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Sikeston man gets 80 years in prison for Illinois murder
MURPHYSBORO, Ill. — A Sikeston, Missouri, man was sentenced to 80 years in prison for the 2019 shooting death of a Carbondale, Illinois, man.
Olando/Orlando “T.J.” Sheron, 28, of Sikeston received on Thursday, Jan. 25 the sentence of 80 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, followed by three years of mandatory supervised release during his appearance in the Jackson County, Illinois, court.
Sheron was found guilty on Dec. 9, 2022, of first-degree murder following a Jackson County jury trial in Murphysboro.
According to the initial news release from Jackson County State’s Attorney Joseph A. Cervantez, in the 2022 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.
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.
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.
Johnson was found guilty of murder on Oct. 23, 2023, after a jury trial. He is awaiting sentencing.