Texan Who ‘Lost’ Three Wives Guilty of Murder

A man who lost three wives or ex-wives was found guilty last week in the 1978 shotgun death of his second wife, whose death originally was ruled a suicide.

Jurors took a little more than an hour to find Jack Reeves guilty of murder, then another two years to sentence him to 35 years in prison. He is also awaiting trial in the death of his fourth wife.

Sharon Reeves died July 20, 1978, in her home in Copperas Cove, shot in the chest. She and Reeves had been divorced only a week. Investigators originally concluded she had pulled the trigger with her toe.

The case was reopened and her body exhumed after police investigating the October 1994 disappearance of his fourth wife, Emilita, found evidence they say linked Reeves to Sharon’s death.

Sharon Reeves’ father, 86-year-old James Vaughn, who used a walker to get into the courtroom, said after the verdict: “It’s a good deal. For one thing, she never would have killed herself.”

Reeves, a retired Army master sergeant, dropped his head as the verdict was read.

Reeves’ lawyers rested their case without calling the defendant to the stand.

Reeves faces another murder trial beginning April 1 in connection with the death of Emilita Reeves, whose body was found last October near Lake Whitney.

His third wife, Myong, apparently drowned while the two were fishing in 1986, also at Lake Whitney. Investigators have said they don’t have enough evidence to tell whether that death, originally ruled an accident, was also a homicide. Reeves abruptly had her body cremated when her sister demanded an autopsy, saying she didn’t believe Myong had drowned.

Reeves’ first marriage was annulled.