Samson Shelton: Illinois teacher who strangled teen with belt and broke her neck before leaving her to die released early
FREEBURG, ILLINOIS: A high school teacher in Freeburg, Illinois, is currently out of state prison after he confessed to strangling a teenage girl in 2006 and leaving her in the woods, believing the victim had died.
Samson "Sam" Shelton, 44, was incarcerated for 20 years for attempting to strangle Ashley Reeves, 17, during the horrifying assault, Law&Crime reported.
Ashley Reeves recalls the horrific incident
In the years since, Reeves has talked in public about her survival and recuperation.
In a 2017 interview on 'Crime Watch Daily' with Elizabeth Smart, a kidnapping and assault survivor from 2002, Reeves said she couldn't remember anything that happened immediately before or after she was left for 30 hours in the freezing Illinois woods.
“Do you remember anything about that day?” Smart asked. “No. I don’t remember a couple days prior, and I don’t remember weeks after. I especially don’t remember anything about that day,” Reeves replied.
Adding that she had to relearn how to eat and drink, "I remember my first drink of water and it was amazing.”
Samson Shelton admitted to strangling Ashley Reeves with a belt
After an argument over their relationship, Shelton admitted to strangling Reeves with a belt and breaking her neck with his forearm. His confession led investigators to the Belleville wooded area, where he left the victim, thinking she had died.
The fact that Reeves was still alive after 30 hours astounded the investigators. In 2007, Shelton, who worked as a driver's education instructor and as a professional wrestler in his free time, entered a guilty plea to an attempted murder charge.
At the time, he stated that instead of leaving Reeves inside the vehicle he was driving, he left her in the woods to "make it look like she got strangled there."
The attempted murder case was addressed in the Lifetime film 'Left for Dead: The Ashley Reeves Story' as recently as 2021.
Samson Shelton served 17 years of a 20-year sentence for attempted murder before being granted parole on Monday, April 22, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records. He has to serve three years of parole.
