Ex-boyfriend found guilty of murdering Troy woman and shooting her date on Thanksgiving

A Montgomery County jury has found a former Collinsville man guilty of shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend and critically injuring her date on Thanksgiving three years ago at a Farmersville home.

The jury deliberated less than three hours Friday before finding Robert “Bobby” J. Tarr, 51, guilty of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.

“We’re very pleased with the verdict,” said State’s Attorney Andrew Affrunti, who runs a three-person office and prosecuted the case himself with help from Derek Dion of the state’s attorneys appellate prosecutors office.

“We’re glad that we can start giving some closure to the victims and their families. Obviously, a lot of that will come with sentencing, but I’m glad that we can start that process.”

Tarr’s ex-girlfriend, Leslie J. Reeves, 45, was a well-known Troy resident and mother of two who owned All You Studio and Party Place in Troy. She also volunteered as a domestic-violence advocate.

Authorities believe the shootings took place after midnight on Nov. 25, 2021, at the home of Christopher J. Smith, then 48, who was critically injured. Smith was on a first date with Reeves, and that made Tarr jealous, according to prosecutors.

Smith wasn’t asked to testify at the trial because he didn’t remember the crime, Affrunti said. He laid unconscious on a bloody kitchen floor for more than 12 hours before police arrived.

“He’s walking,” Affrunti said. “He’s talking. He’s made a great recovery, but he still has a long way to go. He suffered a gunshot wound to his head.”

Tarr’s Springfield attorneys, Mark Wykoff and Daniel Fultz, couldn’t be reached for comment on Saturday.

Tarr has been held at the Montgomery County Jail in Hillsboro on a $2 million bond since he was taken into custody the day after the shootings. The trial began with jury selection on Monday morning.

Tarr’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 1. He is eligible for 76 years to life in prison, an enhanced sentence, due to the jury finding he discharged a firearm while committing the murder and attempted murder.

“We are very grateful to all of the agencies that helped with this case,” Affrunti said, naming the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, Illinois State Police and Springfield Police Department.

Affrunti credited the latter with “cracking” Tarr’s cellphone and providing key evidence.

Farmersville is about 25 miles south of Springfield, along Interstate 55.

In a separate case, Tarr was indicted by a grand jury in September 2022 on two counts of solicitation of murder for hire. He’s accused of hiring a hit man to kill Smith and a sheriff’s deputy who investigated the shootings. That case will go to trial at a later time.

“When you start talking about a different criminal act inside of another criminal trial, it can create a lot of issues on appeal,” Affrunti said. “So we decided it would be best to (wait on the solicitation charges).”

Police received calls for a welfare check to Nobbe Street in Farmersville at about 12:42 p.m. Nov. 25, 2021, according to an initial news release from the sheriff’s department.

The coroner’s office pronounced Reeves dead from a gunshot wound at the scene. Smith was transported to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield.

Dawn Mushill, executive director of the Troy/Maryville/St. Jacob/Marine Chamber of Commerce, posted a long statement on the organization’s website at the time, saying its members were “devastated.”

Mushill described Reeves as “powerful, lovable, strong (inside and out), gracious, vulnerable and funny.”

The statement noted that Reeves was a domestic-violence advocate who offered self-defense training at her studio, in addition to yoga and other fitness services. She also worked with shelters, food pantries, counselors and non-profit organizations to help victims.

“There is no doubt that she became very vulnerable, advocating in the way that she did,” Mushill wrote. “But honestly, I do not think she would have stepped back from any situation if it meant helping someone else.

“The tragedy to this situation is that she lost her life in the same way that she protected others.”

Reeves was a cheerleader at Collinsville High School, according to her obituary. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the former University of Missouri Rolla and a master’s at the University of Kansas.

Reeves worked as a petroleum engineer before operating a fitness studio.

“Leslie was known for her beautiful smile, living life to the fullest and helping others,” the obituary stated. “Her greatest joy was her children and her time with them was the happiest times of her life.

“Leslie’s favorite hobbies ... were dancing, exercising, art, collecting shoes, travel, cats, and listening to 80s music. Leslie excelled academically and went from being a proud Kahok to a Miner to a Jayhawk.”