Police plead for public’s help to solve murder of Jon Reader
Posted Aug 8, 2011 05:34:48 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Six years after the murder of Jonathan Reader, the case remains unsolved – but police are releasing some new details.
Reader, 19, was found unconscious in the road near Radcliffe and Dunbrack Streets around 4 a.m. Aug. 7, 2005. He died later in hospital and police ruled his death a homicide.
Since then, investigators have determined Reader left the Pacifico Bar and Grill around 2 a.m. and was later seen on Dutch Village Road around 3:20 a.m.
Now, Cst. Brian Palmeter tells News 95.7, there’s some possibility a youth gang may have been involved in Reader’s death.
“Certainly one of the focuses of this investigation is on a youth group that was active at the time of Jon’s death,” he said. “They were known as the Murda Squad and their involvement hasn’t been ruled out at this point.”
Palmeter say some members of the group are still active in Halifax, though they’re no longer calling themselves the “Murda Squad.”
He says investigators need more information before they can lay charges.
“Most of our unsolved homicide files, we have good information as to who’s responsible, but it’s different from having enough information to lay charges,” he said.
For the first time this year, the Reader family did not hold a candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary of Jonathan’s death. David Reader, Jonathan’s father, tells News 95.7 it’s become too painful – one of many reminders the family doesn’t need of their terrible loss.
“It’s always painful at family get-togethers and things like that,” he said. “We haven’t had a family photo since he’s been gone, it just doesn’t seem right.”
Mr. Reader says the family will find peace only when someone has been charged with Jonathan’s death, a conclusion he says they know is likely now out of police control.
“It’s been six years, and the police have done great job, a lot of investigative work,” he said. “Now I think we’re at the place where we need somebody to come forward to speak that really knows and maybe was there or knows somebody. I think we all know it’s a big code of silence among that kind of criminal activity, so it’s going to take somebody coming forward.”
Palmeter says someone out there may have the key to solving the case in what they think is a trivial piece of information and urges anyone who has any information about the case to come forward.
“Typically, there’s the people who are directly responsible and then you have other people that have information – somebody said something at some point,” he said. “We need these people to come forward, there’s a reward available if people need to be motivated by money, but essentially we need cooperation from people that have that kind of information so we can bring closure to Jonathan’s family.”
Anyone with information can contact police at 490-5333 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
