Search goes on for missing prostitution foe and for answers

Friday, Nov. 12, 1999 | 10:27 a.m.

"We know he's alive," Sheriff's Lt. Doug Gist said. "Now we are focusing the investigation on finding him to make sure he is OK."

Gist said the search for Milo John Reese of Reno would resume today after most of the officers involved in both states took Veteran's Day off.

Investigators who were keeping an eye on Reese's banking activity spotted him on the videotape making a withdrawal Wednesday at a Sacramento bank.

Gist said a look at the tape persuaded officers the man was Reese. A more thorough examination of the tape will be done in Reno.

A search began Monday after Reese's car was found near a brothel east of Reno, the driver's side window broken and bloodstains inside.

Reese, 54, told his wife Sunday night he was going to the Old Bridge Ranch brothel east of Reno for a meeting and would be back in 30 minutes.

He did not say with whom he would meet or what the meeting would be about. Authorities said they do not know if he ever arrived at the bordello, which is next to the defunct Mustang Ranch brothel.

His family said he had left suddenly and stayed away for several days in the past.

Reese, who concedes having paid prostitutes for sex in his younger days, became a Christian and has since tried for years to shut down Nevada's legal brothels.

He claimed to have spent thousands of dollars lobbying the Legislature, taking out newspaper ads and renting billboards claiming that brothels employ AIDS-infected prostitutes and that prostitution degrades women and shows contempt for biblical teachings.