Death of Doug Reer: Suicide or something far more sinister?

Unanswered questions: How a Huron County sheriff's detective later convicted of misconduct closed the death investigation of Fred Reer's uncle

COLLINS, Ohio — There might not be any murders in the whole history of this small community in Huron County, prior to July 2017. But since then, there could be two long unresolved homicides, mishandled by the sheriff’s office so badly that both victims have been denied justice for years.

Douglas Reer Sr.

And although the deaths of Amanda Dean and Doug Reer Sr. are not directly related, there are ties that bind them tightly, including that both Dean and Reer Sr. died in their residences on Wells Road, just blocks away from each other. Additionally, close family members immediately after each death began questioning the circumstances and identified potential suspects who might be responsible, cousins Doug Reer Jr. and Fred Reer Jr.

Dean was allegedly killed by Fred Reer Jr. in July 2017, inside a shack on property where his mother lives at 1744 Wells Road. Doug Reer Sr. was found dead in his bedroom at his home at 2126 Wells Road on April 22, 2021.

“I thought Fred Reer Jr. may have been involved. They ran around and did a lot of stuff together” one relative said, commenting on the cousins’ relationship.

Both deaths were first investigated by a now former Huron County sheriff’s deputy, Det. Sgt. Shannon Lyons, the cousin of the elected sheriff, Todd Corbin. There are serious missteps in basic investigatory procedures in both reports, including compromising the crime scene where Doug Reer’s body was found, and never even talking with the identified prime suspect — Fred Reer — after Amanda Dean was first reported missing in July 2017.

Lyons also did not talk with Doug Reer Jr., who was about to be disinherited by his father and was in the process of being evicted from his home.

Lyons was forced to resign from the Huron County sheriff’s office earlier this year after a conviction for dereliction of duty in an unrelated case, that, like the Dean and Doug Reer Sr. deaths, also appears to not ever have been fully investigated by the sheriff’s office.

Plea deal looms in Amanda Dean murder; Sheriff Corbin still faces day in court

No follow through

Lyons believed the April 2021 death of Doug Reer Sr. was a suicide, right from the start, responding to a text message that pre-determined the nature of the investigation.

“I received a text message from the office in reference to a suicide at 2126 Wells Road in Townsend Township,” Lyons wrote in his report.

StayTunedSanduysky.com has made a records request to the sheriff’s office for dispatch records from that day and any related 911 call recordings and texts. Records requests have also been made to the Huron County coroner for the death certificate and other related records.

Former Huron County sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Shannon Lyons

A 19-page sheriff’s report of the investigation by Lyons was provided to StayTunedSandusky this week by a public records advocate. The report also was provided to Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Special Agent John Saraya in January 2023, the advocate said. Saraya, at the time, had just started investigating the Amanda Dean homicide after public pressure forced Corbin to turn it over to the state.

A review of the Doug Reer Sr. death investigation report reveals a disturbing pattern of missed clues, protocol breaches and unanswered questions that strongly suggest his death warrants a fresh, impartial look. Was this truly a suicide, or did the original investigation overlook—or intentionally obscure—evidence pointing to homicide?

Another compromised investigation

The initial report from Detective Lyons paints a picture far from a straightforward suicide. Responding to the Wells Road house, deputies found Doug Reer Sr. in his bedroom.

• An eerily awkward position: Doug Reer Sr. was found “face down, with his butt in the air, with a gunshot wound to the head,” according to Lyons’ report. This is an extremely unusual and contorted position for a self-inflicted gunshot wound, challenging common understandings of suicide by firearm.

• The trash can: Perhaps most bizarrely, when Michelle Reer—Sr.’s daughter-in-law—initially discovered the body, she told Lyons there was a “trash can on Sr.’s head, covering it.” The presence of a trash can covering the victim’s head after a self-inflicted gunshot wound raises immediate and serious questions about potential scene manipulation.

• A stolen weapon: The .38 special revolver found by Sr.’s body was quickly identified as a weapon reported stolen out of Erie County in 1994. This detail introduces a complex layer of criminality: how did Doug Reer Sr. acquire a handgun that had been “hot” for nearly three decades? The reports offer no follow-up on this critical question.

Coroner’s alarm