Jim Reynolds had mixed feelings Friday when he learned his daughter had been charged with killing his wife in Norwich in 1993.

Members of the Southeastern Connecticut Cold Case Unit went to his Mansfield house mid-morning to tell him they had arrested his daughter, 38-year-old Irene Reynolds, at her apartment at 26 West Main St., Baltic, after her children had left for school. Norwich police are holding her in lieu of a $2 million bond on a charge of murder. She is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Superior Court in Norwich.

Reynolds, a 72-year-old retired builder, knew his daughter was suspected in the fatal beating and strangulation of his then 60-year-old wife, Bertha M. Reynolds. She was found by a family friend at the bottom of the basement steps in their home at 84 Laurel Hill Ave. in Norwich on July 9, 1993. Reynolds said he had asked Irene, whom the couple adopted as an infant, whether she had anything to do with Bertha Reynolds' death. He never got a straight answer.

"You want to believe the best, not the worst," Reynolds said. "But recently, when they interviewed another witness that they took a statement from, they told me it was only a matter of time before they get the paperwork together."

Reynolds believes the key witness is a woman his daughter was living with at the time of the murder. An arrest warrant affidavit containing details of the investigation has been sealed temporarily.

The cold case unit, formed in October 2009 with investigators from local and state police agencies and the state's attorney's office, chose the Bertha Reynolds murder as one of the cases it would focus on right away. In December, Gov. M. Jodi Rell authorized a reward of $50,000 for anyone who provided information that led to the arrest and conviction of the murderer. Norwich police had previously offered a $10,000 reward.

Jim Reynolds said he had no idea why his daughter would kill his wife. He said the two of them seemed to get along, though "they had arguments here or there over the use of a car or money." Irene Reynolds, who was 21 at the time, lived in a Norwich apartment with her friend, and the two of them often would go to the parents' house to use the telephone, Reynolds said.

Irene Reynolds is married to Joel Outlaw, a sanitation worker, and between them they have three children. She had a child at 15 who is severely disabled, her father said. She and Outlaw have a school-age boy, and Outlaw's teenage daughter from a prior relationship also lives with them. Irene Reynolds has been working most recently delivering newspapers.

The father said his daughter served time in prison in the 1990s after she and her boyfriend at the time stole the father's credit cards and "maxed them out." He said she had a drug problem at the time, but seemed to "straighten out" after spending six months at a rehab facility.

Jim and Bertha Reynolds had been married for 34 years when he came home from work one day and discovered she had been murdered.

"An ambulance was there and the police were there and they were just bringing her out from the basement," he said.

The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said she died of blunt head trauma and ligature strangulation.

A small amount of money had been stolen from a kitchen drawer, Reynolds said.

"It's hard to believe that any motive was worth doing that, as far as what happened," he said. "There was only a little bit of money."

Reynolds said he would be "somewhat involved" in the court process and that he expects to be called to testify if the case goes to trial.

"Right now, I'm feeling a mixed bag," he said. "Relief in one way, but not in the other. It's going to take some time."

Norwich Police Chief Louis J. Fusaro Sr. said cases like this never lose importance and that he is grateful for the extra resources made available by the cold case squad. Two Norwich detectives are assigned to the unit full-time, he said.

"I do want to compliment the cold case squad and Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane in particular for getting this cold case unit going," Fusaro said. "I see this as the first of a number of significant arrests in southeastern Connecticut.

Fusaro said the availability of "new eyes" to look at the unsolved cases is helpful. Also, he said, witness perspectives change over time.

"Peoples' attitudes change," he said. "People who wouldn't talk to us before realize we aren't going away."

k.florin@theday.com