Fellow airman charged with tampering with evidence in Clinton Reeves case
James Thomas makes his first court appearance on charges of tampering with evidence in the case of missing airman Clinton Reeves
Photographer: KTUU
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 05/09/2012
ANCHORAGE, Ala. - Police believe a fellow airman covered up important evidence in the disappearance of Missouri native Clinton Reeves.
Reeves' mother confirmed late Wednesday a body found earlier this week in Alaska, where he was stationed, was her son's body.
Prosecutors charged 24-year-old James Thomas with six felony counts of tampering with evidence.
The charging documents tell a story of a supposed friend of Clinton Reeves who lied to police, changed his story twice and played a role in burning evidence detectives need to figure out what happened.
Thomas is the only person police have connected to the Reeves' disappearance.
His first court appearance on Wednesday ended with the judge setting his bail at $25,000 dollars in cash.
According to court documents, Thomas initially told detectives that Reeves had sent him a text message on April 19 saying he was "sick and receiving medical treatment."
But phone records told a different story. Reeves' cell phone was in the area of Thomas' residence that night.
After executing a search warrant, officers found evidence of violence and recently-cleaned carpet in Thomas' apartment.
Homicide detectives interviewed Thomas again, and this time he told officers an unknown man was with Reeves in the apartment. Then he abruptly stopped talking.
Two days later on May 6, Thomas contacted Air Force Law Enforcement with another story.
He said he came home to find Reeves on a loveseat with a towel over his head and an unknown man holding a gun.
Thomas said the man told him to turn around and left with Reeves.
Thomas told officers he was unsure if Reeves walked out or was carried out of the apartment. He said he cleaned up blood and threw the towels in a dumpster.
Then he went to another residence, cut up bloody clothes and burned them in a fire place.
After that, he admitted to moving Reeves' car to the location where it was found because he "didn't want it in the apartment's parking lot."
Thomas still say he did not play a role in his friend's disappearance.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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