Governor signs execution warrant for convicted Lawrence County killer

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has signed an execution warrant for a man convicted of killing his girlfriend in Lawrence County.

Dennis Reed is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on January 15 for the shooting death of Wendy Miller, his girlfriend and mother of his son, on December 16, 2001.

Reed, now 43, was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury on January 31, 2008, and the jury returned a death verdict on February 1, 2008 in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas.

In 2001, Reed moved into a New Castle apartment with his girlfriend, Wendy Miller, their 12-year-old son, and her three other children. After Ms. Miller applied for a Protection From Abuse Order against Reed, he showed up at the residence in the early morning of December 16, 2001. When he was let in by one of the children, Reed went upstairs to Ms. Miller's bedroom and forcibly removed her from the house, returning ten minutes later to gather her three children (their son was with another family member).

They drove to a local housing project in Ms. Miller's SUV, where Ms. Miller and Reed exited the vehicle, leaving her three children inside. Reed returned alone twenty minutes later; when asked by Ms. Miller's eldest child where her mother was, Reed replied that their aunt had taken their mother to work.

Ms. Miller's family notified New Castle police that she and her children were missing. A search commenced, and Butler City police found Reed outside Ms. Miller's SUV on December 22, where they arrested him. The children were located inside the vehicle and sent with family members. Police seized a loaded shotgun, along with Reed's clothing which had stains that were later tested and found to have genetic markers consistent with Ms. Miller's blood.

Family members continued the search for Wendy Miller and ultimately found her body on December 23, 2001, in a desolate and secluded area of the woods. Ms. Miller had been shot at close range in the head with a shotgun.