The Tazewell County state’s attorney has filed two first-degree murder charges against the suspect in custody in connection with a fatal shooting early Thursday morning in South Pekin.
Memphis S. Rue, 21, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Chase Rhodes, of Pekin, and Dawson Reese, of rural Pekin. Both were 21 years old.
Tazewell County State’s Attorney Kevin Johnson also filed a petition to detain Rue until the case concludes. In the petition to deny pretrial release, Johnson points to the serious nature of the murder charges and claims Rue presents a “real and present threat to the safety of person(s) or the community.”
A detention hearing has not been held yet; details on when the detention hearing would be scheduled were not immediately available.
An affidavit of probable cause included with the state’s attorney’s release provided further details on the allegations against Rue.
Tazewell County sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call about a shooting in a home in the 11000 block of Illinois Route 29 in South Pekin just before 5 a.m. Thursday. Deputies say they found David Reese holding Rue at gunpoint in the home’s kitchen. The affidavit does not specify any relationship between David Reese and the victim with the same last name.
David Reese told deputies all three were “good friends” and had been hanging out in the basement when he fell asleep on a living room couch, according to the affidavit. He allegedly told deputies he woke up to the sound of several gunshots and Rue yelling, “They’re dead! They’re dead!.”
The affidavit alleges Rue came upstairs from the basement with a gun and passed David Reese while heading into the home’s kitchen. Reese followed him, took the gun away, and pointed it at him until deputies arrived.
Rue remains in custody in the Tazewell County Jail.
