Fred Reer wants out

COLLINS — State agents with shovels have returned three times to the Wells Road property where prosecutors said Fred Reer killed Amanda Dean, but the search warrants they executed there remain under seal. Dean A pretrial hearing scheduled for last week was delayed the last time agents went to the property, on Nov. 14. That time, sheriff's cruisers blocked access to the area from both Collins and Wells roads, prompting speculation that Reer was at the property with them. That can't be confirmed, however, and there's no information about what might have been found during the four different searches at the property because all that information remains sealed by the court. The court refuses to respond as to what agents were looking for and what they found during the digs. A Hurn County grand jury returned an indictment in February 2023, after the first two digs at the property in November 2022, charging Reer, 42, with murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. The indictment states that Reer killed Amanda Dean the same day her family reported her missing — in July 2017 — fearing Reer killed her. They pleaded with Huron County Sheriff Todd Corbin, at that time, to search the property, but he refused. He called off the search for Amanda less than 24 hours later, telling the family she'd been located and was safe. He said she did not want to talk with her family, which includes her mother, sisters and three young sons. Reer For years, Corbin refused to help the Dean family and never conducted any investigation to find her. The state agreed to look for her after the Register published a series of stories in late 2022 about the family's growing frustrations with the sheriff. State agents found witnesses Corbin and his detective at the time, his cousin, Shannon Lyons did not. "The weight of the evidence is against the defendant," according to a prosecutor's brief filed last month in opposition to Reer's request for reduced bond states. The witness "saw Reer strangle or choke Amanda Dean." Other witnesses will testify that "he killed her and got rid of the body and other evidence," the court motion states. The request for a reduced bond is still pending. Corbin has refused to address questions about why he and Lyons never interviewed Reer or the other witnesses. Last week's delayed final pre-trial hearing was rescheduled to Dec. 16. A jury trial is scheduled to begin March 10.