2nd man charged in murders of South Bend homeless men

SOUTH BEND -- A second man charged with murder in the deaths of four homeless men, over what police describe as a dispute over scrap metal, was transferred Tuesday to the St. Joseph County Jail.\nRandy Lee Reeder, 50, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on four counts of murder. He was transferred to the St. Joseph County Jail after appearing before a Michigan judge on Monday to waive extradition. He was being held without bond.\nReeder is accused, along with Daniel J. Sharp, 56, of killing Michael S. Nolen Jr., Michael W. Lawson, Brian G. Talboom and Jason Coates between Dec. 18 and 21 and dumping their bodies in manholes 75 yards apart just south of downtown South Bend.\nAll six men were homeless, and police said they all had lived occasionally in an abandoned building near Coveleski Stadium in downtown South Bend.\nPolice found the bodies in manholes near the building while searching for Nolen, whose family had reported him missing after he failed to show up for a Christmas gathering. Nolen and Lawson were found Jan. 9. Coates and Talboom were found three days later.\n"I wouldn't say it's a relief because nothing will bring these men back," said Nolen's father, Michael Nolen. "We knew these guys (the police) were working around the clock on this thing and had all the confidence in the world that they would solve it."\nThe two men were arrested Friday night, authorities said. Sharp was to be arraigned Monday in St. Joseph Superior Court. \nPolice first interviewed Sharp on Wednesday and noticed that his boots matched some forensic evidence from the building, said Tim Corbett, commander of St. Joseph County's metro homicide unit.\nProbable cause affidavits say Sharp confessed, saying he and Reeder were upset that the other men who shared a vacant building they lived in had stolen some metal Sharp and Reeder planned to sell. Sharp and Reeder also were upset the four had "messed up" the area where Sharp and Reeder slept.\nSharp and Reeder allegedly killed Nolen and Coates in their sleep using a hammer-type instrument and a pipe, then ambushed and killed the other two men when they returned to the building. The men left the bodies in the building for several days and hid them in the nearby manholes Dec. 26, according to the affidavit.\nForensic evidence in the building confirmed Sharp's account, Corbett said. Investigators said all four victims died from blows to the head.\nThe killings had frightened South Bend's homeless. On Saturday at Hope Rescue Mission, a shelter frequented by all four victims, Blackie Fincher said the arrests had lifted a burden off the city's homeless.\n"I got real shaky when I heard," Fincher said. "My eyes got real teary. Even me, I get real choked up now and then. Thank God, it's finally over."\nSharp made his initial court appearance Monday -- a video appearance from the St. Joseph County Jail -- before Magistrate Brian Steinke. Steinke ordered Sharp held without bond and entered a not guilty plea on his behalf on the four murder charges.\nWhen Steinke asked Sharp if he needed time to hire an attorney, Sharp replied: "Would one really do me any good? I don't have any money anyway."\nSteinke said he would appoint a lawyer for Sharp and ordered him to appear before Superior Court Judge John Marnocha on Feb. 20.