3rd Trial for Accused Killer of Flight Attendant

A former car dealer whose capital murder conviction and death sentence for the rape-slaying of a flight attendant 33 years ago in Dallas has been overturned twice by the courts is back on trial a third time.

Opening statements were set for Monday in the retrial of 59-year-old Jonathan Bruce Reed. Reed is accused of the November 1978 murder of 26-year-old Wanda Jean Wadle, a flight attendant for Braniff Airlines.

She was found by her roommate unconscious and with a plastic bag around her head at their northeast Dallas apartment.

She died nine days later.

The roommate also was attacked. She survived by feigning unconsciousness and testified against Reed.

She told The Dallas Morning News she would testify again against Reed. Prosecutors again are seeking the death penalty.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us