon while Michelle homeschooled their four kids and volunteered at the Hollywood Baptist Church as well. She helped organize some of their dance and theater productions. And Thad also got a pretty well-paying job at the Frito Lay Corporation. and he began climbing the ladder over there. Oh my gosh.

You know what I love? The frito, the chili cheese fritos. Oh, I used to eat those. You don't eat those and you like them anymore? I haven't had them in so long. They're good. That was very middle school. Those are good.

That and hot Cheetos. Oh, I can't eat hot Cheetos anymore. Those wreck me. I'm too old for those. Low-key and middle school, I think my fingertips were always red. Yeah, but the fritos, oh my gosh. Honestly, fritos are, I feel like kind of underrated. They're pretty good.

Anyways, we can keep going. I have Fritos at home with Daisy's paws. True. That is a good point. But by 2004, that was so invested in the church that he was actually considering becoming a minister full time. And this is something that I actually gave Michelle some cause for concern because this would mean a pretty big change in their lifestyle, since it would take that away from the family

more for missionary trips. And it also meant less income to the family if he were to leave his job at Frito Le. So a pretty big change. Not to mention, Michelle, after all these years, after going to this same church forever, was starting to feel a little bit over the area of Rome, Georgia. Her dreams weren't never really with the church.

That was mostly that. She wanted to move somewhere more remote, like the smoky mountains and live in a cabin. maybe open some sort of bed and breakfast. In fact, the Reynolds had already talked about it and even qualified for a place that was unfortunately scooped up before they could even officially put in an offer. But between this, Thad's deeper commitment to the church

and the overall grind of daily life, Michelle once again starts to feel restless in this marriage. She begins to tell her friends, she's feeling a little bit ignored by Thad, second fiddle to the church and his duties there. But before Michelle and Thad could even speak about another separation at this point in their marriage, something happened that actually made the decision for them. So it's July 5th, 2004, now in our story.

And that morning, Thad Reynolds wakes up after the holiday weekend to return to work. He gets to his job at the Frito-Lay warehouse around 6 a.m. His friends said he actually liked to go there bright and early so he could get his work done and then be home for the kids by early afternoon. But that day, Thad never really gets to settle into his workday because a short while later, his coworker finds Thad bleeding out on the floor of his office at the Frito Lay warehouse. Okay. So this coworker immediately calls 911. He tells the operator that Thad appears to have been attacked, possibly six. stabbed to death. And so authorities rush over to the scene. Now, Rome, Georgia is not the kind of

place that you would expect to see something like this. If they have two murders a year, that's considered a lot. Yeah. But what happened to that is clearly no accident when responders get there. Detectives show up and they discover that Thad had been stabbed at least a dozen times in his office. Well, I mean, there's obviously going to be cameras. You're in a very big company. Yeah. It's going to be cameras. We're going to know who it is.

So curious to see what happens. I realize I didn't say he had succumbed to his wounds by the time. Oh, so he's dead. Yes, he's dead. Okay. His autopsy later counted 19 stab wounds. Jeez, a weeas, man. Come on.

And whoever did this really, they did a sloppy job because there is. evidence all over this crime scene. For starters, they find that the sheath of a hunting knife not far from where Thad's body is discovered. There's also a pair of broken prescription glasses on the ground nearby. And they aren't Thads, but they do have his blood all over them. So, you know, they know it was part of the crime. And when they speak to witnesses, a few people say they think they actually saw the assailant rip out of the parking law around the time the crime was committed. Apparently, they were driving recklessly and driving a burgundy reddish minivan. Because you have to keep in mind, like this isn't a public, I mean, yes, it's his private office

and earlier in the morning, but this is still a public place. Like people, it's still a workday. Interesting, yeah. So detectives are thinking, well, this shouldn't be too hard to solve, we have quite the assortment of clues here. And this doesn't seem like some random robbery. Nothing was taken from Thad. His wallet was still on his body. Plus, the warehouse wasn't the kind of place that left massive amounts of cash laying around. Like nothing really seemed stolen. And the brutality of the attack doesn't fit the ammo for a Fridolae warehouse robbery either. So that motive just isn't adding up, which was a... why investigators felt, despite being murdered in his office, this murder was actually very personal.

