What Happened to Reeves? — A Missing Person “Cold Case” Panorama
The disappearance of Reeves Johnson in February of 1983 has been a “cold case” in the southern Maine and southeastern New Hampshire area for some time, but it has recently been given a reboot by a detective in the Kittery, ME Police Department who has been involved in the case for a number of years. I decided to bring several of my missing-person spreads together on the case to see what I might learn about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. Note that, although there is a fair amount of accumulated historical data and evidence in this case, all of these cards were pulled randomly from several shuffled decks according to customary practice and then compared to the known facts where available.
Here is some useful background information on this case:
https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/reeves-johnson
First I applied the “Three W’s” (Who-What-Where) Missing Person/Item Location & Situation Spread that I created to revisit the Maura Murray cold case. Although I later learned that Johnson was born on the last day of September, 1951, making him a Libra (Air sign), I chose the fiery King of Wands as the significator card based on the dark auburn hair and slightly ruddy complexion that show up in his later photographs. The card selected for this purpose is not critical as long as consistency is maintained across all layouts; it is merely an “avatar” representing the target individual in the narrative.
The King of Wands showed up in the “North” position at the top of the spread, indicating that Reeves is currently located in that direction from his last know sighting. (This could be a “red herring” due to his stated intention to “go south” at the time, but it may not have been his choice to head north.) The secondary court card, which suggests another person who may have had some involvement in, or knowledge of, his disappearance was the Queen of Wands, usually indicating a mature woman with a feisty, perhaps impatient, temperament. Although the only person identified to date who had a direct personal connection to Reeves at the time was an unknown man named “Richard” who shared a room with him in Kittery for a short time, later developments (especially the purchase of two winter garments in extra-large and small sizes using Johnson’s checkbook after his disappearance) imply that there could have been another (presumably female) person involved in the situation. The minor card that appeared at the bottom of the stack was the 9 of Pentacles, conveying the idea of a secluded country setting; there is nothing to show whether that setting is above or below ground except the fact that the card did not turn up reversed, which in the suit of Earth can show interment. The trump card I pulled to validate the testimony in the spread was the Hermit, which is a neutral card that doesn’t inspire much confidence; therefore, I don’t feel strongly about the veracity of this prediction except for the assumed presence of an unknown female companion.
The second spread I applied was the simple, straightforward “Missing Person Vignette” Spread, which is designed to give a brief narrative of possible events surrounding the disappearance, and some hypothetical underlying motives for those activities. Once again, I chose the King of Wands as the significator card.
The event narrative (top) row contained the Page of Cups, the Queen of Pentacles and the 9 of Cups. The Page of Cups suggests that Reeves was intending to begin something new, to “turn over a new leaf” emotionally, to make a fresh start of some kind. The Queen of Pentacles could be his sister, whom — according to what he told the garage mechanic when he dropped off his car to be repaired — he was apparently planning to visit in Georgia. Another telling point is that, in the conventional alignment of the tarot to the “natural” zodiac, the Queen of Pentacles sits at the southern-most angle. The 9 of Cups is a sanguine (even slightly smug) card that sees no likelihood of anything going wrong, telling me that Reeves was in the middle of acting on his intentions and felt no apprehension.
The motive (bottom) row contained the Hermit reversed, Judgement and the Fool. The Hermit reversed suggests that he was feeling lonely and disconnected from the world, a feeling that was driving him to reinvent himself in some significant way, perhaps by moving on. Judgement is the card of taking a definite step toward renewal, and the Fool echoes the Page of Cups as the quintessential tabula rasa, ready to embark on an uncharted adventure, although perhaps with a little too much naivete and trust in fortune.
There is nothing conclusive about the actual disappearance here, but it does imply that Reeves was in a state of enthusiastic anticipation regarding his future and that he may not have been judicious enough about his objectives and choices. As we can see, the Fool is not watching his step and is about to walk over a cliff.
The third spread I applied was the “World of Hurt” Missing Person Spread, which is based on the premise that the individual is in trouble. The assumptions it makes are few, all stemming from the idea that he or she is under some kind of duress and has disappeared either by their own choice or against their will, and in some cases due to insurmountable mental or physical health factors: they may be escaping something unpleasant (for example, a dysfunctional family situation or bad marriage); they were compelled in some manner (lured away, forcibly kidnapped or perhaps taken into custody by law enforcement); they are mentally incompetent or physically disabled and can’t extricate themselves from their predicament; or they are in fact the victim of foul play. In this layout, the first court card of the correct rank (King in the case of a mature male) that appears in the left column serves as the significator, and is intended to show the present condition of the individual in question; the card in the middle column of the significator’s row provides an opinion on whether the person will be found alive or dead; and the card in the right column of the significator’s row gives an indication as to how long it might be from the date of the reading until the missing person is found. Timing with the tarot is notoriously unreliable, so this data point should not be lent too much credence; at best, it might be reasonable to say “sooner rather than later” or the opposite.
