In March of 1989, the partially decomposed body of a woman was discovered near the Beaver Brook trailhead on Lookout Mountain in Jefferson County, Colorado. For years, her identity remained a mystery, and she was buried in a Golden cemetery as a 'Jane Doe'. It wasn't until October 2005 that a breakthrough in the cold case occurred. Investigators were able to identify the woman as 33-year-old Lisa Kay Kelly through a resubmission of her fingerprints.
The investigation into her death led
authorities to Billy Edwin Reid, who was already in custody on unrelated charges. In August 2006, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office announced their intention to pursue murder charges against Reid in connection with Kelly's death. Reid had been arrested in May of that year for the murder of another woman, 28-year-old Lanell Williams, whose body was found in Clear Creek Canyon in October 1989.
Reid was subsequently charged with the killing of Lisa Kay Kelly. Investigators believed Reid, a transient who traveled between California and Colorado, might be connected to other similar crimes in the Denver metro area. In 2008, a jury convicted Billy Edwin Reid of the murders of both Lisa Kay Kelly and Lanell Williams. He was sentenced to life in prison. Authorities have also considered Reid a suspect in the murders of at least 17 other women in the Denver area between 1975 and 1995.
