FBI manhunt for ex-con suspected in 8 deaths in Ill. & Mo.

Jolie Rouge

Ex-con suspected in deaths of 8 in Ill., Mo.
By DANIEL YOVICH, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 1 minute ago

STERLING, Ill. - The FBI launched a manhunt Tuesday for an ex-con suspected of killing eight people in two states, including a 93-year-old man, a child, and a couple whose blood-soaked dogs were found roaming a motel parking lot.

Federal and local officials announced a $25,000 reward for the arrest of Nicholas T. Sheley, 28, and said he should be considered armed and dangerous. He was last seen in St. Louis, authorities said.

Police in Galesburg, in northwestern Illinois, said they had a warrant for Sheley's arrest on charges including first-degree murder, aggravated battery and vehicular hijacking in the death of Ronald Randall, whose body was found Monday behind a Galesburg grocery store. An autopsy shows the 65-year-old died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Officials said the other victims all appeared to have died in the same manner.

Public records show Sheley has multiple convictions for robbery, drugs and weapons charges and has spent three years in prison.

The killings began with the beating death of 93-year-old Russell Reed, a Sterling man whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car Thursday. Sheley also is from Sterling, a town of 15,000 about 100 miles west of Chicago.

On Monday, police discovered the bodies of two men, a woman and a child in an apartment in Rock Falls, a town near Sterling. Police said someone asked them to check on the victims, and that they believe one of them was connected to Reed.

State Police Sgt. Thomas Burek said Sheley was an acquaintance of one of the people found inside the apartment.

The Galesburg grocery store where Randall's body was discovered Monday is about 60 miles southwest of Rock Falls.

Also Monday, the bodies of a man and woman were found behind a gas station in the St. Louis suburb of Festus, Mo., about 250 miles south of Galesburg. Investigators were looking for the couple's pickup truck.

Bill Baker, with the St. Louis Area Major Case Squad, identified the couple as Tom and Jill Estes of Sherwood, Ark., who had checked into a Comfort Inn in Festus on Friday and were last seen late Sunday. The couple's dogs were found in the hotel parking lot, unharmed but covered with blood.

Festus is within 50 miles of both St. Louis and Collinsville, Ill., both cities where police say Sheley was seen Monday.

On Tuesday morning, police in tactical gear searched a Collinsville apartment building for a person of interest in the Festus killings, but "were unable to locate the guy," Collinsville police Sgt. Rich Wittenauer said.

Sheley's uncle, Joe Sheley, 47, of Sterling, told The Associated Press that Nicholas Sheley had recently struggled with drugs and that his rap sheet include arrests for home invasion.

"He's been in trouble many times over the years, but something like this, yeah, it's out of character," Joe Sheley said. "He's got a temper like anybody else. Just doesn't want to be messed with. Won't back down. But to go looking for a fight, looking for trouble, no."

Sheley spent nearly three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for aggravated robbery between 2000 and 2003 and another 17 months on parole, which ended in April 2005, said IDOC spokesman Derek Schnapp.

The uncle didn't know of any connection between his nephew — a father of four by two wives — and the St. Louis area.

The most recent previous warrant facing Nicholas Sheley was issued last week for a June 14 home invasion at a 90-year-old woman's home.

Sterling police said Sheley forced his way into the home, took an undisclosed amount of money and forced the woman to write out some checks. He became "somewhat physical" with the woman but she was not seriously injured, police said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080701/...KLr1dePHus0NUE

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

dv8grl

OMG! What a sick F!

Jolie Rouge

Police: Ex-convict suspected of killing 8 captured
By JIM SUHR, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago

GRANITE CITY, Ill. - Police and FBI agents captured an ex-convict suspected of killing eight people in two states as he smoked a cigarette outside of a southwestern Illinois bar Tuesday night.

Nicholas T. Sheley, who was the subject of a multistate manhunt after authorities linked him to the deaths of eight people in Illinois and Missouri, was arrested around 7 p.m. outside of Bindy's, a Granite City bar, said bartender Katie Ronk.

Sheley ordered a glass of water and went to the bathroom before another bartender and customer recognized him, Ronk said. The customer, Gary Range, said he left the bar and notified a police officer parked in the lot outside; "I told (the police officer) the description and the officer said, 'That's him.' He got on the radio and eventually there were police all over the place," Range said.

Illinois State Police, the FBI, and the St. Louis Major Crimes Task Force arrested the 28-year-old without incident, said state police Sgt. Thomas J. Burek. He was being held at the Granite City police department, a department spokeswoman said.

Tim Lewis, the police chief in the St. Louis suburb of Festus, Mo., said publicity from news reports paid off after 6 p.m. when a number of Granite City residents reported seeing Sheley. "He was desperate and he gave up without a fight," Lewis said. "He looks rough. He's had a rough two days," he said.

