A weekend highway crash killed a suspect in the 25-year-old unsolved murder of U.S. Marine veteran Kyle Harrell.
John Conway, 58, died Saturday in a one-vehicle accident in the state of Wyoming, where he had been living for years.
Conway long had been a suspect in the May 2, 2000 slaying of Harrell, 27, of Bayview Gardens. Harrell, a U.S. Marine veteran and Conway’s business partner, was killed by a sawed-off shotgun on a dirt road outside Bartonville.
Peoria County sheriff’s detectives believe Conway, then of East Peoria, teamed with cousin Daniel Mayes, then of Peoria, to eliminate Harrell. However, charges have not been filed in the case. To police, both men denied involvement.
Tuesday, Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins declined to comment to WMBD Radio about Conway’s death. Harrell’s widow, Anita Harrell, also declined to comment for this story.
However, in a Facebook post, she suggested a sense of regret that Conway’s death precludes any chance of him standing trial: “I have waited, along with my family and friends, for 25 years to get justice for Kyle. If this is what the power above wanted, then I have to accept it.”
In 1993, Harrell married the former Anita McCarty, his sweetheart from their days at Metamora Township High School. They made their home in Bayview Gardens, and daughter Kylee came along in 1998.
Two years earlier, capitalizing on a skill learned in the Marines, Harrell started Patriot Heating and Cooling, with Conway as his business partner. On the evening of May 2, 2000, Harrell waited along Sanitation Road near Bartonville regarding a supposed business deal: Harrell was to meet a farmer named “Frank” to buy a pair of ice machines.
Instead, Harrell was felled by two shotgun blasts: one to the face, the other to the chest.
Peoria County detectives later discovered “Frank” never existed. Evidence showed the deal was a ruse, arranged by Conway and his cousin Mayes, police say.
Further, police found a 12-gauge, sawed-off shotgun along the Illinois River near the McNaughton Bridge in Pekin. The weapon’s serial numbers had been ground off, but police traced the weapon to a relative of Conway. That relative said he had given the gun to Conway shortly after buying it in 1996.
Meanwhile, investigators seized boots from Mayes’ residence. The soles matched shoe impressions left at the murder scene, police say.
However, the probe did not lead to criminal charges. In 2002, then-Peoria County State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons suggested evidence might fall short of a conviction: “There is something worse than not charging someone. And that is to charge the offender and have a lifetime of regret if the person is acquitted.”
However, sheriff’s detectives have continued the investigation. Over the years, they expressed hope that major life changes – such as divorce or death – might loosen the lips of people with knowledge of the killing
Civil suits hint at motive for the murder. In 2002 in Peoria, Anita Harrell filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Conway. Documents stated Conway and Harrell had six-figure life insurance policies in each other’s names, while Conway would gain full ownership of the business if Harrell were to die.
The suit was settled out of court. That information was sealed from the public.
Anita Harrell filed a similar wrongful death lawsuit against Mayes, in 2000 in Peoria County. When he never answered the legal complaints, a judge held that Mayes was the shooter and ordered him to pay her $2.5 million.
Not long after the slaying, Conway moved to Casper, Wyo., where he ran a heating and cooling business.
Saturday morning, he was one of two passengers in a Ford F-150 truck driven by his wife on Interstate 25 near Glenrock, Wyo. The pickup, with a trailer in tow, veered toward the median, overcorrected into a clockwise spin and slid onto its passenger side. Conway, who was not wearing a seatbelt, died in the wreck. The other two passengers survived.
Mayes reportedly lives in Hawaii.
Harrell is buried at Spring Bay Cemetery.
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