U.S. Marshal Revisits Burial Site of "Most Sadistic, Most Brutal” Crime by Serial Killer Ken McDuff
Deputy U.S. Marshal Parnell McNamara explained what it took to find missing Austin woman Colleen Reed seven years after her death.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Parnell McNamara could hardly contain his emotions when visiting the site where authorities found the remains of Colleen Reed.
The 28-year-old victim from Austin was one of several victims of infamous Texas serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff, whose case will be featured in Season 2, Episode 8 of Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler. McNamara took producers to a broken cattle gate not far from the rural plot of land in Falls County, where they found Reed’s remains in November 1998 along the banks of the Brazos River.
“This is where McDuff brought Colleen Reed after he tortured her and beat her to death,” said the Marshal.
The scene of the crime
McNamara showed cameras the road in which McDuff drove with Reed's body, pointing out to a tree in the distance as the place where the former death row inmate discarded her remains in the winter of 1991.
"That’s where we found her, seven years after he killed her," McNamara continued.
McNamara, who helped investigate the original case, said authorities had a rough idea of Reed’s whereabouts. Still, even after utilizing tractors and bulldozers, they were unable to pinpoint the missing woman’s remains. They looked to McDuff, who by then had been dubbed “The Broomstick Killer,” according to the San Antonio Express-News, to lead them to an exact spot.
McDuff leads the way to Reed's burial site
As part of a “clandestine” operation, officials with the Texas Department of Justice drove McDuff from prison to where McNamara then stood in the recent video clip. Nearby, a traffic bridge was filled with dozens of media outlets wanting the scoop on who could have been buried out in the Texas country.
“[We] took him in there, he looked around, stayed in the car the whole time,” McNamara pointed. “And then, one of them called me over, and he said, ‘Dig on this side of the yellow tape; that’s where you’ll find her skeleton.’”
McNamara said they made “one pass” before finding the grave containing Reed’s bones.
“He knew exactly where he had buried her,” the U.S. Marshal continued.
A "sadistic" and “brutal” killer
Ken McDuff was the suspect of up to 14 murders, according to the Dallas Observer, and his profile was only raised in the ’90s when he was featured in an episode of the popular series America’s Most Wanted. McDuff’s crimes helped shed light on corruption in Texas’ legal system and would prompt law changes that still exist today.
For many, including McNamara, the disappearance and discovery of the missing Austin woman was “very, very sad,” a case not soon forgotten by investigators.
“I’ve worked some bad cases over 50 years carrying a badge,” McNamara told Prosecuting Evil. “And this, the McDuff case, is by far the most sadistic, most brutal that I’ve ever worked, and most of the other guys that worked with us feel the same way.”
Learn more about serial killer Ken McDuff and his crimes by watching Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler, airing Saturdays at 8/7c on Oxygen.
