Signs of trouble

It's more likely that the question of when Reyes lived where will never be officially answered, although the Observer has obtained additional information about the house Reyes once lived in at 554 Parkhurst Drive--an address she claimed as her own as recently as last August.

In September 1990, Rick Herron sued Reyes after she stopped payment on a rent check, according to Dallas County court records. At the time, Herron owned the house and leased it to Reyes and her sometimes-estranged husband, Phillips Brooks Gould.

The case file shows that Reyes' living habits were as hard to pin down then as they are now. After Reyes moved out of the house and stopped payment on her rent check, Deputy Constable Bob Herriage had one helluva time trying to serve her with a notice of Herron's lawsuit.

"The defendant's husband, Brooks Gould, has informed me that the defendant is now evading personal service by going to Houston," Herriage wrote the court. "Mr. Gould further advised they are now officially separated, and reconciliation is unknown at present."

Herriage told the court that he tried to serve Reyes several times, without success, and he even gave an example of the problems he encountered: "Tried to reach party by phone and was informed he [sic] was out of town for a month. Rang doorbell and heard voices but no one ever came to the door," he wrote.

A judge later ordered Reyes to pay Herron $340, but Herron says he felt sorry for Reyes and, at her request, forgave the debt. "It was just one month's rent. She was an excellent tenant other than that," Herron says.

Reyes would not return phone calls from the Observer, and was no more interested in talking after the Mill Creek Homeowner's Association meeting.

Approached as she headed out the front door, Reyes declined to discuss Herron's lawsuit, the yard-sign battles, Arredondo, residency--or anything, for that matter.

"I will not speak to the Observer until you learn how to write a fair story," Reyes pouted, while making a beeline to her red BMW. "I've given you information on John Loza that you have not followed up on. It's not fair.