Just a few short months ago, Jack Thomas Jr. made headlines when he was accused of shooting a man in Marion.
And just a few weeks ago, we outlined what happened with his girlfriend, Jessica Shadowens.
And while it's all bizarre, the backstory of Shadowens is even weirder than all that.
And we have it in the current issue on stands now, the August 2015 edition.
Here now is your noontime Read the Lead, OPs in strange case of accused murderer’s girlfriend:
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Jessica Shadowens,Williamson County booking photo
HAMILTON CO.—The woman at the heart of an alleged murder in Marion continues to get in trouble in Hamilton over violation of Orders of Protection, these having to do with the children and ex of the man accused of murder, Jack C. Thomas, Jr.
Jessica Shadowens, 28, of Marion, had been put on pay or appear status, not on one, but two OP violation cases out of Hamilton, after she was arrested in mid-July for Failure to Appear in both of them.
Thomas, 35, originally of Hamilton County but residing in Marion when he was charged with three counts of First Degree Murder in Williamson County, is the boyfriend of Shadowens, and the father of two children belonging to the petitioner in the OP, Whitney Lewis.
The petition against Shadowens, having already been heard in Hamilton County Circuit Court, shows that there was something extremely unbalanced about the woman and, apparently, Thomas, months before the shooting death of Michael “Memphis” Reed in Marion in late April of this year.
And while Thomas remains locked up in Williamson County, unable to make the $100,000 cash bond holding him there, Shadowens is out and about and posting photos of herself on her social networking sites as if none of it had ever happened…which lends even more to the bizarre nature of it all.
Harassment by texts, calls…and stalking
Jack S. Thomas, Jr.
The situation emerged when Lewis, who lives in McLeansboro, filed for an order of protection for her two young children by Thomas on January 5 of this year.
She cited that by December of 2014, she’d been dealing with harassing phone calls and texts from Shadowens “for months.”
Not only had Shadowens been harassing her, Lewis said, but she’d had others contacting Lewis in an effort to harass her as well.
The purpose of the harassment, Lewis said, was that “she is involved with the father of my children” and had been persistent....
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To read the rest of this article, click the headline link above the excerpt if you have an online membership to the e-Edition; or, if you don't, simply click this link here to get started. If you'd rather have a paper in your hands, though, you can always visit one of our many vendors across southern Illinois, including in Hamilton County, Hunt's Hardware in Dale, and Food Park in McLeansboro; and in neighboring White County, Rock Bottom, East Side Package and Pundrake in Carmi; Enfield One-Stop; and Mimmo’s Pizza in Norris City. Don’t miss this issue…less than one more week, and it’s off the stands!