On a rainy Tuesday morning in May 2016, the life of 43-year-old Edwin Davis was tragically cut short. As he was leaving his home on Morgan Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey, to go to work shortly after 6:00 a.m., he was confronted by a man with a handgun. The armed assailant, in the course of a robbery, shot Davis once in the chest. A neighbor discovered his body in the backyard of his home about an hour later.
Emergency services were called, and Camden County Police officers found him lying on the ground at approximately 7:22 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene just ten minutes later.
The investigation into the death of the male victim quickly led authorities to a suspect. Allen Reed, a 41-year-old man from Camden, was arrested and charged with felony murder in connection with the fatal shooting. Evidence presented during the trial showed that Reed had been dropped off in the area by a friend that morning. Surveillance video captured him near Davis's residence and then hiding in a nearby apartment complex before being picked up by the same friend shortly after the shooting occurred at 6:07 a.m. Later that same morning, the vehicle Reed was a passenger in was pulled over by police.
A subsequent search of Reed's home uncovered wet clothing and a revolver with five live hollow nose bullets and one spent shell casing in his bedroom. Ballistic evidence confirmed that this was the weapon used to kill Edwin Davis. Following a seven-day trial, a jury found Allen Reed guilty of murder, robbery, felony murder, and several weapons charges. Citing Reed's extensive criminal history, which included ten prior felony convictions, a judge sentenced him to a life term of 75 years in prison. Under the terms of his sentence, he will not be eligible for parole for more than 63 years.
