Talk:Centralia, Illinois

John Shakespeare

There was a man called John Shakespeare who sold 30 Bugattis to a fellow Bugatti obsessive around 1962. He was said to be from Centralia, Il: and he must have been rich because otherwise he wouldn't have had 30 Bugattis. I think he was a sucessful manufacturer, possibly of upmarket fishing tackle, but there may have been more to him than that. Probably was. Is anyone able to give him a little wiki entry, please? And thank you. Regards Charles01 (talk) 08:46, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

John W. Shakespeare, a wealthy sportsman and owner of Shakespeare Oil Company in Centralia who dabbled in leisure pursuits that ranged from sports car racing to orchid horticulture. His father, William, the inventor of the level-winding fishing reel, had amassed a fortune manufacturing tackle.The younger Shakespeare, born in 1905, enjoyed health, wealth and a soap opera star’s good looks. He studied mathematics and physics at Carnegie Institute of Technology and Harvard, and had interests in oil, real estate and auto dealerships. Collecting Bugattis was a dalliance slotted between water skiing and sky diving. He was found murdered in his home in 1975. The murder was never solved. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.125.233.126 (talk) 18:14, 21 January 2012 (UTC) Police in Centralia have been mum, Residents basically remember nothing of him or the murder. People seem not to care because there is no information whatsoever forthcoming...and no one knew what he did or was, and noone ever did this or that that makes someone an entity...yet, the guy had a fortune in family money. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Orphan93 (talk • contribs) 05:25, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

MURDER INVESTIGAION John Shakespeare's body was discovered by his handyman, Ralph Porter, on the evening of May 8, 1975. Mr. Porter was investigating broken glass on the door leading to the entry of Shakespeare's residence prior to discovering Shakespeare's body in the basement. The first policeman to arrive at the scene at 8:03 P.M. was officer Stanley Pokojski. Officer Pokojski along with Lt. Qualls and Paul Ritter identified the body which they found tied with a yellow electric cord and a pair of handcuffs around both wrist. The handcuffs surrounded a drain pipe and the electric cord was brought down and then tied around Shakespeare's ankles. The head was wrapped with a towel and surrounded by a large amount of blood coming from the head. Also a tan colored cloth was wrapped around his ankles and the cord was also tied around the ankles. At this point police officers called for the coroner and the crime lab photographer. When Investigator Bill Austin, from the Illinois Crime Lab, arrived the towels, cord, cloth and handcuffs were removed from the body. There were two towels removed, each tied with a "square knot", and there had been a gag in his mouth prior to the time that the towels had apparently been put around his head. The cuffs were found to be on exceptionally tight, by all appearances they cut into the wrist and mashed the flesh down and left a ridge in the wrist when they were removed. The yellow extension cord was then removed and the binding under the cord around the feet was cut off. Once the towels, cord, gag and handcuffs were removed, Shakespeare was found to be dressed only in a pair of gym shorts, no shirt, shoes or socks were found. At this time the body was removed by Campbell Ambulance and taken to St Mary's Hospital for examination and an autopsy preformed by Dr. Cesar Gallego M.D.75.132.168.61 (talk) 03:22, 13 December 2015 (UTC)Fults,Centralia Police reports of 5/7/75

PATHOLOGY REPORT On May 9th, 1975 an autopsy was performed on John Shakespeare by Pathologist Dr. Cesar Gallego at St. Mary's Hospital. Dr. Gallego discovered a small slug in the victims head and investigator Bill Austin took possession of the evidence. Dr. Gallego stated that the cause of death was a gun shot wound to the head and estimated the time of death to be either late afternoon or early evening on the date Shakespeare was found. Toxicology results were negative for Ethanol, barbiturates, stimulants and/or benzodiazepines and the X-Ray report indicated a large chunk of metal with an irregular shape located just beneath the right parietal bone. In addition the report found evidence of degenerative joint disease of the cervical spine but no fractures or dislocations were noted, absent the entrance to the left parietal bone of the skull that demonstrated extensive fracture of the skull.

The body was that of a 69 year white male measuring 5 feet 5 inches and weighing 145 pounds. Marked rigor mortis was present and patches of lividity were present in different parts of the body. Abrasions were noted on the right wrist as well as marks of handcuffs. Both ankles exhibited areas of abrasions probably resulting from binding of the feet. Three small abrasions were present on the left knee, the largest measuring 2 cm in maximum diameter. On the lateral aspect of the left hemithorax there was a long abrasion measuring 6 cm in length and looked like fingernail scratches. Both upper eyelids were extremely swollen and bluish red in appearance. The conjuntivae was clear and no petechial hemorrhage was present. The brain was removed and appeared normal except for lacerated areas. On sectioning, the brain was unremarkable except for the distruction of the parenchymal tissue in the path of the bullet. Multiple sections of the cerebellum and brain stem show no gross abnormality. All organs were removed, weighed and dissected and found to be grossly unremarkable except for moderate vascular congestion and slight emphysematous changes in the lungs and occasional fatty changes in the liver. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.132.168.61 (talk) 22:41, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

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