A man charged with homicide in the killing of a woman in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood had been arrested for alleged assaults against the woman four times prior, according to charges filed in the case.
Montel Reed, 26, is accused of killing Crystal Leschner, 28, in late December and hiding her body in a suitcase stashed in a tool shed.
A homeowner on Reifert Street discovered the suitcase in a shed on their property Jan. 8, according to the criminal complaint. Inside, investigators found Leschner bloody and wrapped in plastic. Leschner lived in a converted apartment above a detached garage on the property, police said, and Reed lived in the basement of the home on Reifert Street.
Investigators wrote that Reed had been charged four times in 2021 for alleged assaults on Leschner, most recently on Dec. 7, and he’d been released from Allegheny County Jail 10 days later. He was arrested after a separate alleged assault involving another man Jan. 6.
The complaint said Reed admitted during questioning to stabbing Leschner multiple times during an argument in the converted living space above the garage Dec. 27. After, the complaint said, he told investigators that he left to “walk around the neighborhood” before returning early the next morning and hiding the woman’s body in a storage space.
On Jan. 1, police said, Reed and another man were stabbed during an altercation in the converted living space and taken to the hospital.
Police said Reed told them he feared police would find Leschner’s body, but they didn’t. He said he wrapped the woman in plastic and put her in the suitcase on Jan. 5 and put the suitcase in a shed. He said he knew he had an outstanding warrant in connection with the Jan. 1 incident and turned himself in, police said.
In addition to homicide, Reed is charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Court records on Monday did not list an attorney for Reed or a preliminary hearing date.
