Prosecutor links recent East St. Louis shooting death to unsolved Belleville case

Prosecutors say a defendant in a recent East St. Louis shooting death killed his friend so that he wouldn’t have to take the fall for a Belleville killing that occurred almost a year earlier.

The alleged motive — which the defense vehemently rejected — emerged Wednesday in St. Clair County Circuit Court during a pretrial detention hearing for 18-year-old Rashad M. Bonner.

Bonner and 21-year-old Damontez F. Williams are charged with first-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Dewayne T. Wright in East St. Louis.

St. Clair County Associate Judge Sara Rice ordered Bonner to be held in the St. Clair County Jail pending his trial, despite the defense’s assertions that the prosecution’s case is weak.

St. Clair County Assistant State’s Attorney Derek Smith alleged Bonner and Wright were suspects in an Aug. 30, 2025, Belleville death. The State’s Attorney’s office clarified this was the shooting death of 19-year-old DreShaun Mathis.

Smith said witnesses identified Bonner and Wright. The prosecutor also referenced guns and other evidence found near the 2025 crime scene.

No one has been charged in connection with Mathis’ death. Smith said Wright asked Bonner to “take the charges” related to the death because Wright already had adult charges on his record. Smith said messages showed this exchange.

Smith alleged Bonner killed Wright on June 6 so that he didn’t have to “take the heat” for Mathis’ death.

Bonner’s attorney, Sheree Davis, argued it was unclear who was part of the message thread Smith referred to. Davis rejected the prosecutor’s allegation about motive

“At no point did my client believe that he was going to be implicated in murder,” Davis said. “... My client had no reason to believe his friend of two years (Dewayne Wright) would implicate him.”

‘There’s no evidence,’ defense argues

According to Smith and an Illinois State Police news release, law enforcement officers responded to an area near 83rd or 84th Street and Washington Street after hearing gunshots June 6. Police saw two people in the area and activated their lights. The two ran, Smith said.

Police later found Wright dead of multiple gunshot wounds, Smith said. Smith said officers later found firearms that matched bullet casings found near Wright’s body.

A surveillance video from a local gas station showed Bonner and Williams together earlier June 6. City surveillance footage later showed three people — one who investigators later identified as Wright and two others in dark clothing — walking together, Smith said. He said one of the people in dark clothing physically resembled Bonner.

Smith said it appeared both people in dark clothing fired guns during the shooting.

But neither of those videos, nor any of the other factors the prosecution said pointed to Bonner as a suspect, met the standards needed to detain Bonner pending trial, Davis argued.

Davis noted Bonner wasn’t dressed in black on the gas station video. The city’s surveillance footage, she said, was difficult to make out, making it impossible to identify the suspects or their clothing.

“When I see the surveillance video, I see Black people in black clothing on a black street; I don’t know if it’s my brother or my cousin,” Davis said.

The surveillance videos weren’t shown in court Wednesday.

Smith said Bonner’s co-defendant, Damontez Williams, and the mother of Williams’ child made statements to law enforcement that implicated Bonner in the shooting. Investigators also searched an East St. Louis house where Bonner was believed to live. Smith said they found ammunition and shoes resembling what one of the suspects in the video wore.

But Williams changed his story multiple times when talking to law enforcement, Davis countered. She also said that while a video captured Bonner at that residence the evening of June 6, multiple other young Black men were also shown on surveillance footage entering the house. What investigators found inside could have belonged to any of those individuals, she concluded.

“For some reason, Rashad Bonner was the only Black man out of seven (seen at the house) who was detained,” Davis said, later adding: “There’s a fixation on my client for some reason — but there’s no evidence.”

Smith responded: “I don’t charge people because I’m bored.”

Williams appeared in court earlier this week. He waived his pretrial detention hearing and remains in the St. Clair County Jail.

Both Williams and Bonner had family at their court appearances. Bonner’s pretrial detention hearing was delayed multiple times, and his family waited at the St. Clair County Courthouse each day, Davis said.

Loved ones submitted 13 letters in support of Bonner’s character, Davis said, but the letters were not read during the hearing.

This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 5:30 AM.