Nashville Firefighter Still Missing, Wife's Cooperation 'Minimal'

WAVERLY, TN -- As the search for missing Nashville firefighter Jesse Reed enters its second week in rural Humphreys County, the sheriff said Reed's wife's cooperation with the investigation has been "minimal" and the timeline remains as muddy as the Tennessee River.

Humphreys County deputies with assistance from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and other agencies across the state have been searching for Reed since he was reported missing March 5. Reed's wife, Ellen, told police she and her husband drove off secluded Bluff Point Lane in Waverly, about 85 miles west of Nashville, and into the Tennessee River.

Reed's wife escaped and while searchers found the submerged truck March 6, there's been no sign of Reed in the water or otherwise. The truck was in 10 feet of water with its windows down when it was discovered.

Deputies searched two homes owned by Reed March 9 in what Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said was an effort to exhaust all means to locate the 32-year-old.

Davis told WSMV that Ellen Reed's involvement with the investigation has been "minimal" thus far.

Davis said that there was a "delay" between the time the vehicle went in the water and when the 911 call was made.

"Some of the things that happened in the initial onset was a little different to us," Davis told Fox 17. "My understanding is from the investigators on scene that night there was a little bit of a delay of the initial call from the time of the incident."

NewsChannel 5 reports that sources say investigators are at least exploring the possibility of foul play and also that there may be a connection between Reed's disappearance and the suicide of a NFD EMT earlier this month.

Despite the questions, the women who helped Ellen Reed after the incident are certain nothing nefarious was happening.

Joyce Dunaway, who lives across the street from the Reeds in Waverly, told Fox 17 she saw the couple leave their home at 10:30 p.m. and then woke up to Ellen Reed banging on her door three hours later with the back of her shirt wet.

"She kept saying 'help me, help me'," Dunaway told the station. "My daughter opened the door, and she came in and she just sat right down. She didn't fall. She sat, and my daughter immediately called 911. She just kept saying 'oh my husband, my husband' and was in shock, strictly in shock. She was in a terrible shape, freezing, barefoot."

Tamera Patrick told WSMV said Ellen Reed was genuinely upset.

“We know what happened in this house when she came in that night,” she said. “From all I saw and how she was acting, to me, I believe everything she said.”

Sheriff Davis said his agency is still operating on the premise that Jesse Reed is still in the Tennessee River and will continue searching the water.

Photo via Nashville Fire Department