Alleged mother killer to be set free

NORWICH, Conn. (WTNH) -- Irene Reynolds, who was arrested in May 2010 for allegedly killing her mother Bertha Reynolds back in July 1993, could start off the new year as a free woman.

Police had always considered her a person of interest but it wasn't until her former friend told police details of the brutal attack that the arrest was made 17 years later.

That friend said she kept quiet because she didn't want to get in trouble for not trying to stop the attack.

Bertha Reynolds was found possibly strangled at the bottom of a staircase at her Laurel Hill Avenue home.

"I'm a little nervous, I'm upset, you know, I have kids I have to worry about. I just want my wife home," Reynold's husband Joe Outlaw said.

Outlaw spoke to News 8 the day his wife was arrested. He was in court today where she plead no contest to second degree manslaughter in exchange for a 10 year sentence suspended after 30 months. She will be on probation for ten years.

Irene Reynolds is scheduled to be sentenced on February 13 and on that day she could leave this court house a free woman. She's been behind bars for two and a half years and that could satisfy what is essentially a thirty month sentence she is expected to get.

On the day of Reynold's tearful arraignment her mother's nephew wanted her held accountable.

"I want to see her admit what she did to my Aunt Bertha. My Aunt Bertha died a brutal death. My mom told me she had a cord around her throat, hit her head with a lamp or something," Mike DiMella, Bertha Reynold's nephew, said.

"I want my wife home. There's no other questions about it. There's nothing else I want except my wife home," Outlaw said.

Emotions may again run high when Reynold's, a mother of two herself returns to court for perhaps for the last time.