NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nearly three decades ago, the so-called “fast food murders” rocked the communities of Hermitage, Donelson and Clarksville. Seven people lost their lives, families were destroyed and the entire region was devastated.
In February 1997, a lone gunman executed two employees of Donelson Captain D’s. The bodies of 16-year-old Sarah Jackson and 25-year-old Steve Hampton were discovered in the restaurant’s cold storage room.
“It’s a robbery-homicide where there are two victims and the bad guy comes in, kills two people and puts them in the freezer. This is very unusual, this type of crime really doesn’t happen on a regular basis,” said former Metro homicide detective Pat Postiglione.
One month later, another gruesome crime scene. This time at the McDonald’s in Hermitage, where three people were shot: Andrea Brown (17), Ronald Santiago (27) and Robert Sewell Jr. (23). A fourth employee, Jose Gonzalez, was stabbed 17 times but miraculously survived.
A month later, a lone gunman kidnapped two young women from the Baskin-Robbins movie theater in Clarksville. The bodies of 16-year-old Michelle Mace and 21-year-old Angela Holmes were found in Dunbar Cave State Park.
Seven brutal murders in 67 days.
In 1997, Postiglione was the lead investigator for the Metro Homicide Unit investigating the murders of Captain D. Mike Breedlove was a TBI agent assigned to the double murder of Baskin and Robbins.
“We knew we had a serial killer or a murderer on the loose who frequented fast food restaurants,” now-retired TBI agent Breedlove told News 2.
The investigation was intensified, evidence was collected, every lead was followed up and finally a mass murderer was brought to justice.
Who is Paul Dennis Reid?
If you lived in Nashville in 1997, the name Paul Dennis Reid will send shivers down your spine.
The Texas ex-convict supposedly came to Nashville to find fame and fortune as a country singer, but instead he murdered seven people in three fast-food robberies in just 67 days.
In June 1997, a smiling and waving Reid attempted to kidnap his former Shoney’s manager, Mitch Roberts.
“He wanted me to put the handcuffs on, and he wanted to handcuff me in the car,” Roberts said.
But the crime was foiled and Reid was arrested.
Then on June 25, Reid stood alongside police officers who worked day and night to find him and found himself in the media spotlight for the first time in a night court.
“I did not commit a heinous crime. I did not commit murder,” Reid said in that courtroom.
In the days that followed, investigators exchanged information and forensic units searched every inch of Reid’s East Nashville home.
“The physical evidence, the forensic evidence was so crucial. Paul Dennis Reid learned about crime scenes and crimes in prison in Texas. But he didn’t understand that he had left behind microscopic evidence, and that’s exactly what we were looking for,” Breedlove said.
Reid was found guilty of all seven murders and sentenced to death, but the killer was never executed. He died in prison of natural causes on November 1, 2013 – 11 days before his 56th birthday.
The cause of death was complications from pneumonia, heart failure and upper respiratory tract disease.
Reid died after consistently protesting his innocence.
To this day, police officials say they have kept in touch with the victims’ families, and in Postiglione’s case, he is still in touch with the only survivor, Jose Gonzalez, who now has a family and lives in Atlanta.
Before the Captain D’s murders in January 1997, there was another restaurant murder. It occurred at Shoney’s on Dickerson Road, where the night manager, Charles Thoet Jr., was shot and killed. This crime was never solved.
Postiglione said he was sure Reid was responsible, but there was never any evidence linking him to this eighth murder.