The King of Pentacles was the first King to appear in the left-hand column, and it landed in the position stating that the missing individual’s freedom was somehow impaired, whether by coercion or artifice. There is nothing in the documented record of Reeves’ movements to indicate that he was willingly lured away or coaxed into leaving, so force of some kind seems more likely. One other court card appeared under the King of Pentacles: the Knight of Wands, signifying a young male, under 25 at the time and most likely with fair hair and a light complexion, who was lurking in the background. The figure in the card appears to be taking an aggressive stance toward the King, and he may be the person — along with the unknown female — who wound up with Reeves’ valuable property, checkbook and final paycheck from his mailbox. The middle card in that row was the 2 of Cups, a decidedly fortunate card that under normal circumstances would mean that he was still alive at the time of the reading. However, so much time has passed that this is a dubious assumption, so I would read this card as showing that the loose ends will finally be tied up. The card in the right-hand column was the 10 of Cups, which forecasts a period of ten months from the date of the reading before something breaks in the case, leading to Reeves’ recovery. The nature of the card presupposes a joyful reunion (in the Waite-Smith deck used here, it is the “happy family” card), but too much optimism should not be invested in that fact. I would interpret it as the family receiving closure, and everyone involved being able to “go home.” The number 10 represents the longest duration among the minor cards, and the “months” ascribed to the suit of Cups could easily stretch into “years” in a cold case such as this.
The fourth spread I applied was my basic direction-and-location layout, the “Sundial” Location Spread. I also used the King of Wands as the significator for this one; the compass point identified by its position (for the cardinal points) and its facing (for the ordinal points) indicate the current direction and some possible landmark features where the missing person might conceivably be found.
The significator landed in the “East” position (using astrological horoscope axes, not magnetic compass points), and its facing toward the left modified this to a southeasterly direction from Reeves’ last known location. While going too far southeast from Kittery, ME will deposit one in the Atlantic Ocean, some of the other commentary for this location may be relevant, particularly “In a hidden place” and “At a secluded place,” both of which reinforce the impression of isolation in the first reading and in the generally remote “feel” of the Hermit card that appeared twice above. If he had ever made it to Georgia, that might have been a telling factor in the reading. This layout is not especially instructive in the overall picture, and is just another data point.
The last spread I applied was the “granddaddy” of my missing-person layouts, the “Train to Nowhere” Missing Person Spread, first used successfully to determine the fate of a young woman from Yuba City, CA. It’s purpose is not to depict the compass direction highlighting the individual’s location, but their status and possible reasons for their absence. This spread uses an antique railroad motif with thirteen compartments (utilizing all 78 cards in the deck), each representing a possible state of being at the time of the reading. Where the significator card lands determines the most likely scenario.
Interestingly, I had to perform this reading twice; the first time I failed to follow my own rules, but when I re-did the layout, the significator landed in the same position as it did the first time, just with more supporting detail. This tells me that the array is unquestionably valid.
The King of Wands appeared in the sixth “compartment” of the train, titled the “Lounge Car” and subtitled “A victim of pleasure; bound to another; in the city.” While at first glance this urban scenario isn’t intuitively obvious, I think it reinforces the idea that the Queen of Wands (working under the direction of the Knight of Wands as suggested earlier) may have dangled her charms in front of him and lured him into a trap, possibly in the “country setting” reflected in the 9 of Pentacles that reappears here ahead of the 6 of Pentacles. The two cards immediately adjacent to the King of Wands are the 6 of Pentacles, intimating that something was offered to him that wasn’t completely above-board, and the 5 of Swords reversed, indicative of a defeat in battle. The card at the bottom of the pack, which appeared in a previous reading, was Judgement, which — while it usually just implies an irreversible change of course — could also mean “meeting one’s Maker.” I’m inclined to discount the “In the city” part of this interpretation, unless it refers to the scenario originating in Portsmouth, NH where Reeves had ties.
Summary Conclusion:
This is a very complex and murky outlook overall, but I’m inclined to believe that Reeves Johnson met his end at the hands of an opportunistic couple who planned his demise in order to acquire his assets. It’s not clear why he cleaned out his bank account and appeared to be concluding his stay in Kittery, but it may have been to pursue the tempting offer shown in the final narrative in this series. The alternative supposition that he succumbed to his hypoglycemia does not seem probable since he is not likely to have secluded himself to the extent that he would not have been found before now. However, if he figuratively “went over a cliff” as reflected in the Fool card, he could have gone into shock and wound up incapacitated in some hidden location that defies discovery. On second thought, though, this does not explain how someone came into possession of his checkbook and mailbox key unless they were negligently left in his cabin before his untimely disappearance, and were retrieved by the individuals who stole his property.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on December 7, 2021.
