Daniel Remeta: On the Road to Destruction

357 revolver, similar

There are conflicting stories about how the .357 handgun belonging to Lisa Dunn's father ended up in Danny Remeta's possession. One account states that Dunn, who had been sexually assaulted when she ran away to Florida as a 17-year-old, took the gun for protection. Another version has Remeta convincing Dunn to steal the weapon.  Regardless, the trio probably wasn't long on the road when Mark Walter and Lisa Dunn realized that Remeta wasn't simply planning a casual trip to Walt Disney World.

Copemish, Michigan

Remeta quickly put the gun to use in a convenience-store holdup in Copemish, Michigan. They had pooled some of their resources to bail Remeta out of jail, where he had been taken after smashing a car window in a drunken rage. Somewhere along I-75, Dunn and Walter learned the true extent of Remeta's psychopathy. Around the same time, Remeta began physically and sexually assaulting Dunn. She would later testify about how he forced them to play Russian roulette with the pistol and how he picked out her clothes and pawned her belongings for money. When Dunn told him she wanted to return to Michigan, Remeta threatened her life and the lives of her family.

  Dunn would later testify that Remeta, who never left her alone with Walter, told her that if she tried to leave him in a public place, he would "kill everyone around them." Walter and Dunn, fearing for their lives, agreed that one of them would remain awake at all times. Inexplicably, during the time she spent on the road with Remeta, Dunn sent letters and postcards home telling everyone how much fun she was having.

On February 8, 1985, Remeta, armed with the stolen .357 Magnum, robbed a Tenneco gas station in Ocala. After the clerk handed over the $52 in the register, Remeta opened fire, shooting Merhle "Chet" Reeder twice in the head and twice in the stomach. Reeder,  a 60-year-old loner with no known family or close friends, died instantly.