Missouri to Extradite Man Convicted in Six Illinois Slayings

A judge has granted a request by Missouri prosecutors to extradite a man serving life sentences for six Illinois slayings who is also accused of killing an Arkansas couple in 2008.

A Livingston County circuit judge on Tuesday ordered Nicholas Sheley to be taken into custody by authorities in Jefferson County, Missouri.

Sheley is charged in the killings in Festus, Missouri of Jill and Tom Estes of Sherwood, Arkansas. Sheley is serving six life sentences at Pontiac Correctional Center for a string of killings stretching from his Illinois hometown of Sterling to the St. Louis-area. Four victims were bludgeoned with a hammer.

Jefferson County prosecutors say they haven't decided whether to pursue the death penalty. Illinois has abolished capital punishment.

Online court records don't list a Missouri attorney for Sheley.