Were Utahns killing-spree victims?
Monday burial in Cedar City planned for mom, 2-year-old
They are preparing to bury Kilynna, 20, next to her 2-year-old son, Dayan, in Cedar City Monday, a week after their bodies were discovered in Rock Falls, Ill., the possible victims of a murder suspect.
"We're holding up as best we can, considering it hit so close to heart. She was so loved and missed," Blake's older sister, Gleniecia Lewis, told the Deseret News Wednesday.
Kilynna and Dayan were possibly among eight slain in a two-state killing spree that ended Tuesday when Nicholas T. Sheley, 28, was arrested smoking a cigarette outside a Missouri bar. Sheley also is believed by police to have killed Blake's fiance, Brock Branson, 29, and Branson's roommate, Kenneth Ulvey, 25.
In an interview with the Deseret News, Lewis spoke of her younger sister as an outgoing, "well-loved person, liked by everybody."
Born and raised in Cedar City, Blake met her fiance while working.
"He was a truck driver. They kind of hit it off," Lewis said. "They started dating; always first boyfriends you're skeptical, but he was someone I could see her with."
She had Dayan from a previous relationship. Lewis described the boy as playful and happy.
Blake and Branson stayed in Cedar City until about four months ago, when they moved to Branson's hometown of Rock Falls, Ill., so he could have visitation with his 10-year-old daughter.
"They were going to get married and make that their hometown," Lewis said.
Now, the family is writing obituaries and talking with police investigators. Branson's father told the Quad City Times newspaper on Wednesday that his son was beaten so badly that authorities were only able to identify him through a tattoo on his arm. Dallas Branson said family members were told very little about the slayings. He told the newspaper that "they don't want to botch this at all."
Sheley is accused of killing eight people in two states, from a toddler to a 93-year-old, in what police describe as "blunt force trauma." He appeared briefly in an Illinois court in connection with one of the slayings following his capture after an intense, nationwide manhunt.
Police were looking into the possibility that the rampage was fueled by drugs, but they had no way of knowing. Sheley's wife, Holly, told Sauk Valley Newspapers that her husband was a good man — when he was clean and sober.
"This is not Nick," she told the newspaper after authorities sought Sheley in connection with the first killing. "Without drugs, without alcohol, Nick is kindhearted. He's caring. He has respect for people."
Recent comments
Judges and parole boards are constantly letting criminals out into…
Rich | July 5, 2008 at 8:34 p.m.
This guy had a rap sheet a mile long and already served a term...…
sad and disgusted | July 3, 2008 at 11:04 p.m.
Kenneth was my best friend growing up and it is numbing to think…
Numb | July 3, 2008 at 10:10 p.m.
