On October 4, 1975, Earl S. Reed, a 58-year-old White man, was found dead in his motel room at the Caravan Inn in Anaheim, California. Reed had checked into room 227 the night before; a neighboring guest later reported hearing cries of Help. This is murder in the early hours, but those calls were not investigated at the time. A maid discovered Reed the next morning, face down on the bed and wrapped in bedding. His face was bruised and bleeding, several teeth had been dislodged, and bloodstains were on the pillowcase and a towel. The room had been ransacked and Reed’s wallet was missing.

Autopsy findings listed death from aspiration of blood due to extensive bleeding from his mouth and nose. Investigation centered on Gregory John Teron Jr., who had been staying in the adjacent room 229. Teron later gave a taped confession saying he and Reed spoke in the parking lot, that Reed invited him in for drinks, and that Teron then demanded money, struck Reed repeatedly, tried to strangle him and smothered him with a pillow before taking the wallet. Teron fled California, was later apprehended in Michigan, extradited back and indicted by an Orange County grand jury in January 1978.

Did anyone who knew Earl Reed or stayed at the Caravan Inn around that time hear or report the cries that night?