The shooting took place in the scenic central Texas wine country near Signor Vineyards. Signor Vineyards Instagram Photo

In a modern tale of what may be online dating gone wrong, a Texas woman was traveling for a weekend getaway with a man she had recently met when she was forced to kill the man in an alleged case of self-defense. The incident occurred in the wine country of central Texas.

According to multiple news sources, on Friday, March 15, shortly after noon, Gillespie County 911 received a call from a panicked woman.

“I’ve got a female on the line, she’s quite hysterical. She’s advising that she just shot somebody…She’s been drugged and she’s been kidnapped,” the 911 dispatcher aired to nearby police.

While riding with 49-year-old Lance Damon Reid, the 45-year-old woman told police she had been drugged and the man would not let her go. News reports show she then pulled a Glock 43 and shot the man, who was driving, from the passenger seat. She then jumped from the vehicle, which came to rest in the outside lane of west-bound traffic on the highway, and ran up the driveway of Signor Vineyards screaming for help.

“She said she shot him all over,” a woman says on the 911 tapes. The man and woman were both from the Houston area, but the shooting occurred near Fredericksbug, Texas.

 “The two had recently met and were familiar with one another, and were on a planned weekend trip together when this occurred,” the sheriff’s office told KXAN News.

Reid’s father, Barry, told KENS 5 that “his son was an engineer who recently moved to the Houston area for a government job that required a background check and security clearance.”

“It’s just a shocking, (an) unbelievable thing,’ Barry Reid said. “I can’t imagine Lance doing something like that. He certainly doesn’t do drugs, and he’s working with a government clearance, so you don’t get away with that. He wasn’t a violent person. He loved people. He got along with everybody, (was) very sociable.”

According to KHOU News, Reid had recently moved to Texas from California, the article saying, “He’s a married father of two, but his wife stayed behind in California” according to an interview with Reid’s father.

Reid’s wife, Kellee, provided a statement to news outlets, saying: “There is an ongoing and thorough investigation. There is a lot more information to offer. We are confident that the truth will come out and that justice will be served.”

Sheriff Buddy Mills says “at first glance the woman’s account seems credible.” He told news reporters that it does appear she agreed to join Reid on the trip before something apparently unexpected occurred.

“There’s no telling what could have occurred. There’s no real telling,” Mills told KENS 5. “In all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never heard of anything like this occurring here in the county.”

The Gillespie County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the case to determine if any charges should be brought forward. At this time, none have been filed.

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46 COMMENTS

  2. Well, he’s dead, so the cops won’t even get a “he said, she said” scenario. Hopefully, the story told by the physical evidence will be clear.

  5. Not excusing bad behavior but maybe it’s not a good idea to go away for a weekend with someone you barely know. But that’s just me.

  6. “a Texas woman was traveling for a weekend getaway with a man she had recently met”

    “The two had recently met and were familiar with one another, and were on a planned weekend trip together when this occurred,”

    But then…

    “It’s just a shocking, (an) unbelievable thing,’ Barry Reid said. ‘I can’t imagine Lance doing something like that. He certainly doesn’t do drugs, and he’s working with a government clearance, so you don’t get away with that. He wasn’t a violent person. He loved people. He got along with everybody, (was) very sociable.”

    But then….

    “He’s a married father of two, but his wife stayed behind in California’ according to an interview with Reid’s father.”

    Hmmm… ok, he’s this really good guy supposedly, never ever ever does anything at all bad, …but hes cheating on his wife who is back in California (if the woman’s story is true about the two getting together for a week end)

    hmmmmm….

  9. Never judge a book by the cover however the cover says the cheating deceased may have a way of fooling his circle into believing he can do no harm. And once he’s out of sight he may change into a monster. Or he really was mr. manners and the woman was tripping and freaked out with a Glock.

      • According to her, it seems was pretty much a sure thing because she went with him willingly. So why would he drug her and kidnap her if it was a sure thing and she was going willingly?

        Maybe hes not such a good guy after all. Maybe he had a victim and was planning something sinister and need her drugged so as to not resist?

        Did something happen and she decided to back out, so not to be deterred he drugged her and was going to have his ‘weekend’ anyway?

        Or was she the bad actor here, and she was kidnapping him forcing him to drive her somewhere for some reason at gun point, and her story about a weekend get way and then drugging and kidnapping is contrived?

        • .40 cal Booger,

          Those are all very real possibilities.

          Needless to say, something isn’t adding up here. Time and more facts will tell the tale.

  10. First order of business at the scene; have EMS draw blood for a drug screen. Next, when she has had sufficient time to collect herself, say 72 hours, a polygraph. Seventy two hours is standard for a LE shooting before the officer has to give a statement.

    • Gadsden Flag,

      I was thinking along the same lines that law enforcement needs a blood sample on-site from the woman to establish if she really had drugs in her system.

      Having said that, it is entirely possible that the woman fully intended (well in advance) to murder the man and ingested drugs herself to bolster the credibility of her narrative.

        • I would never ever willingly take a polygraph. Useless invention with an error rate so high the information gleaned from a test is inadmissible in a court of law.

        • Mark N, voice stress analysis then. Supposed to be much more accurate. At least according to the two guys I worked with who were certified.

        • Ah yes, something not admissible in court, that is easily fooled and is completely up to the “technician” if you pass or not.

          Just because you had to take one as a fear tactic before getting accepted into an academy doesn’t make them reliable or useful.

    • If she’s smart, she will refuse the polygraph. It’s got problems in terms of evidence and that refusal cannot be used against her.

  12. Yeah, her story seems more than a bit fishy.
    Was it a Sam Cooke type deal?
    Robbery goes wrong so woman shoots victim and then claims attempted rape.

  15. I don’t know about others here but I find the whole of the “victim’s” narrative “suspect”. The deceased, married with children but alone, far from home was likely looking for “companionship” and was lured into a liason that went “bad” when the she, the shooter realized he, her intended target, was “on” to being “set-up” to be robbed. The incident stinks to high heaven, it reminds me of the Daughter of Obama and “bride to be” in Alabama that concocted the story of her abduction/kidnapping to cover up on her booty call out of state.

  18. her being drugged is likely easy to prove one way or another. if she took something after that is pretty hard core for a black widow.

  21. If you have time to go to “wine country” for a few days, well you aren’t working hard enough. Lazy ba$terds. I enjoy a glass of wine in the evening on my back deck. Enjoy it more than going somewhere and be treated like a step child. Besides, don’t like being around people that much.

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