Haylee Cole, 30, was only 12 when her mother, Tami Reay, 41, was brutally murdered by her father, Brad Reay, 64.
Posted on 09/05/2024 9:29:40 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A heartbroken daughter, whose father stabbed her mother to death and then tried to pin the blame on her, has said she'll "never forgive" him.
Haylee Cole, 30, was only 12 years old when her mother, Tami Reay, 41, was brutally murdered by her father, Brad Reay, 64. Tami, a devoted mother-of-one, was stabbed 36 times in the family home. After the horrific crime, Brad disposed of her nude body and hastily attempted to clean up the scene.
When Tami, who worked in retail, was reported missing by a colleague, police quickly launched an investigation. They soon found traces of blood around the family’s home near Oahe Dam, Missouri, US. The investigation revealed that Brad had killed Tami after discovering her affair with her co-worker, Brian Clarke, 60.
Brad was arrested shortly thereafter, but during his police interview, he shockingly claimed that his own daughter was to blame. In January 2007, however, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Brad served 17 years of his sentence until he died naturally in prison in February 2024.
Speaking now, Haylee, a public speaker from Wyoming, reflected on the traumatic events, saying: "Being blamed for something so horrific by my dad is something I could have never expected. My mum was caring, and we were incredibly close. I haven't spoken to my dad since I was 12, so hearing that he'd died brought up a lot of undealt trauma.
“I'm sad and angry because his death closes a chapter of my life that was truly the worst time. I now have a six-year-old son, and I'm sad that my mum isn't in his life - she would've adored him. I don't want to live a life in anger, but I'll never forgive my dad for what he did to me."
Tami was killed in February 2006, just after her husband of 12 years, who also worked in retail, discovered her affair. When she failed to show up for work the next day, her lover immediately reported her missing. Tami's naked body was found two days later by a police helicopter in an isolated area near Lake Oahe, leading to Brad's arrest on suspicion of murder.
In a desperate attempt to avoid conviction, Brad claimed that he had seen Haylee in a "trancelike state" holding a knife at her mother's bedside and insisted that he had covered up the murder to protect her. His defence team further argued that Haylee had killed her mother in distress over her parents' impending divorce.
Young Haylee, forced to testify during the trial at the Pierre Courthouse in South Dakota, endured the harrowing experience as her father watched. She said: Losing my mum was traumatic enough, but having to go to court was awful. I felt used because he blamed me to get him off the hook.
“Fathers shouldn't use their children to cover up their actions. I didn't say anything to my dad, but I could feel him watching me. I knew that I was innocent, but having to prove that to a jury was terrifying. I tried counselling once after, but they talked about my dad the whole time - I never went back."
After the three-week trial, Haylee went to live with her grandparents in Wyoming. At just 12 years old, she began training to become a victim's rights activist and public speaker. Despite Brad's relentless appeals against his sentence, he died in prison on February 18 at the Jameson Annex Infirmary, South Dakota.
Reflecting on her father’s death, Haylee said: "I had always been afraid of my dad. He was a quiet character who only cared about work or going fishing. He was self-centred, obsessed with work, and we didn't have much of a relationship. It was strange getting a call from the prison - I thought my dad was planning on appealing his sentence. But when they told me that he'd died, it was a shock.
“It's weird having a call like that about someone who you don't love. If anything, I felt sad because he lived such a waste of a life. People tell me how much I look like my mum, which I love hearing. If I didn't have my grandparents, I don't know where I'd be. If I could talk to my mum again, I'd ask if she's proud of what I've done to continue to tell her story. Her life was snatched from her in such a brutal way - I didn't want to waste mine."
“A heartbroken daughter, whose father stabbed her mother to death and then tried to pin the blame on her”
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Well in fairness that’s hard to forgive.
Her mum was a slattern.
I’d say beyond hard. The word “unforgivable” comes to mind.
Guess I’ve gone soft. I really dont see why this kind of news has a place here.
