Man accused of killing two neighbors, sheriff's deputy

TOULON, Ill. -- Investigators say a Toulon man killed a Stark County sheriff's deputy, then kicked in the door of neighbors and killed the couple inside before he was wounded in a gunfight with law officers.

State Police spokesman Jeff Darko said Curtis Thompson, 60, is accused of shooting Deputy Adam Streicher, 23, Friday night as Streicher tried to serve a warrant for failing to appear in court on a misdemeanor assault charge.

He said Thompson, a retired coal miner, then took Streicher's weapon and squad car and drove around the block to the home of his neighbors, James and Janet Geisenhagen, both 43, and shot them to death.

Stopped at roadblock

Thompson was stopped at a roadblock about a block away and wounded in a shootout with officers from at least four jurisdictions. He was flown to OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where a nursing supervisor said Saturday night that hospital policy on wounded police suspects prevented her from discussing the case.

Streicher, a Kewanee resident on the force for less than a year, was one of three county deputies. Toulon is a town of about 1,300 people, 28 miles northwest of Peoria. Sheriff Lonny Dennison said he can remember only one other homicide in Stark County since he became a deputy in 1975.

Streicher's sister, Amy Brown, said he always wanted to be a law officer. She said he once worked for Stark County. He left, but returned at the beginning of this year after a short career as a full or part-time officer in several nearby towns.

"He knew the danger," she said. "Everyone knows the danger, but we were thinking with him working in Stark County nothing like this would happen. But Small Town, U.S.A., has its own problems."

Dennison would not discuss the incident leading to the assault charge. Neither he nor Darko would comment on a motive for shooting the Geisenhagens, whose 10-year-old daughter was home but not wounded. Neighbors described Thompson, who lived with his wife, as an unfriendly man with a reputation for aggression and violence.

Randy Crans, who lives behind Thompson and across the street from the Geisenhagens, said Thompson had feuded with the family for about two years. James Geisenhagen worked at an appliance dealership in the nearby community of Wyoming; his wife worked at a grocery store in Peoria.

"I don't know what it was about, but it's nothing that should have come to this," he said.

The events began shortly before 8 p.m. Friday in Thompson's carport, which is cluttered with appliances, scrap lumber, tires and other items. Joseph Williams, 17, who lives across the street, said he went to a window when he saw Streicher stop and Thompson walk out the door. He said there was a brief confrontation.

"I could just hear them talking, then the shot was fired," Williams said.

He said Thompson went inside the residence, then came out and got in the squad car, turning off the spotlight but flicking on the flashing red lights as he drove around the block. He said Thompson returned a few minutes later and rammed a police car blocking the street "hard enough to knock the cop car backward."

'Riddled with bullets'

Williams said Thompson remained in the car throughout the gunfight and was pulled out afterward.

The Stark County News editor Jim Nowlan said he arrived at the scene about 45 minutes after the first shooting and saw Thompson lying wounded and cuffed on the pavement.

"There was clearly a shootout in Old West fashion," Nowlan said. "One police vehicle was riddled with bullets."

By Saturday afternoon, an electronic sign in front of the local bank was advertising a prayer service for "the Toulon tragedy" Saturday night. Windows of The Stark County News offices were covered with sheets of paper bearing handwritten notices about the slayings.