An Alabama man pleaded guilty on Wednesday morning to a 1989 murder in Lookout Valley.
Samuel Edwards Reeves, 49, of Bryant, Ala., pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the courtroom of Judge Tom Greenholtz.
The case involves the slaying of James "Richard" Layne at the La Plaza motel on Cummings Highway on Feb. 20, 1989.
Reeves received an agreed six year sentence. He will serve 11 months and 29 days in the local work house and then be on probation for the remainder of the term. He will be eligible for two-for-one time at the workhouse.
District Attorney Neal Pinkston said the case was broken by the Cold Case team in his office, after the FBI last year notified Sergeant Bill Phillips that it had found fingerprints of Reeves tied to the motel room.
DA Pinkston said the two met at the motel for consensual sex.
Layne had checked into the room under an assumed name.
He said that during the encounter that Reeves became angry and attacked Layne, who had multiple stab wounds.
Reeves, who was taken directly into custody, said, "I'm sorry for what happened."
Attorney Lee Davis said the statute of limitations applied to voluntary manslaughter, but he said the state could have charged either felony murder or first-degree murder. He said the decision was also based on other recent evidence assembled by detectives in the case.
The wife and mother of Reeves were in the courtroom along with a number of members of the Layne family.
Authorities said the day after Layne checked into the motel room, he did not check out as scheduled. Motel housekeeping staff entered his room and found the naked and bloody body of the 47-year old lying in the floor.
An autopsy revealed he had been stabbed 32 times, with wounds to the head, neck, chest, back, abdomen, and arms. The ring finger of his left hand had been crudely amputated.
Investigators believe the killer made off with the victim’s wedding ring. Also, the Ringgold man was known to carry large amounts of cash (which he used at car auctions) but Chattanooga police found his wallet empty, leading them to suspect cash had been taken, too.
Original detectives assigned to the Layne homicide had few leads and the case quickly became cold.
Last year, the FBI’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) found a match to a fingerprint on a beer can collected from Layne’s motel room. It belonged to Samuel Edward Reeves and was identical to a fingerprint taken when Reeves was more recently booked on a DUI charge.
Once notified of the AFIS hit, the Cold Case Unit reopened the case and began interviewing potential witnesses. When CCU investigators approached the suspect, he refused to talk and hired defense attorney Davis.
Based on Reeves’ contention he acted in self-defense and with limited available evidence (one fingerprint on a beer can), District Attorney General Neal Pinkston negotiated a plea agreement with attorney Davis.
The state has agreed to allow Reeves to serve his probation in his home state of Alabama.
DA Pinkston recently met with the Layne family and they have indicated they are in favor of this resolution, it was stated.
This is the ninth case resolved by the DA’s Cold Case Unit since it began operating on Oct. 1, 2014.