Section 2, Confessions and Other Statements: Richard Reynolds
January 20, 2022, 10:01 p.m.
While police were processing Chase and Reynolds, they impounded the vehicle that the two used when luring Jawad Ali into the car. Police were able to quickly locate the car rental agency based on a tip that had come in shortly prior to the arrest.
Detective Diaz: We are recording this interview as per Illinois statute. Please state your name and age for the record.
Richard: Took you long enough. Now which one of you is the good cop and which one is the bad cop? Let me guess. Diaz? You’re the mean one.
Detective Crowe: State your name and age for the record.
Richard: Richard Reynolds, eighteen years old.
Diaz: Richard, you have chosen to speak to us without a lawyer present and have consented to this interview. Is that correct?
Richard: Yup. [leans back in chair]
Crowe: At this point, I want to make you aware that we have recovered the rental vehicle—a Chevy 200 rented under the name Fred Nietzsche from Anderson Car Rental. Are you familiar with that rental agency?
Richard: I have a car. And even a driver, if I want. I don’t need a rental from some crappy rental place on the West Side.
Crowe: So you are aware of the location of Anderson’s.
Richard: Wow. You got me. I’ve seen their ads on the sides of buses. Brilliant detective work on your part, really. You should ask for a raise.
Crowe: [clears throat] You thought you were being smart, huh? Cleaning up the vehicle?
Richard: I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Crowe: You didn’t do such a good job though. I guess you’re used to other people cleaning up your mess. Our investigators sprayed the car seats with luminol, lit up like a Christmas tree. They found plenty of blood spatter on the passenger and back seats, the seat belts, too. DNA results on the blood should be back soon.
Diaz: We should maybe mention that we picked up some prints, too. They’re harder to wipe away than you might think. We heard you hate wearing gloves, huh? Don’t even own a pair? Seems like this would be an opportune time to share anything you might know. Before we really start digging around. While you still have a chance to be in our good graces.
Richard: [scoffs, pushes back chair] Look… I know how this works. I know what entrapment is. You can say anything you want in here. It’s all lies. I don’t have anything else to add besides that. I’m going to go ahead and wait for my parents to show with a lawyer.
Crowe: Fine. Fine. But it might interest you to know that Nate confessed to being in the car at the time of Jawad Ali’s murder. Further, he contends that he was merely driving the vehicle and that you, Richard, were the one who killed Jawad Ali with a blow to the back of the head and then proceeded to suffocate him with a scarf while Nate drove. He also asserts that you cleaned and returned the vehicle, alone.
Richard: Bullshit.
Diaz: Look, Richard, your friend Nate pinned it all on you. Says you’re the mastermind. Says you were the Nietzsche fanatic. Says you introduced him to WRA: White Resistance Army. Recruited was the word he used. You lured him in.
Richard: [slams fist on table] That is absolute bullshit! I didn’t lay a hand on that sand—Nate picked him. Wanted to go after him. Sent those texts after the Bomb Boy thing. The fake ransom? The vandalism? The swastika? It was all him.
Diaz: He says the opposite. Said you called it a game, that’s why you toyed with Safiya, wanted her as your plaything, that’s why you hacked the school newspaper. He said you bought the burner phones. Said you picked the spot to dump the body and—
Richard: That fucking liar! That weak piece of shit. He did it! All of it! I never laid a hand on that raghead skittle. All I did was drive.