The Murder of John Shakespeare: A Centralia Cold Case

Author:   Cary O'Dell ,  Richard L Sprehe
Publisher:   History Press
ISBN:  

9781540299765


Pages:   160
Publication Date:   30 December 2025
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Not yet available   Availability explained
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The Murder of John Shakespeare: A Centralia Cold Case


Overview

Authors Cary O'Dell and Richard L. Sprehe lead a literary investigation of a brutal cold-case murder. In May 1975, in the small Southern Illinois town of Centralia, the body of one of its best-known residents, John Shakespeare, was found nearly nude, bound, and shot, execution-style, in the basement of his home. Shakespeare, sixty-nine, was a wealthy bachelor, an eccentric, an heir to the Shakespeare fishing fortune, a world-renowned collector of vintage cars, and, maybe, a possessor of a few secrets. Despite the victim being well liked in the community, state and local police, and eventually even the FBI and Interpol, found a plethora of suspects while investigating the crime. Could it have been his longtime business associate? Or the mysterious hitchhiker seen in town just days before his body was found? Or a long-ago name from his past?

Full Product Details

Author:   Cary O'Dell ,  Richard L Sprehe
Publisher:   History Press
Imprint:   History Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 0.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.141kg
ISBN:  

9781540299765


ISBN 10:   1540299767
Pages:   160
Publication Date:   30 December 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available   Availability explained
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

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Author Information

Cary O'Dell is a native of southern Illinois and is the author of the books Bucky's Dome and Johnny Bob: The Life and Times of Johnny Bob Harrell of Louisville, IL, as well as five other. A graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, he works for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and lives in Culpeper, Virginia. On May 5, 1975, Richard L. Sprehe headed back to his home in Centralia to prepare for his pharmacy boards and resume his part-time position working as an EMT. Just three days later, the bound body of John Shakespeare was found in his own basement. In 2014, as Richard approached retirement, his interest is this case was rekindled and he began researching Shakespeare's cold case murder.

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