GUILTY MS - Linda Reed for embezzlement, Copiah County, 2012

[marycarney]

Just because she was a tenant for a year, doesnt have to mean she stayed there. Only says she was paying rent. Sounds to me this woman just had this planned, and knew she wouldnt be able to secure any housing after she was *missing*, so she did so before hand. As to the car she was in .... has to be she told family it had been sold, and then she just stored it in the storage place. Otherwise, the family would have been saying a car is missing along with mommy. In my opinion, LR just took what she could, when she could, from Moores, year to year .... probably is no stash of cash, she just spent it. Call it giving herself a raise, or bonus. She has some mental issues, no doubt about it ... but she knew what she was doing and what it would mean and do to others.

<modsnip>

Well said! This has all the hallmarks of a long-term plan to disappear and start a new life. Very well-planned I might add.

 

[love2sleuth]

It said the landlord had bought the place a year ago and she was already a tenant. I just hope Lori Bess got the reward money the family had posted.

 

[deca]

I would like to know more of the "whys and wherefores" so we can use info for the future.

There is a group of professors in the UK right now studying people who voluntarily go missing. They are compiling data to determine how far they typically go and the reasons for leaving, among other things. It would be great if some criminologists starting doing that here in the US. I would love to do it- but I don't have that kind of time.

 

[hollyblue]

Good question

I haven't been here daily so this may have been answered...

I was under the impression that her son said that the video was so poor, it was impossible to tell who left the place of business

What I don't recall is if it was Mrs Reeds vehicle or a white truck

I'm reviewing the thread and this was on Page 20.

Do we know for certain Moore's even had surveillance video? If so, did LR know how to turn them off? Also, regarding the surveillance that is said to be out there...what business is it that their system caught her on it? Was it to the right, left, or across the street, etc. ?

Regarding the white truck. If you go back to look at google map of the father's business on Lake Copiah Rd, there looks to be a white truck parked by the white trailer in the back. (I don't think that is the trailer itself? Anyone?) What is also interesting is...that white trailer is NOT fenced in at that property, but behind the fence, and it has a separate entrance to it....you can see that on Bing Maps because unlike Google's view which is during the summer and hides the trailer, it's taken in the fall/winter. If facing the business, the driveway to the trailer is on the far right of the property. NancyDrew stated there was an attached green trailer on the left and since there was foilage on the tree by the white trailer in the back, it may have been hidden from her view.

Too, back around this time we had been delving into the business(es) LR was associated with. I found a business called Howie, Inc?...etc. It was an engineering consultant firm....owned by husband and wife and no longer in business from 1994. The couple are now in their 90's, but had a daughter working there also, who is now 59. I don't know if everyone moved...or if the business was ever in MS, however, the addies for the family is now in Texarkana, TX...which is about 90 miles north of Longview. I don't know if LR ever worked for them...or maybe just a friend of the family...hung out with the daughter or what. ?? Something I want to explore more tho.

It still bugs me that the FBI couldn't find her when she was working and using her own SS#. Just odd......

Add map link of business on Lake Copiah Rd:http://goo.gl/maps/V5XWb & http://binged.it/SjlUsT

 

[shefner]

I suppose I'm slow to judge too harshly in this case. What Linda did was a terrible thing, indeed. And I'm sure she will pay for it in every way that matters.

But for someone to walk away from their spouse, children and parent....and cut off all contact with the life they have lived for many years, that sounds like this person was simply overwhelmed for a long time. How do you tell your children, "I'm overwhelmed....I'm miserable....I want to leave and never come back." That would be tougher than just disappearing.

I agree it is an awful thing she did...I can't imagine it. But it sounds like Linda had been burning the candle at every end. She was driving a distance to work and staying there during the week, on the weekends she looked after her family and spent time with grandchildren....then she also helped care for her mother.

Maybe in her mind, she just started breaking down....she took the money and got out. Not very smart. But her life is over now. She has broken the law and betrayed her boss and her longtime co-workers and ultimately, she betrayed her family and those were the people who loved her most.

 

[Dushi]

I suppose I'm slow to judge too harshly in this case. What Linda did was a terrible thing, indeed. And I'm sure she will pay for it in every way that matters.

But for someone to walk away from their spouse, children and parent....and cut off all contact with the life they have lived for many years, that sounds like this person was simply overwhelmed for a long time. How do you tell your children, "I'm overwhelmed....I'm miserable....I want to leave and never come back." That would be tougher than just disappearing.

I agree it is an awful thing she did...I can't imagine it. But it sounds like Linda had been burning the candle at every end. She was driving a distance to work and staying there during the week, on the weekends she looked after her family and spent time with grandchildren....then she also helped care for her mother.

Maybe in her mind, she just started breaking down....she took the money and got out. Not very smart. But her life is over now. She has broken the law and betrayed her boss and her longtime co-workers and ultimately, she betrayed her family and those were the people who loved her most.

I agree
It sounds like a desperate act
She may have been going through her own private he**

I know it does not excuse her crimes against employer and what she did to her family, but I just feel there was a great desperation in what she has done

I am sorry about that

 

[Dushi]

It is curious that its been mentioned that there could be far more than 20 thousand missing, but she lived very frugally
Her employer stated she seemed short on funds

 

[love2sleuth]

It is curious that its been mentioned that there could be far more than 20 thousand missing, but she lived very frugally
Her employer stated she seemed short on funds

Maybe she used the money to pay the rent and utilities on the apartment she has had for over a year in Longview. I do think there is a lot more to this story than has come out in the media. I am glad she is alive, but I feel so sorry for her family having to deal with all this.

 

[rachaellouise]

Makes you wonder who else is missing and is leading an open second life..

