Nicholas Sheley, convicted of multiple 2008 murders in Illinois, is scheduled to stand trial in January 2018 in connection with the murders of an Arkansas couple nine years ago in Festus.
The couple – Thomas Estes, 55, and his wife, Jill Estes, 54, of Sherwood, Ark. – were slain June 30, 2008, on the parking lot of the Festus Comfort Inn, 1303 Veterans Blvd.
Sheley’s trial is scheduled to start Jan. 8, 2018, at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Hillsboro, before retired 23rd Circuit Court Judge Gary Kramer.
“I made a request to the (state) Supreme Court to allow Judge Kramer to hear the case,” said Div. 2 Circuit Judge Darrell Missey, the 23rd Circuit’s presiding judge. “I wanted to take advantage of Judge Kramer’s experience in capital murder cases.”
He said Kramer participates in the Missouri court system’s Senior Judge Program.
Sheley, 37, is being held without bail in the Jefferson County Jail. He is charged with two counts of the class A felony of first-degree murder and two counts of the unclassified felony of armed criminal action.
According to the probable-cause statement in the case, Festus Police were called to the hotel in the early morning after a small dog was found with blood stains on its coat. Investigating officers discovered much blood, an earring and two pairs of glasses on the business’s parking lot. Later in the morning, the bodies of the victims, both with blunt force trauma injuries to the head, were discovered behind a business trash can at the Cwic Chips 66 Gas Station, 1245 American Legion Drive, Festus.
Sheley was arrested July 1, 2008, in Illinois after being spotted in a Granite City tavern by customers who recognized him from news photos and contacted police, according to a July 10, 2008 Leader story. He was taken into custody without incident.
Sheley was extradited to Jefferson County in February 2015 to face his Missouri charges. He has been convicted of six murders in Illinois during what has been described as a “spree” starting June 23, 2008, in Sterling, Ill., and continuing over the next week until the murders of the Esteses.
Missouri law allows the death penalty, while Illinois does not.