Port Arthur woman indicted following grandfather’s shooting death

Published 4:22 pm Wednesday, August 3, 2022

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A woman whose court-ordered GPS tracking device reportedly put her in the location of her grandfather’s fatal shooting was indicted Wednesday by a Jefferson County grand jury.

Lace Skyler Christian is charged with murder following the May shooting death of Russell Vernon Reado.

Arrested July 13, Christian remains in the Jefferson County Correctional Facility on a $1 million bond for a murder charge. Additional charges not tied to the homicide include speeding, failure to maintain financial responsibility, continuous sex abuse of a child, indecency with a child, evading arrest and theft.

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According to a probable cause affidavit, Christian told police she visited Reado at his home in the 1600 block of Maple Street to borrow his car, and later said she was checking on his welfare.

She also said the 71-year-man had called saying he wasn’t feeling well, but phone records did not corroborate that claim, the document states.

The affidavit says Christian could see Reado had been shot, which detectives say would not have been possible from her vantage point as seen on security footage.

The GPS tracking device placed her at the residence at the time police believe Reado was killed.

Reado previously served time in prison for the death of a 2-year-old girl and for a robbery during which a clerk was shot in the early 1980s. Read more here.