Biloxi man sentenced in murder of his wife

Biloxi, Mississippi – District Attorney W. Crosby Parker announced that 45-year-old Michael Edward Reis, of Biloxi, Mississippi pled guilty yesterday afternoon to Second-Degree Murder in the death of his wife, Jennifer Alvarado Reis.

Reis was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Christopher Schmidt to 40 years, 15 years suspended, leaving 25 years to serve in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

Due to the nature of the crime, the 25-year period of incarceration must be served day-for-day. The case began on March 1, 2020 when Reis flagged Biloxi police officers down at Porter Avenue and Beach Boulevard shortly after midnight telling them that he needed to turn himself into authorities.

Officers, unaware of the murder, began speaking with him in order to get further information. Reis told officers they needed to check his house on Popp’s Ferry Road.

Officers were dispatched to the house where they found the deceased victim on the kitchen floor with a single gunshot wound to the chest.

During the course of the investigation, police determined the Defendant was under the influence of very high doses of prescription medications, was hallucinating, and believed that the victim had harmed his kids and buried them in the yard, even though no kids lived with the couple.

“Police located a pistol in the defendant’s car the night he approached them and concluded it was the murder weapon through forensic testing”, said Assistant District Attorney George Huffman, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the State.

During his plea, the Defendant admitted to shooting the victim, but claimed that it was unintentional.

According to the Defendant, he was being reckless with the gun and it went off striking the victim. He attributed the cause of his actions to abuse of prescription medication.

However, as the Judge reminded him, voluntary intoxication is not a defense to the crime.