The FBI on Tuesday launched a manhunt for Sheley, who they warned should be considered armed and dangerous. Among those authorities believe Sheley killed were a 93-year-old man, a child and a couple whose blood-soaked dogs were found roaming a motel parking lot.

Sheley has only been charged in the death of one of the eight. He faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and vehicular hijacking in the death of Ronald Randall, whose body was found Monday behind a grocery store in Galesburg, in northwestern Illinois, police said. An autopsy showed the 65-year-old died from blunt force trauma to the head, likely on Saturday.

Investigators said the other victims all appeared to have died in the same manner and that evidence linked to Sheley was recovered at each scene. The FBI and Illinois State Police declined to elaborate.

Authorities said the killings began with the beating death of 93-year-old Russell Reed, a Sterling man whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car Thursday. Sheley also is from Sterling, a town of 15,000 about 100 miles west of Chicago.

On Monday, police discovered the bodies of two men, a woman and a child in an apartment on a street of single-family homes in nearby Rock Falls. Investigators believe they likely died late Saturday or early Sunday.

Sheley was acquainted with the male victims, Brock Branson and Kenneth Ulvey, both in their 20s, said Illinois State Police Region Two Commander Mark Maton. Police did not identify the woman or child.

More than 250 miles, the bodies of Tom and Jill Estes of Sherwood, Ark., were found Monday behind a gas station in Festus, said Bill Baker, with the St. Louis Area Major Case Squad. The couple had checked into a Comfort Inn in Festus on Friday and were last seen late Sunday. Their dogs were found in the hotel parking lot, unharmed but covered with blood.

Public records show Sheley has multiple convictions for robbery, drugs and weapons charges and has spent three years in prison.

Sheley's uncle, Joe Sheley, 47, of Sterling, told The Associated Press before his nephew's capture that Nicholas Sheley recently struggled with drugs and his rap sheet includes arrests for home invasion. "He's been in trouble many times over the years, but something like this, yeah, it's out of character," Joe Sheley said. "He's got a temper like anybody else. Just doesn't want to be messed with. Won't back down. But to go looking for a fight, looking for trouble, no."

Sheley spent nearly three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for aggravated robbery between 2000 and 2003 and another 17 months on parole, which ended in April 2005, said IDOC spokesman Derek Schnapp.

Federal prosecutors in northern Illinois charged Sheley on Tuesday with fleeing the state to avoid prosecution for a June 14 felony home invasion in Sterling.

At one point Sheley was in Iowa, and stopped to call his wife Saturday from a rest area between Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, an FBI agent said in an affidavit.

William Monroe, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago field office, said he believes Sheley also traveled last week to buy drugs in Chicago, where authorities recovered two handguns taken from Reed — the first man killed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702/...VIj.29igOs0NUE

Thank goodness...

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

flute

hadn't heard of that -

dv8grl

Glad they found him.

Oh, robbing people and home invasion are ok,.... but murdering., well thats just out of character!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jolie Rouge

You just had to know the guy ... I am sure he is a real sweetheart with a heart of gold as long as you don't have something he wants or if you just happen to piss him off...


Ex-con suspected in deaths of 8 has long rap sheet
By JIM SUHR, Associated Press Writer
47 minutes ago

GRANITE CITY, Ill. - Police in Nicholas T. Sheley's town came to know him well as his crimes progressed from marijuana possession to domestic battery, then to resisting a peace officer and aggravated battery.

But nothing in his history suggested he was capable of violence of which he is now suspected: killing eight people in two states, from a toddler to a 93-year-old, all by the personalized and brutal method police describe as "blunt force trauma."

Sheley was led out of the Granite City police department in an orange jumpsuit, leg shackles and handcuffs, a day after he was quietly arrested outside a bar known as a police hangout. The capture followed an intense manhunt. "Nothing would have made us suspect that something like this would happen," said Ron Potthoff, chief of police in Sheley's hometown of Sterling, a city of 15,000 about 100 miles west of Chicago. "But...he was becoming more and more noticeable to the officers."

Police say they don't know what motivated the 28-year-old, and said one possibility is that he was on a drug-fueled rampage.

William Monroe, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago field office, said he believes Sheley traveled last week to buy drugs in Chicago, where authorities recovered two handguns taken from the first man killed.

Sheley didn't speak before he was driven by Granite City police to the Madison County Jail in Edwardsville, near Granite City. An afternoon court appearance was possible Wednesday, most likely by video conference, to determine bond issues. A dispatcher with Granite City police said it wasn't known if Sheley has a lawyer.

Sheley has only been charged in two of the eight deaths. Because the eight killings occurred in Illinois and Missouri, officials need to decide where he could be tried.

