$3M bond set for Decatur man who reportedly called 911, confessed to killing wife

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — Bond has been set at $3 million for a Decatur man charged with murder after police say he called 911 and confessed to killing his wife.

Gary S. Russell, 52, is charged with first-degree murder. He appeared in court Friday morning for a bond hearing.

Decatur Police Chief, Shane Brandel, describes this case as very unusual.

"The call came in as a man who acknowledged that he killed his wife. So, it's an unusual type of call for us to get," said Brandel.

Police arrived at a residence in the 400 block of Dwight Drive, around 4 a.m. Thursday morning and found a 64-year-old woman dead with multiple stab wounds inside.

After further investigation, detectives learned Russell and the victim were previously married but were still residing together.

Macon County court records show a Certificate Of Dissolution Of Marriage between the victim and Russell was filed on June 6, 2023.

According to Chief Brandel, over 10% of calls are domestic violence related.

"Domestic violence calls take up a significant amount of our time in terms of how many times we respond. I believe I did a study of it not too long ago and over 10% of our calls are domestic incidents. And if we boil it down to the nitty gritty, it's probably more than that," said Brandel.

Decatur police applauds the dispatcher who handled the phone call. Brandel tells WAND that he is very impressed with the dispatcher, who has only been working for under a year.

"They kept the caller on the line, they asked legitimate and relevant questions of the suspect in this that allowed our officers to coordinate a safe approach. It also gave a really good head start for our detectives in this case to be honest," said Brandel.

This investigation is still ongoing.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Decatur Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division (217-424-2734) or Crimestoppers (217-423-8477).