Sikeston man is found guilty of 2019 murder of Illinois man

MURPHYSBORO, Ill. -- A Jackson County, Illinois, jury found a Sikeston, Missouri, man guilty of first-degree murder for his role in the 2019 shooting death of a Carbondale, Illinois, man.

Olando/Orlando "T.J." Sheron, 27, of Sikeston was found guilty, according to Jackson County State's Attorney Joseph A. Cervantez.

In a weeklong jury trial, Cervantez presented evidence to a crowded courtroom that on Nov. 3, 2019, Carbondale Police were dispatched to the 500 block of South Illinois Avenue for a complaint of shots fired. Keon L. Cooper, 28, of Carbondale was transported by ambulance to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, where he was pronounced dead from multiple gunshot wounds.

In a matter of just hours, investigators with the Carbondale Police Department identified the shooters as then-21-year-old Tyren Johnson of Sikeston and then-24-year-old Sheron.

The Carbondale Police Department obtained arrest warrants for both Johnson and Sheron.

On Nov. 7, 2019, Johnson was arrested on the Illinois warrant by the Sikeston Department of Public Safety. His warrant has a $2 million bond, and he remains in the Jackson County Jail awaiting trial.

Sheron, however, fled and led law enforcement on a nearly two-year-long manhunt. The U.S. Marshals Service, Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force in Los Angeles, California, comprised of officers from the California Department of Corrections, along with the Gardena Police Department, Torrance Police Department and Long Beach Police Department assisted in the investigation to locate Sheron. On Oct. 26, 2021, after a car chase that led law enforcement across multiple jurisdictions, Sheron was arrested in Gardena, California. He was taken to the Los Angeles County Jail, and then extradited to Illinois.

Cervantez led the prosecution of Sheron, and after securing the guilty verdict on Dec. 9, Cervantez explained that Sheron faces a sentencing range of between 45 years to natural life in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the murder of Cooper. Sheron will be held in the Jackson County Jail without bond until his sentencing hearing which will be scheduled in early 2023.

The investigation was led by the Carbondale Police Department and assisted by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, the Southern Illinois University Department of Public Safety, the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, The U.S. Marshals Service, Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force in Los Angeles, CA, the California Department of Corrections, the Gardena Police Department, the Torrance Police Department, and the Long Beach Police Department, among others.