Paul Dennis Reid
Also known as: Fast Food Killer, Paul Dennis Reid Jr.
- Active
- 1997–1997
- Region
- Nashville and Clarksville, Tennessee, USA
- State
- TN
- Kind
- Serial
- Status
- Convicted
- Victims
- 7
In the spring of 1997, Paul Dennis Reid, a Texas parolee who had moved to Nashville hoping for a country music career, killed seven fast-food workers in three robberies: two at a Captain D's in Donelson in February, three at a McDonald's in Hermitage in March, and two young women abducted from a Baskin-Robbins in Clarksville in April, whose bodies were found at Dunbar Cave State Natural Area. A fourth McDonald's employee survived and testified. Reid was arrested in June 1997 after trying to kidnap the Shoney's manager who had fired him. He was convicted of seven murders in three trials and received seven death sentences, a Tennessee record. He died of natural causes in a Nashville hospital in 2013 while still on death row.
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Victims
We remember the people whose lives were taken.
- Sarah Jackson, 16 · February 16, 1997
A Captain D's employee.
- Steve Hampton, 25 · February 16, 1997
The Captain D's manager.
- Andrea Brown, 17 · March 23, 1997
A McDonald's employee.
- Ronald Santiago, 27 · March 23, 1997
A McDonald's employee.
- Robert A. Sewell Jr., 23 · March 23, 1997
A McDonald's employee.
- Angela Holmes, 21 · April 23, 1997
Of Clarksville; abducted from the Baskin-Robbins.
- Michelle Mace, 16 · April 23, 1997
Of Clarksville; abducted from the Baskin-Robbins.
Timeline of locations
- February 16, 1997Captain D's, Donelson (Crime scene, approximate area)
Reid shot two workers during a robbery of the restaurant, not far from the Shoney's that had fired him the day before. Mapped at city precision.
- March 23, 1997McDonald's, Hermitage (Crime scene, approximate area)
About a month later, during a late-night robbery a few miles from the Captain D's, Reid killed three employees. A fourth survived serious stab wounds by pretending to be dead. Mapped at city precision.
- April 23, 1997Baskin-Robbins, Clarksville (Abduction, approximate area)
Reid robbed the ice cream shop and abducted two employees, Angela Holmes and Michelle Mace. Mapped at city precision.
- April 24, 1997Dunbar Cave State Natural Area, Clarksville (Recovery site, approximate area)
The two young women's bodies were found in the park the next day.
- June 1997Arrest, Nashville (Arrest, approximate area)
Reid was arrested soon after he tried, on June 1, 1997, to kidnap at gunpoint the Shoney's manager who had fired him; the manager escaped.
- 1999Court proceedings, Clarksville (Court / trial, approximate area)
Reid was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of Angela Holmes and Michelle Mace; the court in Clarksville also held a competency hearing in 2008. Mapped at city precision.
- April 1999Court proceedings, Nashville (Court / trial, approximate area)
Reid was convicted of the Captain D's and McDonald's murders, with juries brought in from other parts of the state; his first two death sentences came in April 1999. A Nashville court held a competency hearing in 2008. Mapped at city precision.
- November 1, 2013Nashville General Hospital at Meharry (Other, approximate area)
Reid died here on November 1, 2013, aged 55, after about two weeks in the hospital, while on death row.
Active at the same time, nearby
- Michael Carneal · both active in 1997, 142 km apart · map both
A coincidence of time and place, not a connection. All overlaps
Sources
Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.