One evening, Dianne Hood was walking out of a Colorado community center when a masked gunman confronted her in the parking lot.
The 32-year-old mother handed over her belongings, but the attacker pushed her down, shot her twice and ran off with her purse. Dianne was taken to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
What first appeared to be a random robbery and shooting soon began to look like a carefully chosen attack.
“The fact that the robber attacked just one person when there were two people,” retired Colorado Springs Police Sergeant Tim Hogan said during a Sept. 27 episode of Oxygen’s Snapped, “led us to believe that Dianne was a target.”
What Happened to Dianne Hood?
Witness Karen Johnson told investigators that she and Dianne had just attended a support group for people living with lupus. She said the attacker was about 5 feet 7 inches tall, wore camouflage pants, a mask and gloves, and carried a long-barreled revolver.
“Karen said that her eyes met the eyes of the shooter,” investigative journalist Joyce Singular told Snapped, “and it looked like pure evil. Pure hatred.”
Johnson also remembered two seemingly minor details that later became important to the investigation.
“He picked up the purse and put it over his arm,” Hogan recalled. “She said he was running funny.”
Police found Dianne’s purse only a short distance away, with nothing missing. The gunman’s clothing was later discovered in a trash can in an alley. Investigators also recovered a bullet linked to a rare vintage weapon: a Colt .45 Peacemaker.
“If you know anything about that weapon, it’s the gun that won the West,” retired Colorado Springs Police Lieutenant Brian Ritz told Snapped. “It was the cowboy six-shooter.”
Even with those clues, detectives still had no clear answer to the central question: why was Dianne killed?
Investigators initially looked closely at Dianne’s husband, Brian Hood. He was eventually eliminated as a suspect because he did not match the witness’s description of the shooter and had been at home with the couple’s children when the attack occurred.
But as Brian publicly appealed for information about his wife’s killer, police received a tip that shifted the direction of the case.
Rich Schell, who owned a local flower shop, told authorities that Brian frequently visited his employee, Jennifer Reali. Schell said he had once caught the two sharing a kiss.
Who is Jennifer Reali?
Schell added that Jennifer’s husband, Army officer Ben Reali, kept a collection of antique firearms. That detail immediately drew investigators’ attention.
When questioned, Ben acknowledged that he owned a gun matching the weapon used to kill Dianne. After he turned it over to police, investigators noticed a strong odor of cleaning solvent.
Ben also identified the camouflage clothing as his own. He said that, after moving out of the home several nights before the murder, he had left both the clothing and the firearm with Jennifer.
Ben explained that their marriage had been troubled and Jennifer had asked him to leave. According to him, however, she wanted to keep his gun because she believed she might need it for protection.
“She kicked him out, but she wants him to leave a gun with her,” Ritz said. “It just happens to be the .45.”
Ben later told police that, the day after the murder, Jennifer asked him to return home—and to dispose of the gun.
Jennifer Reali’s “Fatal Attraction” Turns Deadly
Detectives wanted to get to know the woman at the center of Brian’s love triangle. They visited Jennifer at the flower shop, posing as customers, in part to document her physical description.
“A couple of things then started to make sense,” Hogan said. “The guy [was] running ‘funny,’ because males and females have a different gait. And the fact that the robber put the purse over his arm—that’s something a woman would do.”
Jennifer agreed to a police interview and admitted she knew Brian but denied having an affair. She also had an alibi for the night of the shooting: she had been jogging in the park.
“I said, ‘I believe you were running…because you had just shot and killed Dianne Hood,’” Hogan said. “She stood up and said, ‘Stop that! Stop that!’”
Jennifer did start talking, but only if Ben was present. When he entered the room, Hogan said, “She turned right to him and said, ‘Ben I did it.’”
While Jennifer confessed to pulling the trigger, she said it was Brian’s idea to kill Dianne so the two could get married—and so he could collect her life insurance money.
“She said Brian began talking to her about Dianne’s medical condition,” said Hogan, “and how she would be committing a mercy act, basically to kill Dianne.”
Brian even invoked their shared faith when introducing the plan.
“They were both very religious people,” prosecutor John Suthers told Snapped. “Brian had tried to convince her that they’re already engaged in sin and adultery, that was a serious sin, no more serious…than homicide, and they could be forgiven.”
According to Jennifer, she had lurked in the bushes outside the community center, then confronted Dianne, grabbing her purse to stage a robbery, before discarding the camo gear and driving home in her gym clothes.
On Sept. 14, 1990, Jennifer was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy. Brian faced the same charges, along with solicitation.
“Brian Hood hires top-notch criminal defense lawyers,” Suthers said. “They immediately start spinning a ‘Fatal Attraction’ theory.”
While Brian’s defense acknowledged the affair, they maintained he knew nothing about a plan to kill Dianne and that he wanted to stay married—a decision they said had motivated Jennifer to kill.
“She did it because she wanted to get Brian,” Ritz said. “And she was willing to take that one excessive step to do so.”
Brian Hood and Jennifer Reali Sentenced for Dianne Hood’s Murder
During Brian’s trial in November 1991, Jennifer served as the prosecution’s star witness.
“Talk about riveting testimony,” Suthers said. “She told the whole deal, how they had discussed various means and had settled on this particular scenario.”
The jury ultimately found Brian guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation—but not murder. He was sentenced to 37 years in prison.
Three months later, on April 7, 1992, Jennifer went on trial, pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. However, she was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Jennifer was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In December 2017, Jennifer was granted parole, and three months after her release, she died from pancreatic cancer at age 55.
