Photo of Tony Craigmiles's grave featured on the Two Rivers Crime Stoppers Facebook page

HARDIN – The Two Rivers Crime Stoppers hosted quite the “Throwback Thursday” on its Facebook page by reopening a Calhoun cold case for another examination.

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On June 30, 1993, around 5:30 p.m., Stuart “Tony” Craigmiles was found deceased in his residence by his wife with a gunshot wound in his head. This occurred at Craigmiles's residence, four or five miles west of Kampsville in Northern Calhoun County at the height of the Great Flood of 1993. Craigmiles was 27 years old at the time of his death. He served as a Calhoun County Sheriff's Office deputy until taking a job at the Illinois Department of Corrections, where he worked at the time of his death.

Because of the remote nature of the residence and the closed roads created by the Great Flood of 1993, the only route to the home was through county back roads.

Calhoun County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Kyle Jacobs said his department has a large file on the murder, which has been jointly investigated by the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office as well as the Illinois State Police since it occurred. While left open, the case is growing cold at 26 years old with no suspects.

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Jacobs said he has been serving the sheriff's office for 10 years, adding it had been a few years since he reviewed the case himself. He said Calhoun County State's Attorney Richard Ringhausen has a large and extensive file with several details of the murder, but said he has not had a chance to sit down with Ringhausen and have that conversation. That conversation is slated to take place soon, however, with the new information Jacobs hopes comes from tips to Two Rivers Crime Stoppers.

A representative of that organization met with various law enforcement organizations in recent weeks. Those departments from Calhoun, Greene and Jersey Counties offered some of their cold cases for the organization to post on social media for renewed public attention. Jacobs said he gave them permission to draw public focus again to the Craigmiles murder.

Jacobs said the last tips came to his office in 2009, but nothing of substance was attained from that. A representative of Two Rivers Crime Stoppers said they saw attention to it again was sought in 2007, but believed their posting of it could get more tips due to the anonymity guaranteed to tipsters calling Crime Stoppers.

“We're hoping that with Crime Stoppers, someone will call, since it's anonymous and it's been a cold case for 26 years,” a representative of Two Rivers Crime Stoppers said in a Facebook message.

Anyone wanting to report a tip to Two Rivers Crime Stoppers is asked to call 1-800-300-2590 or submit a tip through www.tworiverscrimestoppers.org. All tips are anonymous, and tips leading to arrests will result in the option of a financial reward while still maintaining anonymity.

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