Authorities in Pinellas County, Florida, are focusing on a recent courtroom development in Ohio after a man sentenced for killing his girlfriend was named a person of interest in a long-cold missing person case on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Frederick Reer, 42, has been identified as a person of interest in the 2018 disappearance of Joseph Andrew Phillips. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to Cleveland19 that investigators are revisiting the case because Reer was the last known person to have contact with Phillips before he vanished.
The renewed attention follows Reer’s sentencing in Huron County, Ohio, where he received a 14-year prison sentence in connection with the death of his girlfriend, Amanda Dean. Dean, a 36-year-old mother of four, had been missing since July 2017.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation determined that Reer killed Dean inside the home they shared. Despite her remains never being recovered, prosecutors relied on circumstantial evidence to secure an indictment in February 2024. Reer later pleaded guilty in December to involuntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost commented on the case following sentencing, saying, “With this sentence, a killer has been brought to justice – I pray Amanda’s family finds a measure of peace knowing the man responsible for her death is behind bars.”
While the Ohio case has now concluded, investigators in Florida are reexamining Reer’s past movements and connections to determine whether the pattern of behavior uncovered in Ohio could be linked to the disappearance of Joseph Andrew Phillips. The investigation in Pinellas County remains ongoing.
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