Decades-old Louisiana murder case implicates son’s beloved father

The body of Selonia Reed was found on the morning of August 23, 1987, in her blue Chevy Sprint in a parking area about one-and-a-half miles from the Reed home in Hammond, Louisiana. She had been bludgeoned, stabbed multiple times, stripped naked and sexually assaulted.

Reggie Reed Jr. was 6 years old. One of his last memories is his mother buying him a chocolate chip cookie at Hammond Square Mall before kissing him goodbye. He spent most of his life believing the man who raised him was the person who had kept him safe after her death. At the time, Reginald Reed Sr. told police Selonia had gone out with a girlfriend the night before. The girlfriend said the two had no plans to go out that night. Selonia had told relatives that Reed was physically abusive and had talked about getting a divorce. Reggie was interviewed by police while his father sat beside him, and he repeated the story that they had spent the evening playing video games and sleeping in the same sofa bed.

In 2019, forensic testing linked Jimmy Ray Barnes to the scene through a cigarette butt found near Selonia’s body. Barnes later said Reginald Reed Sr. had offered him $50,000 to help make his wife disappear. In January 2023, Reed was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

He later wrote a memoir, The Day My Mother Never Came Home, after learning in adulthood that his father had been the prime suspect from the beginning. On June 27, 2026, 48 Hours aired an episode titled The Day My Mother Never Came Home.