Karen Reed

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

surrey-police

Offense Location:

Woking, Surrey

Summary:

Karen Reed, 33, was shot multiple times in the hallway of her home on Willow Way, Woking on April 30, 1994 after answering the door to a man disguised as a pizza delivery driver, and died at the scene. Police believe the intended target was Karen's sister, whose life was under threat due to business activities of her Armenian husband; a red Vauxhall Cavalier with a gun was stopped by police two weeks prior to the murder. No one has ever been convicted of the murder.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

On the evening of Saturday 30 April 1994, 33-year-old Karen Reed was in her home at 31 Willow Way, Woking, Surrey enjoying a bottle of wine and catching up with a girlfriend from work; they had also just set up the video recorder to tape something on the TV. At just after 9pm they both heard a tapping on the front door so Karen went to see who it was. When Karen opened the door, there was a man on the doorstep holding a pizza box. Her friend heard the male ask, "Did you order a pizza?" Karen replied that she hadn't and then turned to ask her friend if she had ordered a pizza, to which she also replied, "No". The male then asked, "Is this 31 Willow Way?" As soon as Karen confirmed that it was there were a series of loud bangs. Karen had been shot five times at point blank range and tragically died in her hallway despite the desperate efforts of her friend to save her.

Additional Details:

On Friday 15 April 1994, two weeks prior to Karen's murder, a Red Vauxhall Cavalier displaying the registration G511VMT failed to stop for police when they tried to stop it on the Barnsbury Estate, Woking; after a short pursuit, the Cavalier stopped and the driver decamped but was never apprehended. A bag was found in the car containing a 9mm Pistol and a Commando knife. Police believe the driver had been coming to kill Karen's sister. Police know that the intended target of the shooting was Karen's sister whose life was under threat due to the business activities of her Armenian husband. Her sister, Alison Ponting, 31, worked for the BBC World Service as a producer for its Russian and Ukrainian sections. The connection with the Russian underworld was with Alison's husband, Gagic Ter-Ogrannsyan, an Armenian, who, at the time of Karen's murder, was serving a life sentence in the UK for his involvement in the killing of the Outsiev brothers. Despite pursuing over 3,000 lines of enquiry and obtaining 1,700 statements, Karen's killer has never been identified and held accountable. The murder, known as Operation Lilac, was featured on Crimewatch in March 2021 but still remains unsolved. Karen's father died in 2018 without learning who had killed his daughter.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 09, 2026