Jul 8, 2008 6:58 pm US/Central
Family, Friends Of Killing Spree Suspect Baffled
MOUNT MORRIS, Ill. (AP) ―
Marcia Frey laid down the law when her daughter and son-in-law, Holly and Nicholas Sheley, moved into her trailer after losing their apartment last month: No alcohol. No drugs.
And for a week, the newlyweds were a model family.
Nicholas took the couple's 2-year-old daughter and Holly's 10-year-old daughter from a previous relationship to the park and swimming every day. He mowed the lawn. He washed dishes without being asked.
"For that one week, I thought that no one could have asked for a better son-in-law," said Frey.
That ended when the couple, who were saving for their own house, took their green Cadillac to a car title loan company. Sheley promptly used some of the $1,000 loan to buy alcohol, Frey said. He turned mean, like he often did when he was drinking or on drugs. He and Holly quarreled, then Sheley stormed out of the house, hopped in the car and took off.
It was June 23, Frey said -- three days before the body of a 93-year-old Sterling man was found in the trunk of his car, the first of eight people authorities allege Sheley brutally killed in Illinois and Missouri over several days. He was arrested July 1 outside a southern Illinois tavern after an intense manhunt.
Sheley is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of the Sterling man, Russell Reed, and Galesburg resident Ronald A. Randall, 65, whose body was found behind a food store June 30. Sheley is being held in the Knox County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond for the Randall murder.
He also has been named a suspect -- but not yet charged -- in the deaths of four people in a Rock Falls apartment and a married couple in Festus, Mo. The bodies of Kenneth Ulve, 25, Brock Branson, 29, Branson's fiancee, Kilynna Blake, 20, and her 2-year-old son, Dayan Blake, were found in Branson's apartment June 30. The bodies of Jill and Tom Estes, of Sherwood, Ark., were found the same day behind a Festus gas station.
A week after his arrest, those who knew Sheley still struggle to understand what triggered the alleged killings.
When he was sober, he could be thoughtful, even volunteering to help re-roof a homeless shelter run by his church. But his sobriety never lasted long, and drug binges often led to trouble with police, said the Rev. Brian Tribley, pastor of the Firehouse of God Ministries.
"It's clear he had a definite drug problem and we encouraged him to get help," said Tribley, adding that Sheley had gotten professional counseling and attended meetings of Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous. "His life seemed to run in cycles. He'd put together a couple weeks clean -- what I'd call a good cycle -- and then a bad cycle would kick in."
Sheley's lengthy criminal record includes convictions for drugs, domestic battery, robbery and weapons charges.
Sheley also is charged with robbing a 90-year-old Whiteside County woman June 14, after allegedly breaking into her home and stealing money and a credit card and forcing her to sign two blank checks. A warrant for his arrest in that case was issued June 23, the day Frey said Sheley disappeared.
Frey said her daughter -- who dated Sheley for five or six years before they married in May, despite a history of domestic violence -- is "in hiding" and confused.
"She can't really believe that the man she loved could have done all these terrible things," Frey said.
Frey said she's also in disbelief, but wants Sheley punished.
"To see my son-in-law, the father of our grandchild, in this terrible situation, to think that he killed other people, innocent people -- I can't understand how this could have happened," she said. "I want him to be punished and punished severely ... These were innocent people."
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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