In the small town of Morris, Alabama, a seemingly tranquil evening in February 2015 was shattered by the violent death of 40-year-old Michael Earl Reese. On the night of February 18th, Michael was found deceased in his home on Banks Street, the victim of a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. The initial report came from his wife, Cindy Kaye Henderson Reese, who dialed 911 to report a possible robbery after returning from a trip to the grocery store. She claimed to have found a coffee table overturned and immediately sought help, apparently without discovering her husband's body near the back of the house.
However, the investigation soon turned from a robbery-homicide to a case of calculated murder. Detectives found no signs of forced entry, and nothing of value appeared to be missing from the residence. Their suspicion quickly fell upon Cindy Reese and her secret lover, Jeffery David Brown, who was the senior pastor at the Sardis Baptist Church where Cindy served as the music minister. Investigators uncovered evidence of a long-term affair between the two, which began in 2013, and determined that the motive for Michael's murder was their desire to be together. Within a month of Michael's death, both Cindy Reese and Jeffery Brown were arrested and charged with murder.
The subsequent legal proceedings unraveled the details of the deadly plot. Prosecutors argued that after attending an evening church service and getting dinner with her husband, Cindy Reese shot him upon their return home. They contended that she then went to a Piggly Wiggly to buy groceries and staged the robbery scene before calling the police. Cell phone records and GPS tracking implicated Jeffery Brown as being present at the time of the killing. In a significant turn of events, Jeffery Brown pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence and his testimony against Cindy. He testified that Cindy had spoken of killing her husband and had even asked him to hire a hitman. In 2017, Cindy Reese was found guilty of murder and sentenced to four decades in prison. An appeal filed on her behalf, citing insufficient evidence, was later denied.
