David Wellington Reed (17 January 1972 – 21 August 1985) was a 13-year-old boy in the seventh grade at Schuylkill Haven Area Middle School, who was murdered in 1985 by then 20-year-old Joseph "Joe" Geiger in Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania, United States, over Geiger's stolen illegally grown cannabis plants.
[citation needed] Reed's death remained unsolved for 23 years, until the case was reopened in 2005 by the Schuylkill Haven police department.
Geiger was arrested in 2008 on the 23rd anniversary of Reed's death and was found guilty of third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, evidence tampering, and abuse of corpse, among other offenses.
[3] On the night of August 21, 1985, 13-year-old Reed left home on his bicycle to meet up with friends 20-year-old Joe Geiger and 14-year-old John F. Fry, Jr., to drink beer and smoke marijuana in an abandoned caboose at the local train station.
[4] In December 1985, Geiger reported to the Schuylkill Haven police department that—over the course of 3 to 4 months—his two pet dogs had been retrieving bones from the woods in Cressona, where he often allowed them to play.
Although they did report that the death seemed "suspicious," they were satisfied with a coroner's at the University of Penn's conclusion that Reed plausibly had died of previously undiagnosed diabetes complications upon autopsy.
The surviving members of the Reed family were pleased with the decision to officially reopen the case, saying that the original investigation had been "inadequate.
[3][5] Fry, then 37, confessed to police that he believes he was an eyewitness to the murder of Reed, and gave the investigators his side of the story.
He also admitted he had previously lied to the police about his whereabouts and knowledge of Reed's disappearance and death in the initial investigation.
Upon receipt of the Order by Judge Jacqueline Russell, Reed was exhumed from his resting place at Schuylkill Memorial Park to have a second autopsy done on January 24 of 2008.
[4] The autopsy was done by Dr. Anthony Falsetti, an anthropologist at the University of Florida, who concluded that Reed had actually died of head trauma and noted that his skull was fractured.