In West Baltimore's Edmondson Village neighborhood, opinions about the state of Philip and Glennie Reid's marriage seem to vary from house to house.
A man who lives a few doors from the couple said he has known them for more than four decades and never saw the two argue. But a next-door neighbor of about three months said he believed that Philip Reid had put his wife out of their home last week after a fight.
There is one thing the neighbors agreed on: No one thought that Reid, 80, an introverted but giving man who shared cucumbers and peaches from his garden, was capable of strangling his 83-year-old wife.
But that's what police have accused him of doing. On Monday night, Glennie Reid became the 12th person killed in Baltimore since Memorial Day weekend and the oldest homicide victim of the year. Philip Reid was taken into custody late Monday. He was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday night.
The Reids had been married at least 47 years.
"They have argued before, like normal people do," said Marjorie Wiley, who lives across the street from the Reids' two-story, end-unit brick rowhouse. "But he was a good person, in his own way. Sometimes he would get a little mean. But sometimes he would give out vegetables to people."
One neighbor said he hadn't seen Reid recently.
"He had been taking care of his brother, I think, and some family out in the county," said Melvin Grooms, who said he sometimes did yard work for the Reids. "He hasn't been around for maybe a month or two."
According to police, officers responding to a report of an assault just after 10 p.m. Monday in the 1200 block of N. Augusta Ave. found Reid choking his wife in an upstairs room. The couple's daughter told police that she drove her father to the house and waited in the car. She said she heard screams and called police, who forced open the door.
Sheldon Dockins, who lives next door, said he heard someone banging on the Reids' door. He said he turned on his porch light but did not go outside.
"Next thing I know, I see a whole bunch of police outside the house; helicopters, everything," Dockins said. "It's amazing this happened right next door and I had no idea what was going on."
Glennie Reid was pronounced dead at the scene. The couple's daughter — their only child, neighbors say — returned to the house Tuesday morning but declined to comment.
Dottie Williamson said she has known the Reids since they all moved into the development in 1963. She said Reid worked for years as a longshoreman and his wife worked as a seamstress for London Fog.
Many of the neighbors moved to the street about the same time, creating a tight-knit, supportive community that Williamson described as "nice and quiet."
"We were very close. I just can't get over it," she said. "I just can't imagine he would do that. They're such nice people, so friendly. They didn't bother anyone."
Gardening was a longtime hobby of the couple.
"Mr. Reid really liked his yard," said Richard Chase, a neighbor of 12 years. "He used to yell at my friends and me when we were younger not to step in his yard or nothing like that."
Reid took up collecting, while his wife became more active in church. Glennie Reed did not discuss her marriage with friends, instead focusing on gardening and current events. Wiley said she could sense that something was wrong, beginning a couple of months ago.
If the Reids' marriage was falling apart, that was news to Williamson.
Glennie Reid had surgery on her knees two weeks ago, and her husband "was very supportive, taking her to the hospital, therapy, all that," Williamson said. "They seemed like the perfect people. You couldn't have a better neighbor than the Reids."