Sounak Sengupta
NBC’s ‘Dateline: Secret Life of the Homecoming Queen’ follows how Deacon Thad Reynolds was brutally murdered in early July 2004 following a romantic rivalry within the Hollywood Baptist Church in Rome, Georgia. While the authorities arrested the perpetrators within four days of the murder, it took over six years before they could be brought to justice. If you’re interested in discovering more about the case, including how Thad was killed and his killers’ identities, we’ve your back. Let’s dive in then, shall we?
How Did Thad Reynolds Die?
Thad John Glenn Reynolds was born to Wilburn Reynolds and Kittie McClurd Reynolds Walker in Rome in Floyd County, Georgia, on January 21, 1968. He was a lifelong Rome resident, graduating from Coosa High School in 1986. He was active in sports in high school, playing on the football and wrestling teams. While in high school, he met his wife, Michelle Sullins Reynolds, who would become the 1986 homecoming queen at Pepperell High. His sister, Beverly Owens, recalled, “He was a football player. She was a cheerleader. I guess that’s how it started.”
Often called ‘Ken and Barbie,’ the young couple went on their first date at a tractor pull in Atlanta with his family in late 1985. Michelle recalled how Thad proposed on January 28, 1986 — minutes before the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. They finished high school as a couple and married at Hollywood Baptist Church on August 15, 1987. The newlyweds were raised religiously, and the Baptist Church was a cornerstone for the young couple.
Michelle recalled, “We had goals. We wanted to buy a house, go on a cruise and buy a camcorder, and we did all three. And after that, we decided to try and start having children.” They had four daughters — Olivia Reynolds, Lydia Reynolds, Emma Reynolds, and Jenna Reynolds — in their nearly two-decade-old marriage. However, they did not have a smooth domestic life, with state records reflecting the couple divorced in 1993 before remarrying in 1997. According to Michelle, they had both cheated and suffered from “problems.”
During their four years of separation, Thad and Michelle both dated other people but decided to get back together after going into counseling. The local newspapers splashed a heartwarming story as the young couple reunited and exchanged vows for the second time in the same church. They built a little house for themselves on a plot right next door to his parents, with Thad and fellow church members pitched in on the construction. He was rising in front of the congregation at Hollywood and speaking with the conviction of a polished preacher.
Thad and Michelle home-schooled their four little girls. The church became their family’s focal point, with him being elevated the deacon at Hollywood Baptist — a volunteer position as one of the pastor’s right-hand men — while Michelle helped teens put on dance performances. They both also starred in an elaborate church play. Hence, it was shocking when a co-worker found Thad, 36, had been fatally stabbed 19 times at the Frito-Lay warehouse where he worked in the early hours of July 5, 2004.
Michelle Reynolds and Richard Scott Harper: Convicted in Thad’s Murder
The sheriff’s office was shocked by the gruesome murder, particularly of a well-liked local man, Thad, to be brutally stabbed at his office in a community where murders were reported twice a year. The show host noted, “It was a scene right out of the movie “Psycho.” Not one you would normally ever see in the quiet city of Rome, Georgia.” The investigators could not pinpoint a motive since the warehouse contained minimal cash. However, they soon focused on the Reynolds’ rocky marriage, and the mystery slowly started unraveling.
Four days after the gruesome crime, Floyd County police arrested Michelle and the Hollywood Baptist Church’s youth minister, Richard Scott “Scotty” Harper, charging them with the murder and alleging they had an affair. Scotty and his erstwhile wife, Paige Harper, were like-minded, God-fearing friends and, in many ways, almost a mirror image of Thad and Michelle. Like the Reynolds, the Harpers also resided next door to his parents and birthed three girls. He was a church volunteer leader and the volunteer family pastor at Hollywood Baptist.
According to the show, Thad and Scotty became the tightest of friends, helping each other hold firm to their faith. However, their wives never grew as close, with Michelle claiming Scotty had informed her that Paige was jealous of her. But Michelle grew closer to Scotty as her performing middle schoolers came under his direction as the family pastor. They talked church business on the phone and exchanged e-mails, with her discovering she and Scotty went to the same school, where he was two years her junior.
Scotty was in the Air Force and had served in Desert Storm with a combat communications unit. After being discharged from the military, he parlayed his electronics savvy into securing a job in the telecommunications department at the county’s major medical complex, Floyd Medical Center (FMC). By 2004, Michelle had become restless with all the “churchiness in their marriage” and was aghast when Thad discussed pursuing the ministry full-time in May 2004. The marriage hit another rocky patch, and she found solace in an affair with Scotty.
As the two discussed fleeing to Portland, Scotty was sure he would secure a divorce, but Michelle wasn’t. Thad was bent on becoming a full-time minister, and a divorce would hamper his chances. The investigators believed this stalemate frustrated Scotty, and he used a hunting knife he had bought from Kmart on July 1, 2004. The authorities secured video surveillance from the store that recorded him making the purchase. After fatally stabbing Thad, Scott returned to FMC and got treated for wounds to his right hand.
However, Scotty claimed he bought the knife as a replacement for losing one of Thad’s during a camping trip. He also alleged his right-hand injury was a result of a gym accident. However, the investigators found the knife and bloody clothes hidden in the data center at FMC. He was arrested after the detectives found the knife’s sheath and his prescription glasses at the crime scene, with a witness testifying spotting him changing clothes. However, the police did not have much evidence against Michelle, barring proof of her extramarital fling.
All that changed when Scotty pled guilty to murder and agreed to testify against her in exchange for the prosecution to drop the death sentence. Erstwhile District Attorney Leigh Patterson confessed, “Until we got a statement from Scotty in 2008, which gave us more evidence of her part in the crime. It would have been a difficult case to prosecute against her.” Michelle pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and burglary charges and was sentenced to 20 years in January 2010. Scotty pled guilty to murder charges and received life without parole.
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