Dateline NBC‘s new episode “Even the Devil Went to Church” looks into the murder of a 40-year-old husband Michael Reese, which they say was caused by a love triangle. The summary says, “When a small town Alabama resident is murdered in his home, rumors involving a local pastor begin to swirl as the truth ends up turning the community upside down.”
Michael’s wife Cindy Reese said she found a crime scene in their Morris, Alabama, home on February 18, 2015, and called 911 right away. When police arrived, they found Michael dead in the hallway. It looked like someone had broken into the house. A Piggly Wiggly bag with ham and orange juice was found at the scene of the crime. At first, it was thought to be a botched theft, but more research showed a more sinister reason.
More shocking information about Michael’s personal life came to light as the investigation went on. For example, there was a report of a love triangle. Two people with ties to the Reese family were arrested after this information came to light. Both of them blamed the other for the crime.
Who killed Michael Reese?
About one month after Michael was killed, Cindy Reese and Jeffrey Brown, who was the senior preacher at the church where Cindy was the music minister, were arrested. Brown, who has been friends with the Reese family for a long time, was said to have been having an affair with Cindy for years. Both suspects gave different versions of what happened that night that Michael died, and they both tried to put the blame on the other.
Cindy said she started seeing Brown in 2013 and that they shared a savings account. She also said that her name was on the title of his car and the lease for his apartment. She said that they started having sexual contact in the spring of 2014 and kept it up until the fall. On the other hand, Brown denied having a sexual relationship with Cindy and said that their exchanges were only friendly. The Reese and Brown families stayed close friends during this time.
After being arrested, Cindy and Brown are said to have turned against each other. The police thought that Cindy and Brown planned to kill Michael so that they could stay together. Even though both of them were charged with murder, Brown pleaded guilty to manslaughter and spoke out against Cindy.
Brown said Cindy had said many times that she wanted her husband to be killed and that on the night of the murder, she met him at a nearby gas station and gave him a gun or bracelet. Cindy said she met Brown that night, but she denied giving him those things. She said she only gave him $15 for gas. She said she went home and found the crime scene, but she would not say she saw Michael’s body. Instead, she said she only saw chaos in the house before calling 911. Prosecutors said Cindy had shot Michael before going to Piggly Wiggly and then came back to make it look like there had been a break-in.
Cindy Reese was found guilty of murder in 2017 and given a 40-year prison sentence. After pleading guilty to murder, Jeffrey Brown got 20 years in prison. The case is a sad lesson of how terrible it is to be jealous and betray someone.
