In the summer of 2019, the community of Henryetta, Oklahoma, was unsettled by the violent death of one of its residents, 36-year-old Edwin Dominic Reid. An Indian man, Reid was found deceased in a home on July 10, 2019, having suffered from multiple gunshot wounds. Neighbors in the area reported hearing what might have been gunshots the night before his body was discovered, piercing the quiet of the evening and foreshadowing the grim discovery to come.
The investigation into Reid's
death, noted as the first homicide in Henryetta in four years, quickly led law enforcement to a suspect. Glen Thomas West, a 33-year-old from the nearby town of Weleetka, was arrested in connection with the shooting. The case, which was investigated by the Henryetta Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was classified as a homicide, and murder charges were filed against West. Early in the investigation, there were indications that a second individual may have been involved, with reports that two people had been charged in the case.
As the legal process unfolded, the gravity of the crime became clearer. The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Glen Thomas West, at the age of 35, entered a guilty plea to a charge of Murder in Indian Country- Second Degree. The indictment alleged that on or around that fateful July day, within the bounds of Indian Country, West, who is also an Indian, unlawfully and with malice aforethought, killed Edwin Dominic Reid with a firearm. This plea brought a significant development to the case, steering it towards a conclusion, though the full story of all who were involved remained partially obscured.