Now, later that day, the police have the unthinkable task of breaking the news to Thad's family. They show up at Michelle's home, knock on the door to tell her, hi, your husband's been found stabbed to death at work. Now, meanwhile, Thad's mother learns about it while she is still at work, So she and Thad's sister race over to Michelle's house to console one another, be there for Michelle and his four daughters. And they say Michelle is totally in shock, like in a trance. Okay. They end up calling for an emergency prayer group that night at the Hollywood Baptist Church.

And meanwhile, the police are trying to dig deeper into who might have wanted Thad dead. You know, the typical, we need to learn everything about him. So the following day, they asked the. public for help. They say the suspect, they believe, was spotted fleeing the scene in a red minivan. And if anyone noticed anything between the hours of 430 and 6.30 a.m. in the area to please just give a call. Like, nothing's too small. And somebody does. It's a man who works at the Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia. He was stationed in the tech department and had the job of switching the company over to a new phone system.

Okay. One day, not too long ago, he said he was working on the phone lines when he overheard a colleague having an intimate conversation with someone who clearly was not his spouse. So he's calling in with workplace drama. He's like, let me tell you this story. And he said, this same colleague who I think I literally caught on the phone lines cheating on his wife, well, he actually happens to drive a red minivan, exactly like the one police on the news said they were searching for. I was going to say, there can't be too many people there that have a red

minivan. Right. And his name was Scott Harper. And it's not just the red minivan that makes this person call. He says, I actually have more details about this because it's not just that I overheard Scott talking and he drives a red minivan. The person that he was having that intimate conversation with with his wife was with the victim's wife. Oh my gosh. Michelle Reynolds. You're lying. So I mean, this is an insane tip. Like when he calls over and he's like, listen, it's my job. I was working on the phone lines. Like this has nothing to do with the Frito-Lay warehouse. But it has everything to do with the victim because this guy, he drives a red minivan and I definitely heard him having an intimate conversation with the victim's wife. The amount of cases that we cover where someone is murdered

because of cheating or a relationship or something along the lines, insane. And it just so many. You know the other week when you were saying how many people out there do you think are capable of murder? Oh, a lot. Unfortunately. If it comes to a love triangle, way more than I think we think. I'm not saying that's what's happening here. I'm not saying that's what's happening here. The psychology, having a connection to someone is so interesting because people freak out. Well, also betrayal. People freak out. Like there's a whole other level to it, which is just betrayal is traumatizing.

But I mean like people will kill for people that. To have an affair. Yes, that's what I mean. Like the emotion, like the psychology around it is just kind of mind blowing to me. Because I'm like, I'm not going to kill anyone. Like Chris Watts murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters to be with a mistress. But it happens so much. Yeah.

Happens so much. It sounds unbelievable. But it happens all the time. Yeah. Like, what is wrong with you guys? Yeah. So let's talk. There's a lot of fish in the sea.

Yeah. Like, and divorce. Realistically, there's a lot of fish in the sea. Move on. It is interesting. Yeah. Because whether it's that way or the other way of like you cheated on me and now I'm going to kill the girl or the guy. I just move on.

I don't know. Yeah, anyways. So let's talk about Scott Harper for a second, the guy, okay? He also happened to be a volunteer deacon at the church alongside Thad Reynolds. But he had since been promoted to family pastor. Nice. Now we have some church drama. And in many ways, he and his wife, Paige, actually lived pretty similar lives to the Reynolds.

He's married, too? Mm-hmm. Oh. They also live next door to their parents in Rome, Georgia. They had three little girls and they were heavily involved in the Hollywood Baptist Church, which is where Thad is spending a lot of his time and where him and Michelle got married twice. Now, like Thad, Scott also had another full-time job. After doing a tour in the Air Force with the Combat Communications Unit,

he got a job working in the telecommunications department at Floyd Medical Center. Now, outside of their jobs and civic duties, the two families were actually pretty close to. So it's not like Thad doesn't really know Scott. They were always attending the same prayer groups together, the same barbecues. They had even gone on family camping trips together. But Thad didn't just see Scott as a good friend. He also saw him as a role model, someone who he genuinely admired and whose trajectory with the church was worth modeling himself off of. However, their wives, Paige and Michelle, never quite

formed the same kind of bond as the husbands did. Michelle always sensed that Paige was a bit jealous of her, especially when Michelle and Scott started working closer through their church programs, Michelle, as part of the church's theater program, started teaming up with Scott, since he was the youth pastor at the time. That meant more meetings, phone calls, email exchanges. And that's also how Michelle learned that Scott actually went to the same high school as her and was just two years younger. So the reason the girls aren't besties is because Michelle is like, she's jealous. I spend so much time with her husband, even though our families are family friends. But again, like Thad and Michelle, Scott and Page were also having some rough patches in their marriage, apparently.