Sheley was taken into custody around 6:40 p.m. Tuesday while smoking a cigarette outside Bindy's, a bar in Granite City about 10 miles north of St. Louis, witnesses said. He ordered a glass of water and went to the bathroom before an employee and customer recognized him, bartender Katie Ronk said. The customer, Gary Range, said he left the bar and notified a police officer parked in the lot outside.

Sheley faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and vehicular hijacking in the death of Ronald Randall, 65, whose body was found Monday behind a grocery store in Galesburg, in northwestern Illinois, police said.

Sheley also is charged with murder in the death of 93-year-old Russell Reed in Sterling, according to the Whiteside County State's Attorney.

Investigators said all the victims appeared to have died from blunt force trauma and that evidence linked to Sheley was recovered at each scene. The FBI and Illinois State Police declined to elaborate.

Authorities said the killings began with the beating death of Reed, a Sterling man whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car Thursday.

On Monday, police discovered the bodies of two men, a woman and a child in an apartment in nearby Rock Falls. Investigators believe they likely died late Saturday or early Sunday.

Sheley was acquainted with the male victims, Brock Branson and Kenneth Ulvey, both in their 20s, said Illinois State Police Region Two Commander Mark Maton. The Whiteside County coroner identified the remaining victims as 20-year-old Kilynna Blake, 20, and Dayan Blake, 2, both of Cedar City, Utah.

More than 250 miles away, the bodies of Tom and Jill Estes of Sherwood, Ark., were found Monday behind a gas station in Festus, said Lt. Bill Baker of the St. Louis Area Major Case Squad.

The couple had checked into a Comfort Inn in Festus on Friday and were last seen late Sunday. Their dogs were found in the hotel parking lot, unharmed but covered with blood.

Public records show Sheley has multiple convictions for robbery, drugs and weapons charges and has spent three years in prison.

Two of Sheley's family members also were being held in Whiteside County on charges connected to Reed's killing.

Eric Smith, Sheley's cousin, was being held on $100,000 bond on an obstruction of justice charge. Sheley's brother Josh Sheley was being held on a $750,000 bond and was charged with concealing a homicidal death and obstructing justice, according to the state's attorney.

Both were scheduled for July 11 court appearances.

Sheley's uncle, Joe Sheley, 47, of Sterling, said before his nephew's capture that Nicholas Sheley recently struggled with drugs and his rap sheet includes arrests for home invasion.

Sheley served nearly three years for aggravated robbery between 2000 and 2003 and another 17 months on parole, which ended in April 2005, IDOC spokesman Derek Schnapp said.

Federal prosecutors in northern Illinois charged Sheley on Tuesday with fleeing the state to avoid prosecution for a June 14 felony home invasion in Sterling.

At one point Sheley was in Iowa, and stopped to call his wife Saturday from a rest area between Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, an FBI agent said in an affidavit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702/...Uw.zI.Blus0NUE


Really bad luck/timing or was he ready to turn himself in ?

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

Authorities mull reasons for alleged killing spree
By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jul 2, 9:18 PM ET

CHICAGO - His wife described him as a good man — when he was clean and sober — and his attorney said he was a model client who showed up at a recent court appearance dressed in a suit and tie.

Nicholas T. Sheley had had several brushes with the law and spent time in jail, but never for anything like the grisly crimes for which he is now suspected.

On Wednesday, a day after his arrest outside a bar in southwestern Illinois following a multistate manhunt, Sheley appeared via a video feed from jail in Madison County Court. Judge Edward Ferguson read Sheley the charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and vehicular hijacking he faces in Knox County for the beating death of 65-year-old Ronald Randall. Randall's body was found Monday behind a grocery store in Galesburg.

Authorities believe Sheley, 28, killed seven other people in the past week, including a 93-year-old man from Sheley's hometown, Sterling, whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car last Thursday; two men, a woman and 2-year-old child, whose remains were discovered Monday in an apartment in nearby Rock Falls; and a couple whose bodies were found Monday behind a gas station in a Missouri suburb of St. Louis.

Authorities say evidence links Sheley to each of the scenes.

There was violence in Sheley's past — a conviction for aggravated robbery and allegations he held a knife to the throat of a drug dealer and shot at a man during another home invasion.

But the brutal nature of the killings — all were killed up close with a blunt object — has left authorities searching for a motive.

Sheley's uncle said his nephew recently struggled with drugs, including crack cocaine. And the FBI said they believe Kelly stopped in Chicago during the past week looking to buy drugs.

Although authorities said Wednesday that Sheley didn't have drugs on him when he was arrested, they said they're not ruling it out as a possible reason behind the alleged killing spree.

"In this day and age drugs are always involved (but) at this point we've got no way of knowing if he was high or not," said Ron Potthoff, the police chief in Sterling, where Sheley was well known to law enforcement.

