Why did police wait till the 23rd anniversary of the murder of David Reed to make an arrest?”
Aug 21, 2008 3:58 pm US/Eastern Arrest Made In Decades Old Murder Of Teen Police have arrested a man in the 1985 killing of a 13-year-old eastern Pennsylvania boy, who apparently was killed over stolen marijuana plants. Forty-three-year-old Joseph Geiger was charged today with murder in the death of David Reed, of Schuylkill Haven. Geiger is unemployed and lives nearby in Pottsville. He was arrested on the 23rd anniversary of Reed’s disappearance. In a 13-page affidavit, state police made a startling revelation: Reed was not simply a boy out for a bicycle ride who vanished one summer night. He was a pot-smoker who Geiger believed was stealing his marijuana plants. In interviews, Geiger gave changing stories, but police believe he confronted the boy about the missing marijuana plants after they went into a parked caboose to smoke pot. Geiger was 20 at the time. Police believe he punched Reed in the face, causing Reed to fall backward into a metal wall and possibly cracking the back of h
A former small-time drug dealer was charged Thursday with the 1985 murder of a 13-year-old he suspected of stealing his marijuana plants, police said in an account that eased lingering fears that the boy was randomly attacked while out riding his bike. Joseph Geiger, of Pottsville, was arrested on the 23rd anniversary of David Reed’s disappearance and charged with third-degree murder and abuse of a corpse. Geiger, who was 20 at the time of the killing, denied the charges and said he barely knew Reed. Until recently, the cause of Reed’s death had been undetermined. State police exhumed the body in January after a fresh round of interviews led them to conclude the brown-haired, blue-eyed teen was a victim of foul play. Police said Geiger and the teen went into a parked caboose in Schuylkill Haven to smoke pot and drink the night of Aug. 21, 1985. Geiger accused Reed of stealing his marijuana plants and then punched him in the face, causing him to fall backward and hit his head against a