 

[marycarney]

makes you wonder who else is missing and is leading an open second life..

no kidding!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Saracen]

Maybe she used the money to pay the rent and utilities on the apartment she has had for over a year in Longview. I do think there is a lot more to this story than has come out in the media. I am glad she is alive, but I feel so sorry for her family having to deal with all this.

This is the one thing we know nothing about, it may be that it was family pressure that drove her away, who knows what goes on behind closed doors..

 

[Saracen]

It's still hard to believe that I was so wrong on this one. Here I was thinking she was being railroaded and she's in Texas telling everyone that she was escaping from an abusive X and her children had disowned her while they were here searching and wondering where she was. You could just blow me over with a feather. I'd have never thunk it. Curious as a cat to hear the whole story come out.

It would sure make interesting reading.

 

[neesaki]

I know a businessman who's secretary / bookkeeper embezzled over 60,000 dollars over about a year's time. She had check writing privileges and was paying her personal bills, including exorbitant cell phone bills for herself and a friend of hers as well. At the end, she had nothing, she had just blown every penny. Still was living a life of one pay check to the next went she went on the run. What's even more amazing is that she was never even prosecuted. :what:

Also, something like this happened in a community close to where I live. In this case, the person embezzled close to 200,000 dollars over about a two year period. Funneled it various ways, including her husbands business. This person actually did get prosecuted and is serving time in prison.

It's quite amazing how these people come upon these schemes when given the opportunity and freedom to do so. Really a test of character in the end.

Also amazing that so many businesses would be so trusting of any one person with that kind of power or freedom with their money. Not enough oversight or checks and balances. Too busy managing other aspects of their business I guess, so leave it up to the wrong person who they think they can trust.

As incredible as it seems, it's actually very, very common.

 

[Lois Lane]

Reed was driving a Ford Taurus with a Mississippi license plate when she was stopped, [Copiah County, Miss., Sheriff Harold] Jones said.

How the fugitive was able to buy the car is something Jones said he intends to find out.

“If we learn she had help, whoever helped her will be prosecuted,” he said.

Reed was returned to Copiah County on Thursday and is facing felony embezzlement charges. Members of her family have said they still believe she was abducted.

http://www.news-journal.com/news/lo...cle_07222ec6-b3ee-5a2d-b8f1-1bfb7fa8213a.html

 

[nursebeeme]

According to Joe Walton, owner of Longview's Walton Automotive, who deals in Internet automotive sales, he hired Reed in June.

Walton told a Longview television station, KLTV Channel 7, he knew Reed's landlord, who had been renting an apartment from him for over a year.

"She was doing a wonderful job," Walton said in the television interview. "She was very quiet and kept to herself and had money problems. She never ate out. She brought her lunch every day. The car she was in wasn't in very good shape, and she borrowed some money against her check go get it fixed a couple of times. She was very thrifty."

Walton said one of his new employees, Lori Bess, became suspicious of Reed after she trained with her.

"(Reed) was so secretive and would tell different employees different things about her background, situation and family," Walton said..

Bess told KLTV Channel 7 she went home and searched the internet for Reed and immediately found the information on her. She called the Copiah County sheriff Wednesday afternoon, and the sheriff was there by midnight that night."

Read more: The Winona Times and The Conservative - Authorities arrest Linda Reed in Texas

http://www.winonatimes.com/view/ful...Reed-in-Texas?instance=winstonhome_news_right

article also says she is held without bond and that they are working on a grand jury indictment

 

[neesaki]

http://www.news-journal.com/news/lo...cle_07222ec6-b3ee-5a2d-b8f1-1bfb7fa8213a.html

Reed was driving a Ford Taurus with a Mississippi license plate when she was stopped, [Copiah County, Miss., Sheriff Harold] Jones said.

How the fugitive was able to buy the car is something Jones said he intends to find out.

“If we learn she had help, whoever helped her will be prosecuted,” he said.

Reed was returned to Copiah County on Thursday and is facing felony embezzlement charges. Members of her family have said they still believe she was abducted.

Family members still believe she was abducted? Could it be a misprint? :waitasec:

 

[love2sleuth]

Interview with Lori Bess

http://www.clarionledger.com/articl...rest?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|&nclick_check=1

 

[LaLaw2000]

I would like the answer to that too.

Just now catching up, but it could have been something as simple as Ms. Reed had applied for a job somewhere and the person told her he/she didn't need anyone but he knew someone who did.

ETA: I should never post before I reach the end of the thread because we already had the answer to that question.

Man! I was so wrong. I said so many prayers and worried so much over Ms. Reed and her family. While I am very glad she has been located safe and sound, I am miffed at what she has put her family, and mostly her grandson and elderly mother through!

We need answers! I still will say prayers for her family, grandson, and elderly mother.

MOO

 

[Bit Analyzer]

Oh my, I am dumbfounded by the news of Linda Reed found alive! Just caught up on this thread, having not read anything about her, in a month or so.

I could never get past a mother/grandmother/daughter up and staging an abduction. Prayers for all who've been affected by this situation. Hoping we hear more about her mindset and what led her to break the law and disappear herself.

 

[neesaki]

It is curious that its been mentioned that there could be far more than 20 thousand missing, but she lived very frugally
Her employer stated she seemed short on funds

It is curious, especially if it is a lot more than 20k which we have still yet to learn. I just keep going back to a possible gambling problem. Either her, her husband, or another close family member. Or could she have had a family member that had other financial problems for some reason and she was trying to help them out?

Also has me wondering how she could have afforded to pay monthly rent on that Longview apartment, if the information is correct, for several months preceding her disappearance.

I hope we will soon find out one way or the other.