Tipsters In Nicholas Sheley Case Are Honored

FBI Supervisory Senior Resident Agent G.B. Jones of the bureau's Chicago office, center, honors Gary Range, left and Samantha Butler, during a awards ceremony Thursday (February 12) for the Granite City residents.

Police were hot on Sheley's trail, but FBI Agent G.B. Jones of the bureau's Chicago office said during Thursday's (February 12) awards ceremony that the actions of Butler and Range shortened the search and allowed police to place a suspected dangerous killer under arrest with no injuries to him or anyone else.

Agents from FBI office's in Springfield, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri took time out Thursday to say thanks to two Granite City residents whose assistance led them to suspected spree killer Nicholas Sheley.

Samantha Butler and Gary Range were presented with certificates of appreciation from the FBI and a cash reward of $5,000 each. The money had been a joint reward by the FBI and Whiteside County, Illinois Crime Stoppers.

Both Butler and Range were modest about the recognition. "The law enforcement community also deserves a lot of credit," Range said.

"We all (people in the restaurant) had the same instinct," Butler said. She said she acted without thinking too hard."It was totally instinctive," she said. Butler said money had nothing to do with her motivation for reporting Sheley's whereabouts. "He took people's lives," she said. "I was thinking of those families."

Sheley was arrested without incident by Illinois State Police and local law enforcement on July 1, 2008, at Bindy's Restaurant in Granite City. Butler and Range were in the restaurant when they saw a TV news report discussing Sheley's supposed involvement in the murders of eight people in Illinois and Missouri during a two-week crime spree that began on June 14, 2008.

After recognizing Sheley seated nearby, they both (separately) slipped out of the restaurant and notified police of Sheley's whereabouts.

The top agent from the FBI's Chicago office, Robert D. Grant, said it took courage to do what Range and Butler did. "They performed an extraordinary service, displaying the type of personal involvement that law enforcement desperately needs," Grant said. "It is an honor for me to recognize them today for their efforts."

Katfishponders is happy these two people received the recognition they deserved as well as part of the monetary reward that was offered.

Many have expressed their regret that Sheley didn't resist arrest so that the police would have had no choice but to "take him out" and saved the taxpayer's money.


During a jailhouse interview that Sheley gave the Associated Press last September he said that he played an active role in his capture July 1 outside a Granite City bar because he wanted to get the ball rolling on the legal process and his family feared he'd be killed if a manhunt continued.


A blogging buddy of mine had the following to say about that remark:
"So he helped in his own capture.... huh??? What a hero. Too bad he didn't shoot the murderer while he captured him (himself)." LOL

Sheley is being held in the Knox County Jail in Galesburg, IL on a $10 million dollar bond. He is awaiting trial for the death of Ronald Randall, 65, Galesburg. He faces 17 counts, 10 for first - degree murder, and if convicted faces the death penalty.

Sheley is also charged in Whiteside County with five counts of first-degree murder in the death of Russell Reed, 93, of Sterling and 15 counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Kilynna Blake, 20, of Cedar City, Utah - her son Dayan Blake, 2, of Cedar City, Utah - her fiancé Brock Branson, 29, of Rock Falls - and Kenneth Ulve Jr., 25, of Rock Falls.
He also faces murder charges in Missouri in the deaths of Jill and Tom Estes both 54, of Sherwood, Ark.

The Telegraph

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