Reginald Varley is a character in L.A. Noire. He is a suspect in the Arson case The Gas Man.



Varley previously lived in Detroit where he committed an act of murder. He fled to Los Angeles to escape the authorities. While in L.A., Varley worked as a contractor for InstaHeat, he did installments and maintenance for the company's customers. Varley's boss, Ivan Rasic overlooked Varley's warrant for murder due to the need to hire installers.

Varley was approached by the Suburban Redevelopment Fund (SRF) who requested his help in order help further their housing plans. Varley accepted their bribe and installed water heaters into the new housing developments. Varley also did free maintenance services on Sawyer and Morelli home water heaters. These families were holdouts, hence Varley correctly suspected that the SRF gave free service as incentive to sell to Elysian Fields Development.

Events of L.A. Noire

Due to his murder warrant and employment with InstaHeat, Varley became a suspect for a series of arsons. To add to the suspicion, a box of mosquito coils, a favored time delayed fuse for arsonists, was found in Varley's locker. However, Varley was actually holding them for Matthew Ryan since his locker was filled with fifth communist pamphlets.

Varley was approached and arrested by detectives Cole Phelps and Herschel Biggs at his work site. During interrogation, Phelps suspected that Varley's motive was part of the foul play by the SRF, however, Varley deflected any indications of a conspiracy. With Ryan being charged for the arsons, Varley was extradited back to Detroit and was incarcerated for his murder charge.

Murder(s) committed

  • Unnamed person - Killed for unknown reason(s)

Case Appearances



  • Varley can be seen being interrogated in the third trailer.
  • He is one of two suspects that can be charged along with Matthew Ryan. However, charging Varley will earn an ending in which Phelps is screamed at by Lachlan McKelty and will result in a maximum three star case rating.
    • When Phelps is done interrogating Varley, he will say "You're either going back to Detroit to face a murder rap, or you're staying here to answer for these arsons.", hence the player's ability to have him charged for the arsons.
  • Varley shot a loan shark who was squeezing his brother for the vig.

