DATE OF LAST CONTACT: 24th March 1989
MISSING FROM: Norwich, New London County, Connecticut
DATE OF BIRTH: 31st July 1964
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 24
HEIGHT: 5’8
WEIGHT: 145 lbs
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male, dark complexioned. Brown hair, brown eyes. Had a dark brown mustache at time of disappearance. Wearing either grey corduroys or grey jeans and white Nike Air Jordan’s with a blue stripe.
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: Connecticut State Police
BASIC CASE FACTS
- Friday 24th March 1989 – Kenneth Reed clocks out of work, stops for a takeaway coffee and drives to his parent’s home just a few minutes away.
- Kenneth’s dad watches his son arrive, parking his car on the driveway and goes back inside to wait for his son to come in.
- Kenneth never enters the home and he is never seen again. His car remained on his parents driveway but Kenneth had vanished.
On a rainy Saturday 24th March Kenneth Reed clocked out of the restaurant where he worked, picked up a takeaway coffee and drove to his parent’s home about ten minutes away. His father watched as he parked the car on the driveway in heavy rain and went inside to wait for his son’s arrival – Kenneth never came inside. His car remained on the drive with the still full cup of coffee inside, yet Kenneth had vanished. There were extensive searches for Kenneth and his disappearance was covered heavily in the media and national news and he may have been seen in the weeks following his disappearance in nearby towns but he was never located. Kenneth simply vanished into thin air outside his family home.
Some of the information publicly available about Ken’s case is incorrect. Many sites list him as missing from Fairfield – I have no idea where this even came from as the place doesn’t even feature in the story. One of the photos that appears on missing sites is in fact Ken’s brother – I have not used this one. Finally, some of the events leading up to Ken’s disappearance are disputed by his co-workers. I have used firsthand accounts and memories given by Ken’s co-workers to form the basis of theories that I discuss later.
KEN’S STORY
Kenneth Scott Reed, who went by Ken, was born on the 31st July 1964. The youngest son of Lawrence and Esther, he had an older brother named Donald. Ken was born and raised in the town of Norwich in Connecticut where the family lived at 20 Forest Street, just outside of the downtown area. Ken dropped out of school in the eighth grade when he was just fourteen and although he did later attend adult education classes to get his GED certificate, he was unable to keep up with studying and working at the same time. In 1981, when he was sixteen, he got a job as a dishwasher at Bee Bee Dairy restaurant at the Norwichtown Mall.
Ken was a conscientious worker and by the time of his disappearance in 1989 he had worked his way up to be assistant manager. Ken had never missed a day of work in eight years and his co-workers described him as responsible and fun-loving. Cindy Paquette, Ken’s manager, said that she had “seen him grow from a young kid into a very responsible adult. He wasn’t into drugs, he wasn’t a playboy. He was an inner city kid who made it out”
At the time of his disappearance Ken shared a home with a roommate at 252 Halls Hill Road in Colchester, a town about 14 miles from Norwich, however he often stayed at his parents home as he did not like the commute back to Colchester. Ken was close to his parents, especially his mom who was an invalid by this point and he had a number of good friends in the Norwich area. Although he hadn’t had a steady girlfriend for a couple of years Ken was apparently a bit of a ladies man and wasn’t short of female admirers. It seems like Ken was on the up-and-up. He had just bought himself a brand new stereo system and had a decent car. There was $3000 in his savings account ($7700 in 2025) and $1200 in uncollected paychecks and he had vacation leave coming up the week after he disappeared. Although he hadn’t yet made plans where to go, his family says that he used to visit Atlantic City three or four times a year; possibly he enjoyed the casinos. He also loved sports and coffee.
Ken didn’t have problems with drugs or alcohol, no known personal problems, no criminal record – in fact everyone said there were no indications of any problems whatsoever in his life. However, as we shall see later, there may have been things going on that no one was aware of.
