Robert Reed: The Man Beaten To Death Solved 20 Years Later

In the last 20 years, DNA testing has gotten a significant upgrade which has simultaneously given law enforcement the upper hand when it comes to solving cold cases.

On May 22 2002, in Elkhart County Indiana, Robert Reed was found savagely beaten to death in his home by his neighbour when she checked in on him after she noticed his front door was left wide open. The injuries Mr Reed had sustained were so severe that his head was misshapen from the beating. There was a large amount of blood under his head and a sizeable cut above his right eye which was swollen.

When police arrived, forensics were unsure where to start testing first as there was so much blood splattered around the house. There were bloodstains located on the bathroom and kitchen floor as well as on the inside of deadbolt of the front door. In the bedroom, the furniture had been thrown about consistent with signs of a struggle.

An autopsy found that Robert Reed had died due to the multiple injuries to the head and neck that he had sustained during this violent attack. It was officially ruled as a homicide. Unfortunately, the case did not garner many leads and eventually went cold as all the blood they had tested from the crime scene came back as a match to the victim and not his attacker.

In 2021, an unnamed witness spoke to the police and said that Marcus Love had confided in them that he was responsible not long after the murder had taken place. The witness mentioned that they noticed he had blood on his clothes and multiple cuts on his fingers when they were speaking. After investigating these claims, police came across another witness who confirmed that Marcus Love used to be friends with Robert Reed and even stayed at his house regularly to take drugs together.

However, police would not be able to get a conviction based on two witness statements, they needed some concrete evidence. As in 2011, police had actually interviewed Marcus Love in connection with Robert Reed’s death where he denied personally knowing Robert but admitted that he recognised him from occasionally seeing him on the Faith Mission (a local charity that provides help to people in need). When interviewed again in 2021, after two witnesses had come forward with statements that did not correlate with Marcus Love’s story, he denied being in the residence at that time but later admitted he would go to Robert Reed’s home frequently. He denied ever getting into a physical fight with him.

Sergeant Greg Harder decided to review the evidence of the crime scene with fresh eyes. When looking through the photos, he noticed a blood-stained area of Mr. Reed’s shirt that looked like it had dropped on to him from someone else whilst Robert was laying on the ground. It was not a pattern of blood that was consistent with belonging to the victim as it was clearly blood droplets on the back of the shirt. A partial DNA profile was found and when tested it was confirmed that it was a mixture of two people’s blood. Robert Reed’s and Marcus Love.

After this discovery, police presented the evidence to Marcus Love who changed his story for the third time stating that he could not remember whether or not he had actually gotten into a physical fight with Robert. When looking for a probable cause, they took note that Robert Reed’s wallet had been emptied and with Marcus being an addict, they theorise that Marcus beat him after Robert refused to give him any more money for drugs. In August 2022, Marcus Love was charged with one count of murder.