She may realize over time that stabbing someone 36 times is not the act of a rational person. She may realize this someday. Should he have been on the street? Absoluetly not. But did he do it in sound mind? There is a question there. It’s good he never was released to the real world, but it may have not been totally his fault. Sorry for the family. But he does fit the pattern of mental instability and not just related to anger.
wy69
She may realize over time that stabbing someone 36 times is not the act of a rational person. She may realize this someday. Should he have been on the street? Absoluetly not. But did he do it in sound mind? There is a question there. It’s good he never was released to the real world, but it may have not been totally his fault. Sorry for the family. But he does fit the pattern of mental instability and not just related to anger.
wy69
Terrible. But if she doesn’t forgive, she will never be truly free. I can’t imagine how difficult that would be.
A heartbreaking story, but the article is factually incorrect.
Oahe Dam is on the Missouri River, but is located in South Dakota.
It’s not posted under news.
If one's "crazy" father thinks he's Napoleon, or talks to flying saucers, one could (perhaps) still love him. But in the case of a crime so horrific, I would not expect / demand anyone to harbor anything but disgust and revulsion towards such an individual.
The act was horrific - but then (long after the fact) attempting to implicate his 12-year-old daughter, and to portray her as a psychotic murderess, is simply disgusting - and unforgiveable.
Regards,
Agree 100%
Imagine how his selfish ruse changed his daughter’s life. Everyone who meets her, once they learn of the accusation made by a person in her immediate family (who presumably knows her best), everyone takes a step back from her.
“Her own father claimed she murdered her mother. Do I want to have anything to do with this person?”
“The act was horrific - but then (long after the fact) attempting to implicate his 12-year-old daughter, and to portray her as a psychotic murderess, is simply disgusting - and unforgiveable.”
It’s all part of the sickness. And it probably started years before the murder. Hating someone for being mentally ill is not being humane. Initial anger that is fueled with each harming action from a deranged person doesn’t make the person any less deranged. And until she realizes it she is torturing herself more than he is. If he was as sick as it appeared she had to learn it may not be his fault an more than hers. Would you be mad at a rabid dog? Same comparison. Mental illness is just like that dog. And since the excess of stabbing someone that many times was not recognized by the courts as the act of a deranged person, they are just as guilty for not helping him since all they did was jail him. They caged a sick animal.
We’re supposed to be on top of the food chain. Sometimes I wonder.
wy69
So, she should have been stabbed to death and her child blamed?
I think the thing that bothered her the most was that he blamed her for the attack and said she murdered her mom.
What he did was bad enough, but to lie and blame her and make her have to defend herself in court at only 12?
Yeah, pretty close to unforgiveable.
“Yeah, pretty close to unforgiveable.”
Circumstances. Like I mentioned before, you wouldn’t blame a rabid dog for biting you. And that dog needs to be put down if there is no cure. But the issue I don’t understand is that it feels like the people who wrote the article seem to feel the act of a sick man doing something a sane person wouldn’t seems to over shaddow by the blaming of an innocent person the heinous way he murdered someone? Isn’t it that obvious that he was not all there to begin with? He was a menace to society before he opened his mouth on her and he died in prison for what he did to the mom.
wy69
And his own 12 year old daughter, no less.
Yes, the murder was bad enough, but the rest? Reprehensible.
“...Reprehensible...”
Agree. extremely bad or unacceptable. But coming from a homicidal maniac that stabs someone that meny times, understandable. Not right, just understandable. Do you expect that rabid dog to lay down and go to sleep or attack you? So if the behavior is of a failed human being, I wouldn’t hate him any more than blame him for a legal, even though improper or mentally harming, act. They just may not have any control of it.
There’s no law that says a homicidal maniac is supposed to be civil. They aren’t just by who they are. So after she gets older and understands the situation, especially now that he died in prison without harming anyone else that we know of, hopefully she’ll learn forgiveness for his actions and find closure. Until then she suffers when she doesn’t and the reason isn’t worth it. Poluted water under the bridge and downstream.
wy69
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