DISAPPEARANCE
It was raining heavily all day on Friday 24th March 1989, which was Good Friday. Ken had spent the previous night at his parents’ home and he got up and went to work as normal. Ken’s co-manager that day, Michael Thorne, said he “seemed tired but was excited about his upcoming 10 days vacation”. During his shift it was noted that five acquaintances of Ken’s visited the restaurant separately; the other staff members had never seen them before and if law enforcement ever learned their identities, it was never revealed. Ken didn’t seem to be stressed or worried by their visits and the day continued as normal. During his shift he made plans with another co-worker, Jeanne Bessett, to meet that evening at the Norwich Sheraton, where several employees of Bee Bee’s were going for drinks – but Ken never showed up.
According to media reports at the time, Ken clocked out of work at 3.26pm, telling the manager that he would be in 45 minutes early the next day to help clean up. However, comments made by the assistant manager, Mike Thorne, who relieved Ken that day, suggest that Ken actually left at about 2pm. This time discrepancy is of importance, as I shall discuss later. Anyway, after leaving work, Ken stopped in at the Dunkin’ Donuts at the mall for a takeaway coffee, got into his car and drove to his parent’s home. The Reed’s home at 20 Forest Street no longer exists, in its place stands the Norwich Fire Department but it can be seen on this aerial shot from 1991:
Ken’s journey from the Norwichtown Mall to his parent’s home should have taken about ten minutes, and in fact his dad saw him arrive at about 3.40 and park his car. This makes perfect sense if Ken left work at 3.26pm, however, if he did indeed leave at 2pm then there is over an hour unaccounted for until he arrived home.
When Ken arrived back home it was still raining heavily, his father saw him park his grey four-door Isuzu 1-Mark at the end of the driveway in front of the house and came to the door to wait for him, but since the rain was so heavy he went back inside the home and waited for Ken to come in, but he never did. Not long after, at about 3.45pm, Ray Skidgel arrived home from work to find the driveway blocked by Ken’s car. The car was unlocked and the cup of coffee he’d bought was still full, and on the dash. Ray Skidgel was a close family friend of the Reeds who also was living with them at the time. He commented that the way the car was left was out of character for Ken. There were no signs of struggle around the car and there was no sign of Ken anywhere.
Ray and the Reeds said that it was extremely uncharacteristic of Ken to leave the car unlocked and that he never parked the car in such a way as to block the driveway, which they found suspicious, but the most suspicious thing for them was Ken’s abandoned coffee: “When it comes to his coffee, no matter what the circumstances, he’ll drink his coffee!”. Ken had apparently vanished into thin air outside the family home, in broad daylight, minutes after having been seen by his father.
THE SEARCH
Usually when I talk about the search for a missing person there is barely anything to say regarding Law enforcement; who at this time often didn’t look for missing young men, but that is not the case here. The Norwich Police Department and Connecticut State Police really jumped into action srraightaway and are to be applauded for their efforts.
Kenneth wasn’t reported missing until the 27th March, three days after he vanished, because his family thought he might have been with friends or a woman. He had been known to stay out, but usually would always let them know where he was. Law enforcement spoke to everybody who had seen him that day; to his friends and his co-workers and made a public plea for anyone who had seen him. Several detectives were assigned to his case and initial searches included helicopters and canines which combed the woods and the banks of the Yantic river near to the area he vanished. At the same time Ken’s brother, Donald, took several weeks off from his job as a mechanic in order to search for Kenneth.
Donald mounted his own searches, spoke to many people, got the word out and engaged the media and even consulted a psychic who said that Ken was in a blue Plymouth or Firebird. Donald told reporters “I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to give up until I find out something”.
In November of 1989 Ken’s case was featured on Crimestoppers, which was syndicated to over 125 stations across the US. There was a re-enactment of the events which Ken’s mom couldn’t watch, saying “I’d break. I have too many unanswered questions. I am haunted by his smile. We’re hoping, but that’s all we can do is hope. I miss him very badly”. No tips were received from the broadcast and sadly Ken’s mother passed away in 1991, never knowing what happened to her smiling son.
