On March 13th, Mishealia Marie Meredith, a 19-year-old White female student at Southeastern Illinois College, called her mother to say she was on her way home. She never arrived. The next day her body was found in a nearby field. She had been shot in the head execution-style.
The suspect is Alexander McWilliam, a 36-year-old Black male. McWilliam is still at large.
What is most shocking about the murder is that McWilliam was already known to be a dangerous career criminal. In July of 2018, McWilliam was involved in a shooting in Harrisburg, IL. In April of 2019, McWilliam was charged with first-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault, discharging a firearm, fleeing the state, and obstructing justice. He also wanted for a parole violation in a different county at the time.
Under IL state law, first-degree attempted murder with a firearm has a minimum sentence of twenty-five years in prison. In 2020, prosecutors offered to drop attempted murder and all other charges in exchange for pleading guilty to obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to prison and granted parole after serving a comically short seven weeks. He was released from an Illinois state prison last October.
Seven weeks in prison. Must be that Black Privilege.