Trial date set for Joshua Sheley: Bench trial will begin Dec. 7 
and last 3 days

MORRISON – Nearly a year and a half year after Nicholas Sheley’s alleged weeklong killing spree began, the first trial of an alleged accomplice has been scheduled.

A bench trial for his brother, 31-year-old Joshua Sheley, accused of helping hide the first body, will begin Dec. 7 before Whiteside County Judge John Hauptman. It is expected to last 3 days. 

At a brief hearing Friday to set the date, the judge warned Joshua Sheley’s attorney, Janet Buttron, and prosecutors to make sure that they are ready to go on that date and that all witnesses are notified ahead of time. 

“Frankly, I want to get this case done,” Hauptman said.

Sheley, of Rock Falls, is charged with concealment of a homicidal death and obstructing justice. He is alleged to have helped his brother hide the body of Russell Reed, 93, of rural Sterling, who was killed in late June 2008.

Nicholas Sheley, 30, of Sterling, allegedly went on to kill seven other people in two states.

He is scheduled to testify for the defense.

Also expected to testify will be the Sheleys’ cousin, Eric Smith, 29, of Rock Falls, and Josh Sheley’s then-girlfriend, Jenna Henson, 22, of Sterling.

Smith is charged with being an armed habitual criminal and with two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon for allegedly hiding a gun and ammunition that police say Nicholas Sheley stole from a house in Rock Falls several days after Reed’s death.

Prosecutors dropped an obstruction charge against Henson in September.

Whiteside County State’s Attorney has not publicly said why. Based on a hearing last month held on a motion to dismiss the case against Joshua Sheley, though, much of the testimony on how he came to be charged came from her statements to police.