WILLIMANTIC, Conn. — There are more questions than answers following the horrific homicide of a visiting nurse in Willimantic. The tragedy is generating a lot of interest from those in the community and in the legislature.
The Willimantic Police handed over the investigation to the Connecticut State Police who - right now, are trying to gather enough evidence to charge the suspect, Michael Reese, with murder.
“I feel like she’s a fallen angel. She was just trying to help somebody, not get killed,” remarked Juan Ruiz of Willimantic.
He lives right next door to what he described as a real-life house of horrors.
“That place looks dark all the time. It’s gloomy. Now it’s October 31. That really is a Halloween house," said Ruiz.
It’s where over the weekend police discovered a body in the basement. Police Chief Paul Hussey called it, “one of the worst cases I have seen in 27 years of law enforcement.” But since that statement, both Willimantic and state police have gone silent about what happened inside.
“I would absolutely like to know more. I think we should all know more,” said Daniel Kokoska of Willimantic.
According to police documents, the house on Chapman Street provides transitional housing specifically for sex offenders.
“No, I didn’t not know that. That’s why I’m really pissed off. I can’t believe that. Next door right here there are little girls next door,” remarked Ruiz.
The suspect Reese, is a registered sex offender. The warrant details how he tampered with his GPS ankle device and police caught him trying to run out the back door with a knife and a crack pipe.
Reese was convicted in 2007 after stabbing a woman in the throat and leaving her for dead in a cemetery. He spent 16 years in prison and was just released in March.
“I do believe this falls on the state. Because the state needs to know who they are discharging into the community and what the capacity is for that person to do harm in the community and I don’t know that the state has done that,” said State Rep. Susan Johnson, who represents Willimantic.
As for the victim in this case, we don’t know her name. But we know she was a visiting nurse.
“This family. This woman. Wonderful woman. Nurse. The family is well known all throughout Eastern Connecticut,” said Johnson.
Reese was her client. She was in the house alone.
“I would not dream that someone should have gone into that house alone and who is supervising the house?” asked Johnson.
State Representative Johnson said she will be working with her colleagues to find out where the system broke down and how she can fix it, including making sure prisons provide mental health intervention and judges get the evidence they need to make more informed decisions.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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