Police had received some tips though. There were six to ten sightings of Ken from around Norwich and the Groton area. Groton is a coastal town about 14 miles south of Norwich and is where most of the United States Navy submarines are constructed. Witnesses, some of whom actually knew Ken, reported having seen him in a white car with two other men. Police never managed to confirm these sightings, but they did create a timeline of his whereabouts which led them to state that they thought Ken was still alive for a time after he disappeared, and his family and friends thought the same:
Ken’s Father: “He’s not a stupid kid. He can manage anything he wants to. I still think he’s alive out there someplace. He doesn’t strike me as someone that can be taken out that easy”
Ray Skidgel: “It’s as if he’s in serious danger and there’s not a darn thing we can do about it”
The investigation was reopened in 2019 with calls for anyone who knew Ken to come forward with any information; though it looks like nothing came of this renewed effort.
THREATS
During the course of investigations it emerged that in the week leading to his disappearance Ken had been threatened twice and police looked into this.
The first incident occurred on 16th March. Reports in the media which quote another of Ken’s co-workers, Robert Szarka, claim that Ken had fired an employee after a disagreement. The employee became violent and started throwing things in the restaurant upon which Ken escorted him off the premises. Police did interview this man, but since the man had not actually threatened Ken’s life, they dismissed it. It is important to note that Mike Thorne, Ken’s co-manager, claims that this incident did not happen as reported and that Ken never fired anyone and always talked it out rather than becoming confrontational.
The second incident seemed to involve a love triangle of sorts. A man threatened to kill Ken after he discovered that Ken and his girlfriend had dated. It is not at all clear whether Ken and the girl were having an affair or she is someone Ken had previously dated. There is no evidence that police spoke to the man who threatened Ken; but they did speak to the girl – she told them that Ken was depressed.
DEPRESSION
When reading about Ken and his life he was not someone who struck me as suffering depression, however I was surprised to find two references to him being depressed and it might be that, under the surface, Ken had some problems. As mentioned above, his former girlfriend said that she had spoken to Ken just before his disappearance and that he seemed depressed, but when asked he wouldn’t say why. The second reference comes from Ray Skidgel, who was a close friend and lived in Ken’s parent’s home. Ray said that Ken often spoke of how he had become bored with his job and the long working hours and was occasionally depressed, that sometime he would simply shake his head and say “Ray, I don’t know”. It is quite possible that Ken was unhappy with the way his life had panned out, though that doesn’t necessarily mean he chose to end his life or disappear, it remains a possibility.
FOUL PLAY
The general consensus of opinion seems to be that there was foul play involved in Ken’s disappearance and local opinion among Ken’s co-workers and in Norwich clearly lays the blame with his brother; Donald. I have seen several commentators online who knew the family state that Donald Reed was “shady”, had “screwed over multiple local people” and was always hanging around the restaurant asking Ken to borrow money. The majority opinion seems to be that Ken was either murdered as a warning to his brother or he was held as a hostage until his brother paid a debt. I lean towards the latter due to the later sightings of Ken. It should be noted that Donald Reed searched heavily for his brother for over three weeks – were these the actions of a distraught sibling, or a man who already knew what had happened and was trying to mislead the investigation to protect himself or his associates? Donald’s actions during the search suggest someone who was looking for a body – did he already know his brother was dead?
Foul play is a definite possibility in this case, however there are serious problems with the timeline of events for this to be possible.
TIMELINE
If we are to accept the established timeline of events on the day that Ken disappeared then there is simply no time for foul play to have occurred. The common theories on what happened are that Ken was either kidnapped from outside the mall, or on his way home, and his car was later abandoned at his parent’s home, or that Ken was taken from right outside his parent’s house. I have some issues with these theories but the main one is timing.
The accepted timeline of events is:
3.26pm: Ken clocks out of work
3.30pm: Ken stops for coffee before driving home
3.40pm: Ken is observed by his father parking outside the home
3.45pm: Ken is discovered missing
This all occurred within twenty minutes. Whichever way you look at it there is no way that someone managed to kidnap Ken, take him someplace else where he is possibly murdered, and return his car to his parent’s home. All without being seen, in broad daylight. However, with the new information provided by Mike Thorne, who was working with Ken the day he disappeared, everything suddenly becomes a lot more possible. Here is my scenario based on the new information that Ken left work at 2pm, instead of 3.26.
