The Extremely Tragic and Cold Case of The Murder of Shirley Huskey
In memory of Shirley Huskey, aged 25, of Monroe County, Illinois.
During a stormy night on June 22nd, 1977, Dan Huskey had finished his coal mining job and arrived home at 1:30 a.m. on Ames Road near Red Bud in Monroe County.
Dan entered his bedroom expecting to see his wife, Shirley, asleep in their bed.
Shirley was not in bed. Dan went into the bathroom and saw the window was wide open, with the floor below being soaked from the stormy night. Bugs were swarming the bathroom light. Dan was very concerned.
Dan checked the children's room expecting Shirley to possibly be in there. She was not in there but her children were peacefully sleeping in their beds.
Dan was scared now. Shirley was absolutely nowhere in the house.
He went out to his backyard which he described as "very dark, misty and the ground being very wet."
Dan then went into the garage and searched for Shirley. He then searched his front yard and on his trip back to his house from his front lawn he saw something crumpled in the bushes. He immediately recognized it to be Shirley wearing her nightgown. He knew she was dead.
Phone lines were down in the area due to the bad storm. Dan tried to phone the police but their phone lines were not working. Dan was able to call his brother-in-law who also lived on the same road. Dan made another frantic call to police and his call went through. Due to Dan and Shirley living in a rural area it took the police a little while to arrive on scene.
Shirley's father, brother, and her sister-in-law all showed up before the police.
Shirley Huskey was so bruised that police believed she fought incredibly hard for her life. Her throat was slashed. Sadly, she bled out on that stormy night.
There was no indication of sexual assault and there was also no burglary that took place. This confused many involved in the case.
At the time, the only lead was sightings of an undisclosed man lurking around local barns and various properties at the time.
Because of the very weak lead, police leaned heavily on Dan, and Dan's brother, Mike.
Dan did two separate polygraph tests and passed both. The police also had Dan hypnotized and he passed that as well. He was no longer considered a suspect.
Mike was also interrogated and was also eventually no longer considered a suspect.
Dan and Mike were both frustrated with police officers because they felt they were not trying hard enough to find the real killer.
In 2006, Donna Conley came forward to the Belleville News Democrat about her deceased friend Shirley Huskey.
Conley stated she convinced a then 17-year-old Shirley Huskey to speak to a priest about how to convince her parents to allow her to date.
According to Donna Conley, Shirley confided to her that the priest sexually assaulted her and she was afraid to tell on him because she thought no one would believe her as he was a respected member of the community.
After Dan was cleared, that particular priest with a handful of other suspects were interrogated and never charged.
It came out in 2006 Dan did not know about the sexual assault. He stated it was the priest that married he and Shirley. He reflected on how hard that must've been on poor Shirley.
Dan was thoroughly interrogated by an Illinois State Police Detective known as "Muzzy". In 2006, Dan Huskey stated publicly he wanted to, "Punch Muzzy right in the nose." Muzzy responded by saying, "I don't think he did it, I owe him that."
If you have ANY information about this case from June 22, 1977, please call St. Louis Area Crimstoppers at 1-866-371-8477
Rest in peace, Shirley
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