Is suspect in restaurant slayings a serial, workplace killer?

KARIN MILLER, Associated Press Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A man charged with five murders at two Nashville fast-food restaurants is under investigation in

connection with 10 similar slayings, including the massacre of seven workers at a Palatine, Ill., chicken restaurant in 1993.

Paul Dennis Reid, a 39-year-old Texas parolee with a history of restaurant armed robberies, was charged earlier this week with

killing three people at a McDonald's on March 23, and two employees at a nearby Captain D's on Feb. 16.

Authorities are investigating whether Reid may be linked to: the seven killings at Brown's Chicken & Pasta restaurant in Palatine; the January slaying of a Shoney's night manager in Nashville; and the April kidnap-slaying of two Baskin-Robbins ice cream workers in Clarksville.

Palatine detective Jim Bell said his department is ``still working very closely with Nashville and working very meticulously and slowly in order not to miss anything with Mr. Reid.''

A footprint from the Palatine case shows the killer wore a size 12 *-14 shoe. Reid wears a 12 *. Police also said their suspect was between 6-feet and 6-6. Reid is 6-foot-3. The workers there were herded into a cooler and shot in the head at point-blank range.

The workers at McDonald's and Captain D's were taken to the back of the restaurant and shot in the head. The Shoney's night

manager also was shot in the head.

Possible ties to the April kidnapping-slaying of the two ice cream workers include a red car sighted near the area where the bodies were found. Reid leased a 1997 red Ford Escort LX in March. He also reportedly had a girlfriend in Clarksville.

Reid was fired from his job as a cook at a Shoney's restaurant Feb. 15. The next day, a Captain D's manager and co-worker were found shot to death in an apparent robbery. Captain D's is a fast-food fish chain owned by Shoney's and located a few miles from the restaurant where Reid worked.

Evidence linking Reid to the killings includes a photo lineup identification by Captain D's employees and fingerprints at the store and on the slain manager's driver's license, found a few miles from the scene.

In the McDonald's killings, a manager and two co-workers were shot to death in an apparent robbery. A fourth worker survived stab wounds suffered after the killer ran out of bullets. He identified Reid as his attacker.

Reid was arrested Sunday after he confronted his former manager, Mitch Roberts, who had fired him. Reid demanded his job back, waved a revolver and threatened to kidnap Roberts, who subdued him and called police.

Reid was paroled in 1990 after serving about eight years of a 20-year sentence for aggravated armed robbery at a steak house in suburban Houston.

Reid, who's been jailed without bond since Tuesday, said he's innocent.

``I pray that the media and society in general will not convict me,'' Reid said at his arraignment Tuesday, as the families of the

victims looked on. ``I'd like the victims to know that I am not the person who executed or caused any bodily harm.''