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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A Luzerne County judge has ordered the Wilkes-Barre Area School District and Children and Youth Services to release any and all records of homicide suspect Louisa Reyes to the district attorney&#8217;s office.</p><p>Reyes, 14, and Reynaldo Mercado, 32, are charged in the robbery and killing of 58-year-old Fred Boote.</p><p>Boote&#8217;s bloody and partially burned body was found inside his home on Donald Court in the early morning hours of Sept. 14 when a city police officer returning a loose dog discovered the scene.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre police detectives allege Reyes and Mercado made off with $25 and Boote&#8217;s cell phone.</p><p>Reyes and Mercado fled to West New York, N.J., where they were captured at the home of Mercado&#8217;s uncle on Sept. 15.</p><p>Detectives suspected Mercado was attempting to get to the Dominican Republic.</p><p>Judge Michael T. Vough last week ordered the school district and Children and Youth to release Reyes&#8217; records to the district attorney&#8217;s office in preparation of an upcoming decertification hearing that has not been scheduled. </p><p>The school district was ordered to release Reyes&#8217; attendance, disciplinary history and academic performance to prosecutors. She was a student at Meyers High School.</p><p>Reyes&#8217; attorney, Frank T. McCabe, in November filed a motion seeking to decertify the adult charges against her, which would move her case to juvenile court for prosecution.</p><p>McCabe received Reyes&#8217; school records and records from Children and Youth in February.</p><p>Detectives allege in court records Reyes&#8217; mother, Carmen Cardy, had a relationship with Boote for several months, but he asked her and her children to move out in July. Soon after, they moved in with Mercado on Maffett Street in Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>During an interview with investigators, Reyes claimed Mercado became desperate for cash after losing a job. Mercado told Reyes he planned on committing burglaries to make money and suggested they ransacked Boote&#8217;s house, court records say.</p><p>Reyes led Mercado to Boote&#8217;s residence and helped him gain entry when she distracted Boote. Mercado allegedly stabbed Boote multiple times in a bedroom and used gasoline to burn the body but the fire burned out, according to court records.</p><p>On the day Boote&#8217;s body was found, city firefighters responded to a fire in a basement of a home on Maffett Street where detectives allege Mercado attempted to burn evidence linked to the killing.</p><p>Reyes is charged with murder of the second-degree and Mercado is charged with an open count of criminal homicide. They also face counts of robbery, arson, abuse of corpse and criminal conspiracy.</p><p>A pre-trial hearing is set for June 3 with a trial for Reyes and Mercado scheduled to begin July 29. </p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Reynaldo-Mercado-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Mercado </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Reynaldo-Mercado-1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Mercado </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Louisa-Alexis-Reyes-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Reyes</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Louisa-Alexis-Reyes-1-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Reyes</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Judge orders release of teen’s school records in WB slaying case