Three Fast-Food Workers Found Murdered in Tennessee

July 12, 2000 -- — Mirroring the wave of fast-food restaurant murders that swept across central Tennessee three years ago, three restaurant employees were killed today after an apparent robbery at a Captain D’s near Nashville.

Police found the bodies of two men inside the cooler of the restaurant, after finding another worker dead inside a car parked at a nearby Kmart.

“We’re still in the early stages ... collecting evidence and processing the crime scene at this time,” said Jeff Peach, a detective with the Smyrna police department.

The restaurant is in a business district of Smyrna, 20 miles southeast of Nashville along Interstate 24, crowded with stores andrestaurants.

Police spent the morning interviewing family members and still have no suspects.

The first body was found at about 2:30 a.m. in the driver’s seat of a car found in the same parking lot as the restaurant.

A Familiar Story

This case is similar to seven others that occurred in 1997 in Nashville and Clarksville which included the deaths of two workers at a Captain D’s restaurant.

Paul Dennis Reid, a Texas drifter, received death sentences, themost for any Tennessee criminal, for the seven murders.

Several people concerned that their friends may have been amongthose killed stood in a parking lot next to the Captain’s D tryingto get information.

They watched as a priest entered the restaurant, marked off with yellow police crime scene tape, and ambulances arrived to remove the bodies.

“It makes me wonder so much if that man they have in jail — Paul Reid — even did it,” said Mary Miller of Smyrna. “What arethe odds of that kind of thing happening again?”

Angie Ryman, 21, and her fiance, Chris Busby, work at a SmyrnaMcDonald’s and were among the concerned onlookers.

“I was scared to death after the Paul Reid incidents,” shesaid. “Today, we’re going to look for other jobs.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.