On May 3, 1986, two University of Chicago students were walking to their dormitories when they were approached from behind by three males. The men pushed the two women to their knees, demanding money and claiming to have a gun. Only one of the victims had money, six dollars, which she handed over. The assailants then told the victims to stand up and walk straight ahead. After a time they were instructed to crawl and then to walk again until they came to an empty garbage lot. There, one woman was sexually assaulted three times by one man and once by another. She scratched one of the assailants on the face and neck. The other woman was held by the third man and escaped being raped after a violent struggle. Three days after the incident police stopped Reynolds on the street because he fit the general description the victims had given campus security the night of the attack. He also had scratches on his face which appeared to be consistent with one victim's testimony that she had scratched one of the assailants.

When the police stopped Reynolds on the street, they brought him over to the victims, who were sitting in a nearby squad car. Both victims positively identified Reynolds in this show-up procedure. A co-defendant, Billy Wardell, was arrested separately and positively identified a month later.

Reynolds maintained that the scratches on his face were from an argument with his girlfriend. It was alleged that there was exculpatory evidence not turned over to the defense. There were also allegations that technician Pamela Fish exaggerated statistics from her serological testing in order to help get Reynolds and Wardell convicted. Reynolds requested post-conviction DNA testing for years (his first request was at trial but it was denied because DNA testing was not widely accepted) before it was granted in 1997.

Testing done on the semen from the rape kit showed that the spermatozoa could not have come from Reynolds. Reynolds and his co-defendant Wardell filed suits against Pamela Fish, the crime laboratory analyst, alleging false testimony.

In 1997, Reynolds's conviction was vacated. A new trial was granted but the prosecution dropped charges. Reynolds had been incarcerated for a total of eleven years.