Sheley has long, violent history

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By Ann McGlynn | Tuesday, July 01, 2008 |

Nicholas Sheley, 28 after his arrest in Granite City. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

For the hunted man, the threat to kill first appeared in a 1999 court file.

Just shy of his 20th birthday, he threatened to kill a woman with a brick.

The words are in one of

26 files on the shelves of the Whiteside County Courthouse with the name Nicholas Troy Sheley. Traffic tickets. Orders of protection. A divorce. Drunken driving. Misdemeanors. Felonies.

The files, with his neatly written name atop each, reveal an increasingly messy life, an increasing intensity of violence from a man the documents describe as a laborer with a spotty work record.

Sheley’s criminal record started at the age of 11 with a judge determining young Nicholas was delinquent for an unspecified crime. A second juvenile charge happened again four years later and twice more before his first adult felony right before his 18th birthday.

A police officer stopped Sheley for broken taillights one night in July 1997. After the officer saw the butt of a gun in the back seat, he listened as Sheley swore and then ordered him out of the vehicle and to the ground. Sheley admitted to having a bag of pot in his pants.

The officer found a

12-gauge Remington shotgun and a New England 12-gauge shotgun, both loaded. A cold, opened can of Budweiser beer and shotgun shells sat nearby.

A judge sentenced him to probation.

However, Sheley had trouble on probation, including making that threat to kill with a brick. He went to prison for the first time, a short stint with the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Soon after his release, in January 2000, Sheley robbed two men at gunpoint for $95. While he was awaiting trial, he beat his now ex-wife.

Monica Sheley told a judge they had an argument in the early morning hours of July 13, 2000. He punched her twice. She grabbed a knife from the dish drainer and stabbed him in the arm. He started punching and pushing her “non-stop.” The next thing she knew, the cops knocked on their door.

A judge granted an order of protection. The judge said he had never seen more extensive injuries on the face of a victim. Sheley got six years in a prison boot camp for the robbery with the gun.

Monica Sheley divorced Nicholas Sheley while he was in prison. They had two children together.

In 2003, Sheley again was a free man. It didn’t take long for his first arrest.

In September of that year, Sheley threw an unopened can of Bud Light at a woman’s head and struck a man in the head with a hammer. He broke the window of a police car, escaped from police custody and then yelled obscenities at the emergency room staff who treated him. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, ordered to pay $233 in restitution.

He again beat the woman in his life. Holly Gaul, now identified as his wife, twice accused him in 2005 of mistreating her. He pushed her. He prevented her from leaving their house. He also tested positive for marijuana. Some of the charges were dropped. He spent 30 days in jail on the others.

But again, Sheley’s anger could not be controlled, court files indicate. Around Thanksgiving 2006, he was charged with aggravated battery, accused of putting his arm around Douglas Keefer’s neck, putting a knife to Keefer’s throat.

“I’m going to cut somebody’s throat tonight,” Sheley told Keefer.

Keefer ended up dead. Officials dropped the charges against Sheley. Three men from Chicago were convicted in connection with the crime.

This time, instead of pot and booze, an accusation of crack cocaine pops up in Sheley’s file.

And finally, in 2007, Sheley was accused of entering a house in Sterling and firing a single gunshot at a resident. A judge let Sheley out on bond in January. He was supposed to appear in court a week ago.

That’s when 93-year-old Russell Reed went missing. Reed was found dead in the trunk of his car on Thursday.

Sheley's criminal history

Nicholas Sheley’s extensive criminal record includes a drunken-driving charge in Scott County in1999.

He was 19 years old when he was arrested in Bettendorf and charged with drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

Court records show that Sheley was apprehended after running on foot from the scene of an accident in which his vehicle struck a light pole. Inside his car, police found alcohol containers, the court file shows, “some in the front seat area, some in the trunk.”

He was alone at the time of his arrest.

In November 1999, his mother, Debbie Sheley, wrote a letter to the court, explaining why her son could not appear in Scott County for a court date related to the OWI charge.

“He was sentenced in Whiteside County on Oct. 8, 1999 to 1 year at DOC (Department of Corrections),” she wrote.

In 2004, Sheley faced multiple charges in Rock Island County Circuit Court, including a felony for driving with a revoked license, drunk driving and multiple traffic citations. All of the charges were later dismissed when the judge did not find probable cause for his arrest.

— Barb Ickes and Dustin Lemmon

Ann McGlynn can be contacted at (563) 383-2336 or amcglynn@qctimes.com.