Suspected spree killer arrested

ROCK FALLS, Ill., July 1 (UPI) -- A man suspected of killing eight people in Illinois and Missouri was arrested Tuesday outside a bar in Granite City, Ill.

Illinois State Police told the Sauk Valley Newspapers in Illinois that Nicholas Troy Sheley surrendered without incident to a plainclothes trooper. Samantha Butler said she tipped off police after recognizing Sheley in a sandwich shop and then seeing him in a bar, Bindy's.

A $25,000 reward had been posted for information leading to the arrest of Sheley, 28, of Sterling, Ill.

Sheley was wanted for a home invasion in mid-June when he allegedly began his killing spree last week. The first victim, a 93-year-old man, was found dead in the trunk of Sheley's car in Sterling.

He also is accused of killing two men, a woman and a child found in a Rock Falls, Ill., apartment, about 115 miles west of Chicago. Two more victims, Jill and Tom Estes of Sherwood, Ark., allegedly were killed outside a motel in Festus, Mo., and dumped behind a nearby gas station.

He allegedly killed another man in Galesburg, Ill.

Sheley's wife, Holly, told the Sterling Daily Gazette her husband, a construction worker, is a "regular society guy" when he's sober.

"At this point right now, if I could say that he was possessed ... and people would actually believe it, I could say he was, because this is not Nick," Holly said. "Without drugs, without alcohol, Nick is kind-hearted. He's caring. He has respect for people. He's a hard worker. He's a loving dad."