DIXON, Ill. (AP) — Authorities are keeping secret the whereabouts of an Arkansas man who will be called to testify in the trial of two Illinois brothers charged with first-degree murder in a 1983 death.
The Dixon Telegraph reports Lee County prosecutors plan to call 57-year-old Steven Watts of Berryville, Arkansas, as they try 68-year-old Terry E. Bobell and 65-year-old Gordon K. Bobell of Chillicothe.
Like the brothers, Watts, too, is charged with the murder of 30-year-old Gary D. Dawson, whose body was found naked, bound and gagged in a hog pen in rural northern Illinois.
Watts has been free on bond since 2014. Lee County State’s Attorney Anna Sacco-Miller says Watts’ court records are sealed and his location is secret “for his protection.”
Gordon Bobell has a preliminary hearing Jan. 13.
