At 12:46 a.m. on July 17, 1974 at the United Dairy Farmers store at 2373 Florence Avenue, near Gilbert Avenue, Roland Augustus Reaves (23), wanted in Chicago for the horrific slaying of his wife, and Ricardo A. Woods (24) of 2035 Auburn Avenue were poised to rob the clerk, Robert Leigh Smith, of the night’s receipts; about $2000. Reaves, with a .38 Special revolver that he had purchased the day before for $55.00, was on the roof waiting to jump the clerk. Woods, with a .22 caliber pistol, was the lookout. Mrs. Fay Valle, inside her apartment at 2413 Gilbert Avenue, looked out her window, saw Reaves, and called the police. The Cincinnati Police Communications Center dispatched cars to the scene.
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