Samson Shelton,44, admitted attempting to murder, in 2006, Ashley Reeves, then 17 years old. He abandoned her for dead and threw her body into a Belleville, Illinois, wooded area. Nearly alive, investigators discovered Reeves in Citizens Park on April 29, 2006, at around two in the morning.
Shelton was granted parole on Monday, April 22, having completed roughly 17 of his 20-year sentence for the attack on Reeves. The educator, who was featured in a Lifetime film after confessing to attempting the death of a teenager he had a romantic relationship with, is now at liberty.
According to online records maintained by the Illinois Department of Corrections, Samson Shelton, 44, was granted parole on Monday, April 22. According to his prison records, Shelton was admitted to Illinois River Correctional Center in June 2007 following his conviction for the 2006 attempted murder of 17-year-old Ashley Reeves.
Shelton was a professional wrestler known as “The Teacher” and a driver’s education teacher at the time, according to The Belleville News-Democrat.
When authorities discovered that Shelton had interacted with the then-26-year-old after the teen was reported missing in April 2006, they launched a 30-hour missing persons case against her, according to The Belleville News-Democrat.
According to a story from CBS News at the time, Shelton had previously worked as a teacher at a middle school where she had also attended.
Reeves told investigators during an on-camera questioning session that the two had gotten into a fight while he was driving after having sex once. The outlet said that Reeves stated the fight started when he attempted to end their encounters.
He broke the adolescent’s neck by putting her in a chokehold, and her body went limp, according to KSDK. He told detectives he intended “to make it look like she got strangled there” when he dumped her body in a wooded area at Citizens Park in Belleville, according to a 2007 CBS News report. He tightened his belt around her neck to intensify the effect.
According to The Belleville News-Democrat, Shelton left her in the park and went line dancing at a country bar.
Investigators went into the woods after he confessed, expecting to find Reeves’s body, but they discovered her alive, according to KSDK. Reeves had to relearn how to swallow, walk, and talk after suffering from brain trauma, according to the outlet.
Reeves, who is currently in her 30s, stated she wanted to move past the incident in a phone interview with KSKD. Shelton’s parole will last for three years, ending on April 22, 2027, according to his prison records.
