NORWALK — When BCI Special Agent John Saraya arrested Fred Reer Jr. for the 2017 murder of Amanda Dean, state officials hailed it as a triumph of modern policing. But newly obtained records suggest that Saraya wasn’t just “investigating”—he was being led by the hand.
Three years ago, an advocate sent Saraya a series of 24 emails that provided a nearly complete roadmap to the remaining available evidence in Amanda’s death and the disposal of her remains. Those same emails alerted the state to something even more chilling: a trail of suspicious deaths surrounding Fred Reer Jr. that spanned from Huron County to Florida and California.
‘Last seen alive’ list
Cleveland Missing, a nonprofit advocacy group that assisted the Dean family, hosted a news conference after Reer’s sentencing hearing on Jan. 5, celebrating BCI’s “amazing” work. Sylvia Colon, co-founder of the group, and Newburg Heights Police Chief John Majoy, a board member, omitted any mention of the emails Saraya received that helped him find the evidence to convict Reer.