In fact, Scott had started going to Thad for marriage counseling and had even confided in him. Oh my gosh. This is horrible. This is ridiculous. This annoys me. Well, okay, so Scott goes to Thad, you know, for marriage counseling. He confides in Thad about something that leaves Thad a little unsettled. Scott tells Thad during marriage counseling, I actually think your wife, Michelle, is the perfect wife. And I wish my wife, Paige, was more like her. What is it wrong with people? So when Thad is, when Thad's good old buddy friend comes to him and says, I'm unhappy in my marriage or I'm having troubles, and I actually just wish your wife was my wife or, you know, my wife was more like your wife.

So then after this, Thad goes to Michelle and he's like, I know these are our couple friends. I know we go to church with them. I am not comfortable with you being around Scott, at least not alone. Because Thad knows, Scott just admitted this to him. and he's like, listen, I don't have any reason. Something just fills off. But Michelle, she couldn't avoid him forever. A lot of her work at the church required to be around Scott, have his input and help. And Paige begins to sense that her husband, who she is having marital issues with, might also have some feelings for Michelle. Now, not too long before this, the couples had actually taken.

a rafting trip together and page felt on this trip Michelle and Scott were being a little bit too flirty turns out her instincts were right and so was thads and by may 2004 things were heating up further it was around this time that Michelle said she started to feel neglected by thad that she was second fiddle to the church so as Scott starts laying it on according to Michelle she really I actually like the attention from him. From there, the vacation flirting turns into emails and messages of the two complimenting each other. They go to church together. They're serving together.

Things get sexier. Dang, emails. Which I just want to let you know. Some of these emails they would send had positions they would like to try. Okay. Cool. Good for them. productive emails.

Uh-huh. Now, before long, the two are meeting up in the parking garage as Scott's work, getting in the backseat of his car together. And that was that. They are having a full-blown affair. Okay. Okay. Just taking the reality of this entire situation and everything that's happened.

And apparently this affair was really intense. Scott was falling for Michelle hard. Part of him reliving the high school experience he never got to have. He's stilling the homecoming queen away. from the star football player. Oh, my gosh. That's so cringy. I'm not going to lie.

And what was at first a once-in-a-while meet-up turned into an everyday affair? They would tell their spouses they were going to the gym, and then they would meet up at a motel down the street from the church, where Michelle and Thad got married twice. If Scott and Michelle weren't together, they were emailing or on the phone with each other. After just a month together, they were already talking about leaving their spouse. to run off with each other. They even spoke about Portland, about moving there, starting a new life there. But Michelle told Scott,

I don't think I'm going to be able to leave that without like a fight going down. After everything they'd been through, she's like, I don't think he's just going to walk away this time, especially now that he was a leading figure in their church and wanted to center his career around it. I've heard of this before, but getting divorced once, let alone a second time, would definitely go against church values and what he believed in and what he stood for. And that's when Michelle made one memorable comment to Scott.

She said, quote, if you want me as your bride, you're probably just going to have to outlive that. Okay. Now, of course, Scott's coworker didn't have everything I just told you, all of these juicy details. to share with the police, but... They figured it out pretty quickly, I imagine. I mean, he had overheard one of those steamy phone calls at the height of the affair, obviously. So between that and Scott's red minivan and Thad being murdered,

he's like, I feel like I have to call you. Yeah. I feel like I needed to call you and let you know. And detectives are like, thank you, sir. This is a very reasonable lead. They keep digging into Scott to see if there's any connection. between him and the crime scene. And what they find is,

shortly after Thad was killed on July 5th, Scott went to the medical center where he worked with an injury on his right hand. They stitched him back up, but when his coworkers asked, yeah, come in, we'll do it, what happened. He said he had heard it at the gym that morning in a, quote, weightlifting accident.

So the day his mistress's husband is murdered, He needs stitches at work. But that's not all. Police also go to his place of work and discover all of the steamy emails that were exchanged between he and Michelle. They're still on his account. Remember, it's 2004.

So it's not like all of this was happening on a smartphone. And this is kind of ironic, considering Scott works in IT. You would expect him to, like, have deleted things off his computer and wiped it. Though, shockingly, this isn't even the worst of it.

as investigators dug deeper, they found that four days before the murder on July 1st, 2004, Scott had actually made a stop at a local Kmart. If you're listening to this, do you still have Kmart where you are? Is that still a thing?

