STATE PARK PLACE, Ill. (CN) - A real estate deal may have led to the arrest of a triple murderer. A man who bought land 10 miles east of St. Louis was bulldozing on the site when a brick-lined cistern buried under railroad ties and 10 inches of soil was uncovered. In it were the remains of a young woman and a child, believed to be 19-year-old Anquiaette Parker and her 4-year-old cousin, Cermen Toney Jr. Parker was 7 months pregnant and was baby-sitting Cermen when they disappeared on Nov. 6, 2005. Police have arrested Kevin J. Reid, 51, the former landowner, and charged him with murdering Parker, Cermen and Parker's unborn baby.
Police said that Reid was one of 200 persons of interest when Parker and Cermen disappeared, and that the property was searched and dug up two years ago, but bloodhounds found no scent of the victims.
Police described Reid as a drifter who has been convicted of a robbery and two thefts. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Reid was lurking behind some bushes on the property during the recovery operation.
Police said positive identification of the bodies from the crime lab could take months. Reid is being held in Madison County Jail without bail.
Police did not comment on motive or say how the victims were killed, but charging documents offer two versions: one accusing Reid of burying his victims alive and the other indicating that he killed them and then used the cistern to hide the bodies.
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