Ken leaves work at 2pm. He didn’t punch out, someone else punched his card for him later to make it seem like he had left at 3.26pm. This also makes sense of why Ken told his manager that he would be in 45 minutes early the next day – because he owed the time back. Ken stopped for his coffee and went back to his car. There is now a 90 minute window available until Ken’s car appears outside his parent’s home. There are several options for what happened during this time:
- Ken was joined in his car at the mall by others who forcibly took him elsewhere and then returned his car to his parent’s home.
- Ken drove somewhere else that day and something bad happened and his car was later returned to his parent’s home.
- Ken was kidnapped en-route and his car was later returned to his parent’s home.
- Ken arrived home, parked the car and was taken by people who were waiting for him.
But I still have issues with all of these scenarios, and I believe the police did too. I believe the reason that such a heavy focus was placed on searches for Ken around where he disappeared was that foul play seemed almost impossible based on the known facts. My own problems with all of these scenarios are:
- Ken’s dad watched him pull up in the car. Is it really possible he didn’t recognize his own son? Well, possibly. It was raining heavily and it was noted that Ken parked in an unusual location and left his car unlocked and his coffee untouched.
- There is no mention from Ken’s dad about any other vehicles or people in the vicinity that day, nor did Ray Skidgel see anything when he arrived home at 3.45pm. Remember that if someone else drove Ken’s car back then they had to have subsequently left on foot. Forest Street is a dead-end street, therefore they could only go one way to leave; the same way Ray was entering.
- I have to ask why on earth anyone would bother to kidnap someone and the return the car if this is the case. It just seems too risky – you would abandon it elsewhere – unless, of course, you were trying to leave a message.
- I find it suspicious that the car was returned to his parent’s home. Remember, Ken did not live there, his home was elsewhere.That means that whoever either took Ken from outside the home, or dropped off the car, knew where Ken’s parents lived. I find it highly unlikely any of his brother’s associates would know this information, nor many other people for that matter.
- There were no signs of struggle at all. This means that either Ken was not taken from his car, or he went willingly with whoever took him.
- Risk factor – Is it really likely that people who wished to kidnap Ken would lay in wait outside his family home in broad daylight without knowing when he was due to arrive. It is important to note that Ken’s dad only went back inside the house due to rain – if it hadn’t been raining then he would have stood there waiting and seen whatever happened. It is equally impossible for anyone to have known that rain might have obscured his view; again if it hadn’t been raining then they would have been seen.
If foul play is involved in Ken’s disappearance then to me the likelihood is that Ken either drove himself to another location from where he was kidnapped, or he was taken directly from outside the mall. This still leaves the issue of someone actually knowing where Ken’s parents lived and risking returning the car there in broad daylight and walking away unseen. Perhaps the car was a message for Donald Reed. I cannot say if his brother’s associates were involved, but I do tend to believe local rumours. It also seems that Ken may have been alive for some days after his disappearance, seen in the company of two men. There is of course an outside possibility than Ken simply walked off and took his own life; though I think he would have been found by now.
I believe that the key to this case is the five unknown individuals who came into Ken’s work that day. These men were unknown by other staff but known to Ken. They all came in separately. I believe these men hold the answers. Could they have been seeking money from Ken to pay his brother’s debts? Could they have made arrangements for Ken to meet them elsewhere that day and that is the reason why he left work early? I think this is very possible. There may have been things in Ken’s life that no one was aware of. I believe that Ken arranged to leave early because of something arranged with these five ‘acquaintances’. I don’t think that Ken was worried or nervous, but that something happened while he was at another location. I think these people returned the car in order to make it seem like Ken had driven home as normal so that police wouldn’t ask for witnesses who’d seen the car or check any cameras. Finally, since these people knew where Ken’s parents lived and that he planned to stay there that night, that these people were known, and close, to Ken or his family.
SOURCES
Associated Press article about the reopening of the investigation, 21st March 2019
Norwich Bulletin article, 20th March 2019
Norwich Bulletin, 6th November 1990
The Day, 12th April 1989, Part 1
The Day, 12th April 1989, Part 2
The Day, 12th April 1989, Part 3
The Day, 12th April 1989, Part 4
Comments from Ken’s co-workers and locals who knew the family
Never Seen Again 