The postal worker mom who was kidnapped and murdered on her mail route was a convicted drug dealer — as was her husband, who died just months before her, according to court records
Brandi Reynolds, 35, bragged online about her seemingly idyllic family life with her husband, Brent Reynolds, and their two daughters, making the brutality of her murder Friday on her route in Hays, North Carolina, all the more shocking.
But Brandi and Brent — who died in a car crash just before Christmas — were both busted in 2022 for running drugs from their home in rural Wilkes County, according to records obtained by the Daily Mail.
The slain mom used her house for “keeping and selling controlled substances,” including “marijuana and fentanyl,” according to a criminal indictment.
She was also charged with “trafficking opium or heroin” of more than 4 grams but less than 14 grams with the intent to sell and conspiring with her husband to sell marijuana.
Police found “drug paraphernalia, baggies, wax rubber containers, plastic totes and scales to package and repackage” in the home, the indictment states.
The pair were both convicted.
The mom was sentenced to 30 months of supervised probation in May 2023, while her husband was sentenced to 36 months of supervised probation, the records show.
Brent Reynolds died in a single-car accident two days before Christmas last year while still serving his sentence.
He was not wearing his seatbelt when his 2014 Ram truck veered off the road, struck a tree and overturned. He was declared dead at the scene.
Brandi Reynolds was working her route on Friday in Hays, about 160 miles west of Raleigh, when she was kidnapped and shot dead, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
A witness called police and reported an armed man in a gray Nissan Altima threatening Reynolds, followed by “multiple gunshots.”
Reynolds was dead when deputies arrived.
Career criminal William Craig Durham, 56, was taken into custody and is accused of kidnapping and murdering Reynolds, who had been restrained before she was killed, police said.
During Durham’s court appearance on Monday, one of Brandi’s family members reported that he had threatened her and broken into her home in the past.
However, investigators would not confirm that the two knew each other.
Durham has a lengthy rap sheet of violent crimes, including convictions for assault, escaping jail, intimidating a witness, kidnapping, and robbery, according to the Daily Mail.
The Reynolds’ two daughters are now orphans after losing both of their parents to tragedy.
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