Kmart, yeah. Kmart is. Kmart closed in my hometown. I thought they were still open in some places, but I don't know. I guess I haven't seen a Kmart in a long time. That place kind of feels like the backrooms a little bit. A little bit. Yeah.

I can see that. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19 speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and Optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary.

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matching the sheath that was left at the crime scene. And this is something that is confirmed on Kmart's security footage as well. So police are pretty sure they have their guy, right? On July 7th, detectives have Scott come down to the station for an interview. They didn't show all their cards immediately after getting this tip. They did some investigating first so that they would have something under their belt when they finally did interrogate him.

And one of the first things they ask him is, hey, where's your glasses? Don't you usually wear prescription lenses, like eyeglasses? And Scott doesn't have a good answer for this because his prescription glasses are sitting bloodied up in an evidence locker after being found at the crime scene. Okay. And the police also end up in pounding Scott's red minivan and taking it in for processing. Yeah. I mean, I feel like it's going to be pretty open and shut. So they do interrogate him.

They don't arrest him that night. They let him go home. But a day later, they do get their warrant. And Scott is arrested for the murder of Thad Reynolds' motive being that he wanted to be with Thad's wife. And shockingly, after getting arrested, he could. confesses. He admits to police that he stabbed Thad Reynolds 19 times, even saying, quote, I want what you got right before he did it. So when he's stabbing Thad right before killing him, he said, I want what you got talking about Michelle. But he insists to police, listen,

I know where you're going next. Michelle had nothing to do with this. He said she had no idea I was going to do this. She had no idea I was going to kill her husband. But the police aren't so sure that this is the case because the emails they found seemed to tell a little bit more detailed story. Now when Michelle is brought in for questioning, she does admit to the affair, but she's like, I had no idea he was going to kill my husband. However, there were a few people who said they found Michelle's behavior rather suspicious after she learned. about the news of the murder and not like, quote, oh, she wasn't crying.

That was weird. No, apparently Michelle was cracking jokes and just kind of saying some weirdly inappropriate things after hearing the news of her husband's death. That night, she allegedly even pulled out a brand new black dress from her closet that she had recently bought and told people, this is what I'm going to wear to his funeral. Which people are like, that's just so, like you just found out.

But I don't judge. I mean, I feel like I do judge. So anyways, I judge because I mean, if I found out you died, the last thing I would be thinking about is what I'm wearing to your funeral. Also, it's like she would have, I don't know, I feel like she probably knew that it was him

that did it after her husband dies. Like, you don't go, oh my gosh, who killed my husband? Oh, the guy you're probably sleeping with. And that you told, hey, you're going to have to outlive him. Exactly. Like, come on. Yeah. Yeah, that is the other thing.

Do you think she, okay, say in... No, she knew. She knew 100% right away. She knew. Hypothetically, she has no idea that Scott is going to kill Thad. You know. The second she finds out Thad's dead. The first thing that comes into your mind is, oh.

Does she immediately call him? I mean, I don't know if she calls him, but I think she knows. And that's only if she didn't know beforehand. Yeah, correct. So this is obviously just the opinions of those who were around Michelle. After she got the news. the truth and what she was really feeling about Thad's death, well, police find some of that information tucked away in messages to Scott.

Turns out, as they're reading through these messages, emails, they realized that Scott and Michelle were referencing their partners as, quote, Nats for some time. So obviously... Nats. not like gnats, they're like annoying little pesky. They're obviously not being very thoughtful of their partners. And from there, things escalated as Michelle joked with Scott on how she might be able to get rid of that.

She's like, maybe I can induce a heart attack by slathering extra butter on his food or make him a pasta dinner one night and poison the sauce. So she's openly having these conversations with Scott. and little by little, police notice in these emails that these conversations seemed to go from some type of weird twisted fantasy to a possible reality, especially after Michelle told Scott, listen, the only way we're going to ever be together is if you outlive my husband. Now, by June, again, the murder happened in July, Michelle's emails to Scott had shifted.

She started to tell him where Thad was going to be, and at what times he would be there. However, Michelle claimed this was just so that Scott could show up and finally tell that about the affair. Like when police confront her about this, she's like, no, I just wanted him to go tell him we were having an affair. But police obviously suspect there's more to it than that, that they were probably over the phone talking about killing him.

