WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The West Palm Beach Police Department (WPBPD) has arrested a suspect in the murder of 56-year-old Laura Lee Willsey.
Willsey was reported missing by her daughter in July 2024, and WPBPD alerted the public of her disappearance from the 5200 block of Garden Avenue.
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Upon searching Willsey's residence, detectives found "blood spatter and droplets inside and outside of the home." Police say security footage of the residence from July 29 also captured an argument between Willsey, 56-year-old Todd Arthur Reichert and 64-year-old Timothy Wyman Smith.
A witness was able to provide additional info about the July 29 incident, telling detectives that Reichert was physically assaulting Willsey in the room she was renting, and they later heard plastic bags being crumpled in Willsey's room and the living room.
The witness told detectives Reichert then drove to Belle Glade in his 2010 Volkswagen, and didn't take his phone to avoid being tracked. A search warrant on Reichert's vehicle found blood that was later confirmed to be Willsey's.
Reichert is facing a first-degree murder charge and is at the Palm Beach County jail, where he was already being held on unrelated charges.
