Man faces life sentence in decades-old cold case surrounding wife’s murder

HAMMOND – Prosecutors in Tangipahoa Parish expect to soon close a murder case that shocked the Hammond community nearly 40 years ago.

District Attorney Scott Perrilloux released a statement Thursday saying his office expects to sentence Reginald Reed on Monday in the decades-old murder case surrounding the death of his wife, Selonia Reed. 

Reed was found dead in a parking lot on East Thomas Street back in 1987. It wouldn’t be until 2019 that a grand jury was able to formally charge Reed thanks to a break in the case. 

Prosecutors said Reginald Reed was convicted of second-degree murder back in November, which carries a mandatory life sentence in Louisiana.