And then in emails, like following up the conversation without, like, specifically writing details. But it gets worse. I mean, as the weeks passed, nothing seemed to be done about Thad. Scott never showed up to tell him about the affair. And the emails show that Michelle is starting to get frustrated. By July 4th, the weekend, she, in emails, claims she's ready to cut things off with Scott because he hasn't confronted that. But she gave him one more chance. She said, listen, I'm telling you right now, Thad will show up to work the next morning at this. this time. And the night before, Scott then sent her something along the lines of quote, I'm ready for tomorrow. Stop me if you have any hesitation. And Michelle responded back. No hesitation.

I'm ready. Please be observant of your surroundings and be careful. I do want to spend time with you. I want to be your wife. And then less than 24 hours later. This is like a movie. Her husband was dead. That is insane. Now obviously these emails aren't going. Please. go kill my husband. There's obviously phone calls happening in between these, but please be observant of your surroundings when you're just having your boyfriend go tell your husband that he's your boyfriend. Yeah, I mean, I could see both sides and that, to be honest, like, because, like, I don't want a lot of people hearing what you're saying.

Like, I don't know if I necessarily would say it means kill. It literally fits for both, honestly. Stop me if you have any hesitation. Be careful. So, apparently that night, Scott called Michelle and told her what he had done. He said on this phone call, he wanted to confess it to the police, but Michelle told him to wait until after Thad's funeral, which she doesn't end up making it too, by the way. Because the same day that Scott Harper was arrested for murder, so was Michelle Reynolds. and now they were both facing the possibility of the death penalty.

So the cops and detectives, the DA, the state, they were like, we think we have enough to prove that she was somehow involved. Interesting. I don't think they do. So I'm curious to see how trial goes. Him saying, no, she didn't. And her saying, no, I didn't. Like this looks bad for me, but it really was just supposed to be him going to confront him.

I had no idea he was going to murder him. Okay. Now, while they had a confession from Scott, obviously, prosecutors knew Michelle's case was going to be a lot harder to try, mainly because there was nowhere in these emails that Michelle explicitly talked seriously about murdering her husband. She joked about trying to give him a heart attack. She never said, you should go stab him. Now, from the way everything was written, it really did seem like she could have just been pressuring Scott to confront Thad, with the truth instead, like we said. However, her behavior behind bars didn't exactly show a woman who, number one, just unknowingly

lost her husband to murder, and number two, was blindsided by her lover who committed that murder. In fact, Scott and Michelle keep in touch, and they continue on with the relationship behind bars. In recorded conversations, Michelle and Scott were caught asking each other what the other was wearing, Michelle jokingly said Orange. At one point she said to Scott quote, I don't believe that I've ever been loved

as much by somebody as I have by you and I mean that. So despite both being arrested from murdering her husband, it's not stopping this infatuation. That doesn't surprise me. They even were still talking about

ending up in Portland one day. As if even though he confess. Yeah. Yeah. But like, Like he confessed. Yeah. But there was one thing missing from every one of these conversations. And it was any proclamation of their innocence or admission of guilt from Michelle. So like they never addressed the subject of her knowing or not knowing.

However, there was one other clue detectives uncovered after her arrest that suggested. Maybe she wasn't oblivious to Scott's plans after all. turns out she had an insurance policy on thad one that would have given michel a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar payout however sources don't indicate when that policy was initiated or how close it was whose death and it's really not that unusual for people to have life insurance policies on their spouses so but prosecutors add it to the pile anyways and meanwhile detectives are trying to find more ammunition against scott turns out another employee in his house his IT department led detectives to a server room where they said Scott had been seen hiding some

stuff. And after removing one of the floor tiles at his work, okay, in this server room, they discover a treasure trove of evidence from the crime scene. Okay. Inside an old J.C. Penny's bag where the bloody clothes and shoes Scott had been wearing during the murder and the knife, the murder weapon, and a receipt for the murder weapon. Now, with this, this is obviously very open and shut with a confession and all of this being found. The prosecution comes up with another plan, one that might help them finally uncover Michelle's true role in all of this. So they went to Scott with all of the evidence and told him, hey, there's a good

chance you're going to get the death penalty. Like, this is open and shut. But if you agree, to a plea deal and testify in court against Michelle telling us the truth about if she knew about this, we will take the death penalty off the table. Interesting. It's so interesting because it's a great tactic. But we know nowadays death penalty hardly ever goes through. It's still scary. It's scary.

