LINDALE, Texas (KETK) – Newly released court documents shed a horrendous light on the murders of two people in Lindale last week.
David Joshua Reed, 40, is charged with killing 26-year-old Shelby Duarte and 43-year-old Timothy Nelson Jr. back in the early-morning hours of December 9.
Duarte and Nelson died after they were hit by a truck driven by Reed.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by KETK News, Reed was also trying to blow himself up and had loaded his vehicle with propane tanks.
He is charged with capital murder, but is also facing charges of indecency with a child and several minor misdemeanors. Collectively, he is being held on a $1.3 million bond in Smith County Jail.
Investigators at the scene found that Reed drove his white pickup into a camper trailer, which completely destroyed it. Duarte and Nelson were thrown 65 feet as a result of the crash, hitting the front of a house. It is unknown if they were inside or outside the camper at the time of the collision.
Nelson’s family lived inside the home and were woken up by the crash. They told investigators that Duarte and Nelson were living together in the trailer. The warrant stated that Duarte had recently left Reed and that he was the subject of several cases of alleged abuse against her, including kidnapping and assault.
The warrant stated that Duarte had been hiding her car behind the house while staying with Nelson because she was afraid of Reed. After the crash, he fled on foot but was later tracked down by authorities.
Reed claimed to investigators after his arrest that Duarte had told him that she was pregnant. However, her family disputes this.
That night, Reed was texting with her when Nelson began responding instead. He then drove to Nelson’s trailer “with the intent to kill both Duarte and Nelson… [and] his unborn child.”
Before the crash, he left Duarte a voicemail that said: You reap what you sow. I’ll see you in hell.” Under Texas law, if someone is convicted of capital murder, the only sentencing options are the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Duarte’s funeral was held Monday morning at Allan Fuller Funeral Home in Wills Point and then was buried at Small Cemetery in Edgewood.