Murder Ridge: Reese Confesses To Three Murders

June 1954--Following the violent death of Clyde Patton, questions about the long missing Paul Tish and Lester Melick came into focus. The Knox County sheriff spent several hours talking with Reese. Reese told the sheriff he had shot Melick in the head. At that point, Reese broke down and sobbed. The sheriff, unable to get any more information from Reese, resumed questioning the following morning. Reese stopped answering questions.

Continued police searches of the Reese farm failed to turn up any additional clues, and it was Melick's brother, Harry, with 40 other men, who found a second victim, a badly decomposed Paul Tish. Coshocton's sheriff took Reese to the shallow grave to identify the body, but Reese remained silent.

The following day over 600 people combed the Reese farm to discover a third victim, Lester Melick. With Reese remaining silent, the authorities had positive identification of Tish made through dental records. Reese was arraigned for the first degree murder of Clyde Patton.

The two sheriff's agreed that they needed a confession regarding the other two murders. After continuous questioning, Reese lost his cool and admitted the two murders. Reese was quoted by True Detective as saying, "There are only three. You won't find any more. I killed them. Three is all."

(Source: True Detective)