Michael Reese Murder: The Affair, Trial, and Work-Release Fallout

The Michael Reese murder was the February 18, 2015 shooting of a 40-year-old IT professional in Morris, Alabama, by his wife Cindy Reese, who was having an affair with Jeffery David Brown, the senior pastor at the couple’s church. Cindy staged the scene to look like a burglary, but investigators quickly saw through it. She was convicted of murder and sentenced to 40 years; Brown pleaded guilty to manslaughter and got 20 years after agreeing to testify against her.

The Shooting and the Staged Burglary

On the evening of February 18, 2015, Cindy Reese called Morris police to report that she had come home from the grocery store to find her Banks Street house in disarray. Officers arrived to find an overturned coffee table, a disheveled front room, and Michael Reese’s body in the rear kitchen. He had been shot in the head.¹

The burglary story fell apart almost immediately. There were no signs of forced entry. Nothing was reported missing. No weapon was found. Jefferson County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Randy Christian told reporters the scene appeared staged and that “the killer knew the victim.”² Prosecutors later argued that Cindy herself had overturned the coffee table to fake a break-in after the shooting.³

A grocery bag also gave her away. Cindy said she had left the house to shop and returned to find Michael dead, but investigators found a Piggly Wiggly bag containing ham and orange juice already inside the home, suggesting the trip had happened earlier. During the critical window that night, Cindy actually drove to a gas station about ten minutes away, where she met Brown and handed him $15 for gas.³

The Affair With the Pastor

Cindy Reese was the minister of music at Sardis Baptist Church in Morris. Jeffery David Brown had been hired as senior pastor about a year before the murder. Cindy testified at trial that their affair began in 2013 and became physical in the spring of 2014.³

The relationship was deeply enmeshed. Cindy’s name was on the title to Brown’s vehicle and on the lease to his apartment, and the two shared a savings account. When church leadership discovered the affair and scheduled a meeting with the deacons, Brown resigned on a Sunday morning rather than attend.⁴ Michael Reese himself had been baptized by Brown at Sardis Baptist roughly two years before his death.⁵

What Investigators Found

Cell phone records became the backbone of the case. FBI analysis showed that Cindy and Brown exchanged 18 calls between the morning of February 18 and February 19, 2015, with 11 placed by Cindy and seven by Brown. When Cindy dialed 911 to report the supposed burglary, the recording caught her speaking to another person as the line connected. Prosecutors matched that person to Brown through the phone records.³

Investigators also found a financial motive. Michael had a $50,000 life insurance policy naming Cindy as the primary beneficiary.³ On March 11, 2015, deputies arrested Cindy and Brown as he was dropping her off from a lunch date. Both were charged with murder and held on $100,000 bond each.⁶

Brown’s Plea and Testimony

In August 2016, Brown pleaded guilty to manslaughter, a reduced charge from his original murder indictment, in exchange for testifying against Cindy. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on December 12, 2016.⁷

On the stand, Brown told the jury that Cindy had talked repeatedly about killing Michael, floating both shooting and poisoning as options and saying she would plead insanity if charged. He testified that she had also asked him to hire someone to do it. On the night of the killing, Brown said, Cindy met him at the gas station and handed him either a gun or jewelry.³

Cindy Reese’s Trial and Sentence

Cindy Reese was tried in Jefferson County Circuit Court before Judge Tommy Nail. The prosecution’s theory was that she pressed a gun to Michael’s head and shot him after the couple returned home from church that Wednesday evening, then staged the scene and left to buy groceries before calling 911.⁸

Cindy testified in her own defense. She admitted the affair but denied ever asking anyone to kill Michael or talking about poisoning or shooting him. She said she loved her husband and insisted the gas-station meeting was only to give Brown $15.³

After a five-day trial, the jury convicted her of murder on December 2, 2016, after about 90 minutes of deliberation.⁹ Judge Nail sentenced her to 40 years in prison.¹⁰

The Appeal

Cindy appealed on three grounds: insufficient evidence, the judge’s refusal to instruct the jury on a lesser manslaughter charge, and improper instructions on complicity. On August 11, 2017, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals rejected all three. The court held that the state had presented sufficient evidence, that no evidence supported a heat-of-passion manslaughter instruction, and that Cindy’s attorney had failed to make a timely objection to the complicity instruction at trial.⁸ A rehearing request was also denied.¹¹

The Work-Release Controversies

In April 2019, less than three years into her 40-year sentence, the Alabama Department of Corrections reclassified Cindy Reese as “Minimum-out” and quietly transferred her from the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women to the Birmingham Work Release Center. Neither Michael’s family, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, nor the district attorney was notified. The family only learned when a relative overheard county workers discussing it.¹²

Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr called the move “a travesty of justice” and “a disgrace.” Chief Deputy DA Joe Roberts said the ADOC had made “a unilateral decision” that effectively overruled the jury and the judge.¹² After the public outcry, ADOC reversed the transfer and returned Cindy to a standard facility.

By December 2023, ADOC had placed her in work release a second time, saying she did not “pose a significant risk to self or others.” Former Alabama state representative Paul DeMarco called the decision “reckless” and urged the legislature to limit ADOC’s discretion over work-release assignments for convicted murderers.¹³

Where Things Stand Now

Cindy Reese’s release date was set for September 2055, and she is not eligible for parole review until 2030.¹³ As of the latest reporting, she was assigned to a Birmingham work-release program. Jeffery David Brown, serving his 20-year manslaughter sentence, was denied parole on July 27, 2023.¹⁴ The case was featured on NBC’s Dateline in an October 2020 episode titled “Even the Devil Went to Church,” and has also been profiled on Oxygen’s Snapped and Investigation Discovery.³

1
WBRC. Morris PD Finds Man, 40, Shot Dead in Home
2
WBRC. Victim’s Wife and Her Boyfriend Charged With Morris Man’s Murder
3
AL.com. Cindy Reese, Morris Alabama Woman Convicted in Husband’s Killing
4
WVTM 13. Jeff Brown Sentenced to Prison for Michael Reese’s Murder
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The Christian Post. Ex-Church Music Director Who Murdered Husband to Be With Pastor Is Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison
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CBS 42. Investigators: Couple Having Affair Committed Murder to Be Together
7
AL.com. Former Pastor Sentenced to Prison
8
AL.com. Court Denies Cindy Reese’s Appeal
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AL.com. Cindy Reese Sentenced to Prison
10
CBS 42. Woman Convicted of Murdering Husband to Continue Affair With Pastor Sentenced
11
ABC 33/40. Woman Who Killed Husband to Be With Lover Denied Appeal
12
AL.com. Woman Who Killed Husband Execution-Style Sent to Work Release After Less Than 3 Years in Prison
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Vocal Online. Work Release for Convicted Killer Raises More Questions About Alabama Department of Corrections
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Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles. Parole Decisions for Thursday, July 27, 2023