KITTERY, Maine — The Kittery Police Department released new information in a more than 40-year-old missing persons case on Thursday with the help of a Maine podcast team.
Reeves Johnson went missing in 1983 and has not been seen since. Police renewed their effort on the case in 2021, working with "Murder, She Told," a podcast.
Reeves, 31, went missing sometime after returning to his Kittery home on Feb. 3, 1983. He worked as a welder for Donnelly Manufacturing in Exeter, New Hampshire. In the weeks following Johnson’s disappearance, his bank account was drained and his home emptied of valuables, but it is unclear who is responsible. His family reported him missing on Feb. 15.
The case was mostly dormant until October 2021, when Detective Brian Cummer of the Kittery Police Department brought attention to reinvigorate it, seeking the public’s help. The next month, Kittery police and Reeves’ siblings teamed up with Kristen Seavey of the New England true crime podcast, "Murder, She Told," to produce a special episode on Reeves, where Police Chief Richter released the majority of the case file to the public.
They discovered new information, including the name of a woman they believe was Johnson's girlfriend at the time: Cheryl. A letter Johnson wrote to his parents mentions that name, but investigators do not know her last name or anything else about her.
"What we know from Reeves’ siblings is that she may have had a young child at the time, and that she lived either in Kittery, York, or somewhere nearby in Maine or New Hampshire. What we know from the letter is that they were dating in at least 1978," Kristen Seavey, host of the podcast, said. "I can only describe it as kismet. It just felt like the universe was telling me, 'keep going. This information is there.'"
She said Cheryl was in her 20s or early 30s when she dated Reeves. She would most likely be around 65-80 today, and may still live in the area or elsewhere in the U.S. She is not a suspect in any way, but they believe she could answer some questions.
The second piece of information recently uncovered came from a dispatch log that said Reeves worked as a dishwasher at Borderline Restaurant in 1981. Borderline was located across from the Kittery Trading Post on Route 1, and went under foreclosure in 1982. It was also known at other points in time as Dragon Seed and Captain’s Table.
Reeves' parents have passed away, but Detective Cummer hopes this investigation will eventually lead to answers for Reeves’ surviving siblings.
"The hope is that Cheryl can at least give us some idea of Reeves, prior to him going missing, what was his life like? What did he like to do? What were his habits? What were his hobbies? Like, to find like a pattern of life and then you can figure out from that pattern of life what was different on the days leading up to his going missing and then in between all of that," Cummer said.
"Every time we get a new piece of information, you know, it just reminds me that the answer is out there. And we just have to figure out a way to find it. And if that means continuing to dig and dig and dig until we find those little tiny bits of information that some people might think is trivial, then we'll we'll keep doing that work," Seavey said.
There is a $6,000 reward being offered for information that leads to the recovery or whereabouts of Reeves Johnson.
Anyone with information that could help solve Johnson’s case can contact the Kittery Police Department at 207-439-1638, or email Detective Cummer at bcummer@kitterypolice.com.
To learn more about Reeves' case and how you can help, click here.