Cairo man charged in murder

CAIRO, Ill. -- Police in this poor southern Illinois city charged a man Wednesday with committing the first homicide here in six years.

Jesse Woods, 41, was charged with murder in the stabbing death of Ruben Stacy, 58, an unemployed disabled man who was found dead in his small house on Monday, Alexander County State's Attorney Jeff Farris said Wednesday.

Woods, of Cairo, is being held in the Tri-County Detention Center on $500,000 bond, Farris said.

Authorities say they don't know why Woods would have killed Stacy. The two were longtime friends who often socialized, said Stacy's twin sister, Annie Ruth Hamilton.

She also said her brother had many other friends.

"He was a friendly, nonviolent person who never harmed anyone," Hamilton said.

"It made no sense to kill him because he was the kind of person who never met a stranger and would give you his clothes, shoes or money if you needed it," she said.

Stacy, who was divorced with two grown children, was also a poor man who left no money for his burial, Hamilton said.

"He and I are both poor, and I don't know where I'm going to get the money" for his funeral, casket and grave, she said.

This city on Illinois' southern tip -- once famous for its racial strife -- has known relatively little violent crime although more than half of its 3,600 residents live below the poverty line.

Stacy lived on Social Security, Hamilton said. He had not worked since he was injured in an accident on a construction site years ago, she said.

Stacy's pastor, the Rev. S.W. Oliver, said his death should warn others in the city to be cautious.

"You never know," Oliver said. "It is hard to figure out because he had a good heart and many people in Cairo loved him because of his friendly spirit."