Thirty-two year-old Dianne Hood was meeting in Otis Park with the Women’s Lupus Support Group on Sep 12, 1990. At 8:30 pm she walks out into the parking lot with friend Karen Johnson. A 5’9″ man wearing a mask, jacket, fatigues, and gloves demands Dianne’s purse. She hands it over and he swings it over his shoulder then shoots Dianne twice and runs. Karen runs inside, tells the others to call 911, then returns outside with another support group member who is a nurse. She performs CPR, but Dianne is already dead.
Police bring a scent dog who follows the scent for a mile to a garbage can where they find pants, jacket, gloves, and a ski mask. Inside the mask is human brown hair. The gloves are GSR positive. The scent dog continues until he stops at a curb about a block away. That means the killer got in a vehicle and left.
Police canvas the neighborhood and ask if anyone suspicious has been around. They all mention “Homicide Dave”, a war vet who is crazy and violent. They interview Dave Burns and he has an alibi. He was with several friends who all confirm his alibi.
The ballistics report comes back that the weapon used is a very rare gun, a cowboy gun used in films. It’s expensive and sold at antique gun shows. It’s called a Colt Peacemaker Patent 1872 Single Action Army Revolver.
Police speak with Dianne’s husband, Brian Hood, who is dealing with their three small children who are all distraught. He has nothing to report.
Friends of the Hoods report that Brian spends a lot of time at the gym. So police go to the gym. They say that Brian spends most of his time with Jennifer, the girl who works next door at the florist shop. So Lt Joe Kenda goes to the florist shop. The florist shop owner says her name is Jennifer Reali. She’s a mother of two girls and her husband Benjamin Reali, is an intelligence officer at Fort Carson, a captain. Then he drops a bombshell. He and Benjamin are friends because they both collect antique guns.
Police visit Benjamin Reali at Fort Carson. He owns a Colt Peacemaker Patent 1871 Single Action Army Revolver. He gets it for them and it’s been recently cleaned. They show him the shooter’s military fatigues. He admits they are his. Then he tells them he last saw those clothes and that gun in his home three weeks ago when he moved out. He and his wife Jennifer are separated. That that very morning, Jennifer brought the gun to him and told him to keep it there.
Lt Kenda now suspects Jennifer. She was in possession of the weapon and killer’s clothes, plus the killer swung Dianne’s purse over her arm like a woman would do. A male killer would not do that. So they bring Benjamin and Jennifer into the police station and put them in a room together where they argue for about an hour. Benjamin wants to know if she killed someone. She refuses to answer. But it’s clear Benjamin was not Jennifer’s accomplice so they let him go.
Jennifer confesses, but it was Brian’s idea. They’ve been having an affair for eight months. They met at Jennifer’s house while Ben was out of town. Jennifer is very specific about the details of their affair. Brian said his wife Dianne had lupus and was dying painfully. He had an insurance policy on her for $100,000 and if she was murdered it paid double. Over several months he convinced her to kill Dianne. He talked about different methods, but finally settled on Jennifer doing it in a staged robbery. He tells her “we’ve already committed the sin of adultery and the sin of murder is no worse.” He told her passages from the bible which convinced her that all she had to do was repent afterwards and she’d be forgiven for her sins. He also convinced her the police were stupid.
After three months of pressuring her, she finally agreed to kill Dianne. But Brian designed the plot.
Cases of “he said, she said” are difficult to prove. But one of Brian’s friends comes forward, Frank Patton. Frank and Brian were talking and Brian told Frank he just wish Dianne would die and get it over with. Other friends mention he had approached them about killing her too. Dianne was not dying of lupus. Brian made that up.
Brian Hood is sentenced to 37 years.
Jennifer Reali is sentenced to life without parole.
Bibliography
Homicide Hunter, Season 2, Episode 1: I Now Pronounce You Dead, air date: Oct 1, 2012.
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