I get it, but it's like it wouldn't work anymore. That's a tactic. But also like they're not saying, hey, tell us the truth. and we'll take the death penalty off. They're saying, hey, tell us that she was involved. Yeah. Which is also hard, right? Yes.

It doesn't have to be the truth. But what do you think? What do you think he did? Oh, I don't think he did it. I think he's obsessed with her. This is all it took for Scott to betray his dream. Really? Wow. Okay.

Okay. In Scott's taped confession, he admitted to a conversation between him and Michelle, where she said, quote, when you talk with that, what if it gets ugly? And when he asked her what she meant by that, she replied, I love you. As long as I end up with you, I can deal with just about anything. Now, Scott said he took that to mean. She was willing to see Thad dead if it meant they could go on together,

which isn't exactly telling him to kill him, but also it doesn't look great either. He also claimed that after he told Michelle that he killed Thad, he heard relief in her voice, like this is what she wanted all along. Once Michelle got word that Scott was going to testify for the prosecution against her,

she also accepted a plea deal. She agreed to 10 years for voluntary manslaughter and another 10 years for being party to a crime of burglary for the fact that Scott entered the Frito-Lay warehouse that day to commit the crime.

Scott was ultimately sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Okay. And I hate to tell you this, but Michelle still maintains to this day that she never helped plan this. She never thought he was going to kill him. She thought he was going there to confront him about their affair. Okay. And she's like, I'm serving time for a crime.

I didn't even know what's going to happen. And Scott himself has said, well, she didn't explicitly tell me to do it, but she definitely felt like it was alluding to. it kind of. I'm actually a little surprised she got convicted. She took a plea deal. Yeah, like I'm kind of surprised that, I don't know. That she didn't just try her luck at trial? Yeah.

Yeah. I guess it's scary, right? But I will say, despite the fact that she, like, has now said, I'm, like, serving time for a crime I didn't commit. She still says she deserves this sentence anyway for simply having had the affair and, like, leading to this murder. Fair, yeah. She claims if she didn't even have the relationship with Scott, that would most likely still be here today. Oh, duh.

And so she's like, that's why I think I should serve time because I'm the root cause of this. And Scott, he kind of backs her up. After accepting the plea deal, he went back on his confession. So he accepts the plea deal to not get the death penalty. And then he comes out and says, uh, yeah, I just said that so I wouldn't get the death penalty. She literally didn't know about the murder at all.

Okay. He said instead he acted alone. He went to bed that night with plans to confront that about the affair the next morning. But when he approached that outside the warehouse, he asked him what he was doing there. And Scott replied, I want what you got. He then pulled out the knife and stabbed that without even thinking. He said he just did it over and over 19 times and then left that there to bleed out on his office floor. Oh, my.

I mean, it's horrible. Like, screw the guy. But also here's the thing. He deserves to rot in prison. If you were going there, not planning to kill him, why did you buy the murder weapon four days before? Yeah, I know, I agree. You bought it. It's not like you just brought it.

You bought it and brought it. Yeah. That feels premeditated. The double B, man. So anyways, he says, he does this. His employees find him later. And Scott said he didn't think it over. He says he just fled the scene in a panic, went to the ER to patch up his hand, since that did

fight back and then he called Michelle and told her what he had done. But unlike Michelle and Thad's relationship, Scott won't be getting any second chances, not at all. And not with Michelle. She's since written him off and chances are the two will never rekindle the romance that literally cost someone's life. Yeah. And that is the murder of Thad Reynolds. And isn't that always something we see in these cases where when they do murder for love and then they get? get to trial. They don't even end up together anyways. They don't even end up. Just crazy. Could you imagine? Just throwing away your entire life, your freedoms, everything. Just gone. He's gone. He's going to sit, it's going to sit in prison for the rest of his life. And what about Paige? His wife.

I know. Who's like, huh? Not only was my husband having an affair, but he murdered. He murdered a good friend of ours who also went to church with us. It's insane. Like the amount of people, the kids that this affected. No, it's crazy. It's crazy. Anyways, you guys, that was our story for today. Thank you for listening or watching to another one of our episodes. And we will see you next time. I love it.

I hate it. Goodbye. Don't you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know, the same way you can skip an ad? I get it. I'm Siaya and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. And today I'm still figuring it out.

Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll. So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride. Stream a new episode of North of North Tuesdays on CBC Gem.