A Coleman County jury convicted Lanny Bush of capital murder Friday in the 2012 death of Michelle Reiter of Brownwood. The conviction comes with an automatic life sentence with no eligibility for parole.
The five day trial came to an end mid-afternoon on Friday after closing arguments that morning and jury deliberation of approximately two and a half hours.
The prosecution had presented evidence related to the fake Facebook account of “Rocky Switzer” created by Bush and the fact that Bush had admitted to meeting Reiter twice on September 10, 2012, the day she went missing (which was confirmed by cell phone records), which helped convince the jury that Bush was guilty. Additional evidence presented by the prosecution during the trial showed that Bush had harassed Reiter by having put her in jail for an aggravated assault, which was said to have never occurred, along with further evidence of ill-intention was found on Bush’s laptop where he had searched for homemade fast-acting knockout drops and the protocol law enforcement follows for a missing person.
Cell phone pings from Reiter’s and Bush’s phones that link their movements on the day she was killed, even down to where her body was found were also presented. A text was sent from Reiter’s phone to one of her friends when both phones were at the burial site reading, “Rocky is here early. Going to meet him. Be home late.” The prosecution argued the text was sent by Bush.
Reiter was last seen on September 10th, 2012 around 6:30 p.m. when she left for a dinner date that evening, according to her roommate. According to police reports, Reiter’s roommate reported her missing on September 11th, 2012 after Reiter did not come home for the night. She also did not report for work that morning at Home Depot, where she had worked for approximately 4 years. The Brownwood woman’s vehicle was found abandoned Wednesday, September 13th, 2012 at the Bert Massey Sports Complex. Reiter’s body was found by Texas Ranger Danny Crawford at 10:30 a.m. on September 24 in a “shallow, clandestine type grave,” in Coleman County, according to court documents. Bush, then 53, was arrested in Tom Green County; however the trial was held in Coleman County where the murder was suspected to have occurred and Reiter’s body was found.