Wife made headlines while she was on the sidelines

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When Nicholas T. Sheley reached out in a jailhouse interview in September, the world got a glimpse into the mind of the suspect in a shocking killing spree last summer.

Long before he granted that interview, his wife, Holly Gaul Sheley, spoke to reporters. Those interviews spread to newspapers and blogs around the country.

On June 27, 2008, one day after the body of Russell R. Reed was discovered in the trunk of his 2003 Buick Century, Holly Sheley came to Sauk Valley Newspapers to talk about her husband.

In her words, he was a doting father who often took his two children to the park and to other kid-friendly places.

Still, he wrestled with a severe addiction to drugs and alcohol, she said. The addiction was so strong, that she allowed him to use drugs in their home.

“That’s when I just decided he could go in the house,” she said. “At least the kids were around him, and he was there and I knew that he was alive.”

The heinous crimes her husband stands accused of, she said, are “not Nick.”

“Without drugs, without alcohol, Nick is kindhearted,” she said. “He’s caring. He has respect for people. He’s a hard worker. He’s a loving dad.”

Nicholas Sheley is in Knox County Jail awaiting trial in the death of Ronald A. Randall, who was killed June 28 and dumped behind a grocery store in Galesburg.

Holly Sheley also found herself behind bars in the last year – twice, in fact.

In December, she was sentenced to 2 months in jail for driving under the influence. Before her release in February, she sent a 4-page letter to Sauk Valley Newspapers. In it, she took credit for being “the biggest lead” investigators had to track down her husband and, as such, said she was entitled to some of the $25,000 reward money that was paid for his capture.

“The money I rightfully should have will go to our six children in a trust fund, so I know that they will have something even though their father is accused of killing eight people,” she wrote. “People don’t understand that even though they’re [sic] loved ones are dead and gone in the flesh forever, our children suffer worse than I or Nick does.”

Holly Sheley wrote that letter after reading about two Granite City residents, Samantha Butler and Gary Range, each who were each given a $5,000 reward on Feb. 12 for their roles in Sheley’s arrest. Police officers appeared on Holly Sheley’s doorstep June 30 after they discovered the bludgeoned bodies of Brock Branson, 29, Kenneth Ulve, 25, Kilynna Blake, 20, and Dayan Blake, 2, in a Rock Falls apartment.

In a jailhouse interview with Sauk Valley Newspapers in February, she said that her husband began calling her and sending her letters June 26, the day police named him as a suspect in Reed’s death.

After the four bodies were discovered in Rock Falls, she said, she was taken to a hotel room where investigators listened in on phone calls from Nicholas Sheley.

She may have had more than letter and phone contact with him, though. During a bond reduction hearing this month in a pending burglary case against Holly Sheley, Whiteside County State’s Attorney Gary Spencer revealed that her DNA had been found in Randall’s truck.

Investigators say Nicholas Sheley encountered Randall at a Galesburg car wash June 28, beat him and stole his truck. He drove to Rock Falls and then to St. Louis, where the truck was abandoned.

During the hearing, Holly Sheley declined to comment about the DNA.

As of Friday, she still was in Whiteside County Jail on a $250,000 bond, charged with breaking into a van in Sterling and stealing several items, including CDs.

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