Ax may have been the weaponThe Midwest was on high alert for Nicholas Sheley (left), believed to be involved in killings in four towns, until his arrest at a Downstate bar
.An intense manhunt for the "armed and dangerous" suspect in a murderous rampage that claimed eight lives across Illinois and into Missouri concluded quietly Tuesday night when Nicholas Troy Sheley stepped outside a bar to smoke and was taken into custody by police in the southwest Illinois town of Granite City.
The arrest ended a day of alarm in the Midwest as police in Rock Falls, Ill., investigated the killings of two men, a woman and a child, while police in Festus, Mo., tried to make sense of the bloody slayings of a visiting couple from Arkansas. Also killed in the spree were men in the western Illinois towns of Sterling and Galesburg.
At about 7 p.m., a disheveled Sheley happened into a nearly empty Granite City tavern called Bindy's that is frequented by off-duty police, said Bill Watson, 55, the bar owner. Sheley looked nervous, disoriented and shaky, Watson said, "not our usual clientele."
Two regular customers—Gary Range and Samantha Butler—and bartender Jennifer Lloyd immediately recognized him, said Watson, who also was in the bar. Just before Sheley arrived, they had been watching television coverage of the slayings that featured Sheley's mug shot, Watson said.
Afraid of alerting Sheley that they knew who he was, Range quietly stepped outside and flagged down nearby police officers, who were searching for the suspect, Watson said. Soon after Range returned, Sheley tried to light a cigarette and was sent outside to smoke.
"That's the first time the smoking law [has] done us any good," Watson said. "He went outside to smoke, and that's when the police caught him."
In a statement Tuesday, the FBI said all eight victims were killed by "blunt force trauma" to the head. A law-enforcement source said an ax was used in one or more of the homicides, and that method led authorities to begin linking the crimes.
Authorities say the rampage began June 14, when they allege that Sheley, a construction worker in the Sterling area, broke into the home of an elderly woman in Sterling and forced her to write him checks. Police issued an arrest warrant for Sheley and began searching for him but were unsuccessful, federal authorities said Tuesday.
Friends and relatives of Sheley's said he had been battling drug and alcohol addiction. And authorities said Sheley spent part of his time after June 14 buying drugs in Chicago.
Sheley is suspected of killing the first person, 93-year-old Russell Reed of Sterling, around June 23, Whiteside County law-enforcement sources say. At a court hearing Tuesday in Whiteside County, testimony indicated that Sheley's brother, Josh, allegedly contacted an acquaintance, Jenna B. Henson, on June 24 and asked her to park Reed's 2003 Buick Century in her driveway. Testimony also indicated that on the next day, Josh Sheley and Henson, both of Sterling, drove with Nicholas Sheley to Chicago, allegedly to dispose of evidence from Reed's slaying. Last Thursday, authorities found the car with the man's body in the trunk in Henson's driveway.
Authorities have charged Josh Sheley, Henson and Sheley's cousin, Eric A. Smith, 28, with obstructing justice.
At one point Saturday, Nicholas Sheley was in Iowa and called his wife from a rest area between Davenport and Bettendorf, an FBI affidavit said. Saturday also was the last day the four Rock Falls victims and the Galesburg victim were seen alive.
Early Monday, authorities responding to a request for a well-being check at the Rock Falls apartment found the bodies of two men, a woman and a boy. Authorities identified them as Brock Branson, 29, and Kenneth Ulve Jr., 25, both of Rock Falls; Branson's fiance, Kilynna Blake, 20, until recently of Cedar City, Utah; and Dayan Blake, Kilynna Blake's 2-year-old son from a previous relationship.
Also on Monday, the body of Ronald A. Randall, a 65-year-old retiree, was found behind a grocery store in Galesburg. The Galesburg Police Department obtained an arrest warrant Tuesday for Sheley, saying he confronted Randall at a Galesburg car wash Saturday.
The day of those grisly discoveries, police in Festus, south of St. Louis, received a call from the attendant at a Comfort Inn stating that a man had found two small dogs in the parking lot of the hotel, both covered in what appeared to be blood. Later that afternoon, police discovered the bodies of Thomas and Jill Estes, an Arkansas couple who had been visiting the St. Louis area for a graduation and family reunion.
Authorities also recovered Randall's truck in Festus, and they said Sheley's fingerprints were inside.
Tuesday morning, police in tactical gear searched a Collinsville, Ill., apartment building for Sheley, but were unable to locate him.
After Sheley was arrested Tuesday night in Granite City, just north of St. Louis, authorities in Whiteside County issued an arrest warrant for Sheley in connection with the slaying of Reed.
In Galesburg, friends gathered at Randall's modest one-story home Tuesday afternoon, where his collection of lighthouse statues is scattered throughout the yard. Randall worked for 30 years at the town's Maytag factory, retiring in 2004 when the plant shut down, co-workers said. His sister and daughter still live in the area.
"He was just the nicest guy," said Connie Clague, his former supervisor, as tears welled in her eyes. "What terrifies me the most is I know Ronnie. He must have been scared to death."
Pat Randall described her brother as kind-hearted.
"It was just the wrong place at the wrong time," she said of her brother's suspected brush with Sheley.
Granite City Police Chief Richard Miller said Sheley was arrested without incident. Sheley will be held in Granite City until Wednesday, when officials will decide where he will be sent.
James Kimberly reported from Sterling, with James Janega in Chicago. Tribune reporters Gerry Smith in Sterling, Emma Graves Fitzsimmons in Galesburg and Ted Gregory and Azam Ahmed in Chicago and freelance writer Bill Bryan in Granite City contributed to this report.
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