NEW MADRID - Steven Eugene Reid apparently ended his life after a night of concern about family relationships, heavy drinking and another arrest for driving while intoxicated.
After hearing an hour and a half of testimony about the events of Sept. 26 and 27, a coroner's jury ruled Wednesday that Reid's death in the Portageville City Jail was a suicide.
The five men and one woman on the coroner's jury, called by New Madrid County Coroner Tim Clayton, began their investigation into the death the morning of Sept. 27, shortly after Reid's body was discovered in the jail cell. Their ruling came Wednesday after a formal hearing brought together testimony from police officers, a Missouri Highway Patrol investigator and Reid's family.
Henry Reid, the victim's brother, was the first witness called by New Madrid County Prosecuting Attorney H. Riley Bock, who directed the questioning for the coroner's jury. Reid explained he had come to visit on Sept. 26. During the evening Steven Reid expressed concerns about his relationship with his daughter, who had recently visited from out of state.
Also Reid noted his brother was drinking. "I don't know how much," he told the jurors adding, "he seemed like he was depressed."
The man recounted that Reid had previous marital and financial problems and once before had threatened suicide. John Stevens, a member of the Portageville Police Department, who arrested Reid about 3 a.m. Sept. 27, observed the man at a gas station that morning. He noted the man had difficulty driving his vehicle and pumping the gas. "He was very unstable, weaving and staggering," said Stevens.
According to Stevens when he approached Reid and asked him if he had been drinking the man replied: "too much." He said Reid refused to complete any sobriety tests and later refused a breathalyzer test. However, the officer also noted after arresting Reid, the man was cooperative and polite.
When placed in the jail cell at the police station, Stevens explained the prisoner did not have shoe laces or a belt, which are routinely taken from prisoners as a security precaution. Reid was the only prisoner that morning in the two-cell area of the city's jail.
From 3:50 a.m. to 5:15 a.m. Stevens said he completed paperwork near the cell and heard no noise. "About five minutes of five I peeked in on him and he was asleep," the officer said.
Also testifying was Freddie Hill, the Portageville officer who oversaw the towing of Reid's vehicle. He noted there was a bottle of beer open in the vehicle as well as a carton of bottles.
At 9:30 a.m. Sept. 27, Tom Doering, a lieutenant with the Portageville Police Department, took breakfast to the prisoner. "I observed him apparently on his knees in the doorway of the inner cell," said Doering. "I thought he was sick but when I looked closer I saw his shirt around his neck."
Doering said he dropped the man's breakfast and ran to get the key to the outer cell door. When he entered the cell, he discovered Reid's body was already cold to the touch and the blood was beginning to settle in the arms and lower extremities.
The officer said he told the dispatcher to call an ambulance and Police Chief Ronnie Simmons, then he secured the scene. After the ambulance crew determined the man could not be revived, the coroner was notified.
As coroner, Clayton presided over the hearing but also was called as a witness at Wednesday's proceedings. He reported on the autopsy, noting the cause of death was officially pronounced as "asphyxiation by hanging."
After hearing testimony from Scott Rawson, a criminal investigator for the Missouri Highway Patrol, the hearing concluded. Jurors took about 10 minutes to reach their verdict of suicide.