Less than two years ago, he allegedly stole six bags of cocaine from a drug dealer at knifepoint in Rock Falls. Police say after Sheley stole the drugs and left, men remaining in the house argued over the theft, leading to the fatal beating of the homeowner by two men.

Sheley was charged with armed robbery, home invasion and aggravated battery. But charges were dropped when a witness couldn't be found to testify.

Sheley's wife, Holly, told Sauk Valley Newspapers that her husband was a good man — when he was clean and sober.

"This is not Nick," she told the newspaper after authorities sought Sheley in connection with the first killing. "Without drugs, without alcohol, Nick is kindhearted. He's caring. He has respect for people."

Attorney James Mertes said Sheley was a model client in the years he represented him, including in a pending home invasion case.

"Nick would appear for court in a suit and tie and he was always appropriate and well behaved in court," Mertes said. He declined to talk about Sheley's alleged drug use.

Among the crimes Sheley is accused of is a June 14 home invasion in which authorities say he became "somewhat physical" with a 90-year-old woman, stole money and forced her to write checks. But the woman's injuries weren't serious enough to warrant medical attention, police said.

Sheley was arrested Tuesday night without incident while smoking outside a bar in Granite City, an Illinois community about 10 miles north of St. Louis.

An employee recognized Sheley from the pictures circulated by the media, and a customer notified a police officer parked outside the bar.

On Wednesday, Sheley was led out of the Granite City police department in an orange jumpsuit, leg shackles and pink handcuffs. He didn't respond to shouted questions from reporters before being driven to the Madison County Jail in nearby Edwardsville.

Sheley appeared in court via a video feed from the Madison County Jail hours later. Ferguson ordered him held there until Knox County authorities can pick him up.

Meanwhile, in western Illinois' Whiteside County, authorities issued a warrant for Sheley's arrest for the murder of 93-year-old Russell Reed in Sterling and issued a $10 million bond.

He has not been charged in the six other slayings, including those of Jill and Tom Estes, a Sherwood, Ark., whose bodies were found behind a gas station in Festus, Mo., after their blood soaked dogs were seen roaming a motel parking lot.

Police say the body of Reed, the first of the eight killed, was found stuffed into the trunk of a car Thursday.

On Monday, police discovered the bodies of two men, a woman and a child in an apartment in Rock Falls. Investigators believe they likely died late Saturday or early Sunday.

Sheley was acquainted with the male victims, Brock Branson, 29, and Kenneth Ulve Jr., 25, who were both from Rock Falls, said Illinois State Police Region Two Commander Mark Maton. The Whiteside County coroner identified the remaining victims as Kilynna Blake, 20, and Dayan Blake, 2, both of Cedar City, Utah.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080703/...9oUIXiqfJH2ocA

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

Brother of man suspected in 8 slayings is charged
By MEGAN REICHGOTT, Associated Press Writer
22 minutes ago

CHICAGO - The brother of a man suspected of killing eight people in Illinois and Missouri was charged Wednesday with concealing a homicidal death and obstructing justice.

The grand jury in Whiteside County also indicted Joshua Sheley's girlfriend and another man in connection with Nicholas Sheley's alleged killing spree, authorities said.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Whiteside County State's Attorney Gary Spencer revealed the indictments in a joint statement but did not describe what the three defendants are accused of doing.

Nicholas Sheley is suspected of bludgeoning eight people to death in late June before being captured outside a bar near St. Louis. He has been charged with murder in four deaths, and authorities say he is a suspect in the others though charges have not been filed.

The victims range from a 93-year-old man from Nicholas Sheley's hometown of Sterling to a 2-year-old child found with three other victims in an apartment in Rock Falls, the hometown of Joshua Sheley.

His girlfriend, Jenna Henson, 20, was indicted on two counts of obstructing justice, a felony. Eric Smith, 21, was charged with one count of being an armed habitual criminal and two counts of unlawful possession of weapons by a felon.

Smith was an associate of Joshua Sheley, said Madigan's spokeswoman Natalie Bauer. The attorney general's office is helping at the request of local prosecutors, she said.

Joshua Sheley, 30, and Smith are being held in the Whiteside County Jail and are scheduled to appear in court Friday. Henson was scheduled to appear in court Aug. 1.

It was not immediately clear if the defendants had attorneys. Phone numbers for them were not listed.

The concealment count carries a prison term of up to five years and the obstruction count carries up to six years. The obstruction counts carry possible penalties of up to three years each.

Smith faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison if convicted on the first count and the weapons counts each are punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Nicholas Sheley is being held at the Knox County Jail on $1 million bond and is next scheduled to appear in court on July 28.

___

Associated Press writers Sophia Tareen and Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080717/...y2lAsBfves0NUE

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?