Two men sentenced to decades in prison for long-unsolved 2014 murder
Apr. 9—URBANA — Nearly a decade after the murder of Rashidi L. Overstreet, two Champaign men have been sentenced to prison for their roles in the fatal shooting at a late-night birthday party in 2014.
Champaign County Judge Randy Rosenbaum sentenced Peter L. Campbell, 46, to 25 years in prison and Joseph L. Hart, 36, to 30 years in prison after each pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder in the death of Mr. Overstreet, 40.
Though prosecutors identified Campbell and Hart as responsible for shooting Mr. Overstreet, two other men — Anthony Gilmore, 36, of Mt. Sterling and Dylon Cann, 40, of East Saint Louis — were also charged on Aug. 17, 2022, with crimes related to the incident. Assistant State's Attorney Chris McCallum said Gilmore and Cann are slated to plead guilty to lesser charges next month.
According to Champaign police Detective Robb Morris, Mr. Overstreet was "lifelong friends" with some of the people who gathered for a birthday party on the evening of Dec. 21, 2014, at a house in the 400 block of Brookwood Drive in Champaign.
McCallum said Hart, Campbell, Gilmore, Cann and four others planned on robbing those at the party because they believed that some of the individuals there would have up to $50,000 or $60,000 cash on them.
He said the members of the robbery crew didn't know the victims well, but Cann got invited to the party and was texting Campbell on when the group should hit the house. At some point in the early hours of Dec. 22, Cann unlocked the door so the men could gain entry, and left the residence. Two people then drove at least five armed men to the house.
McCallum said Hart and Campbell entered the house and turned right, while Gilmore entered and turned left. It is unclear if the two other men in the group left before entering the house or entered and played no role, he said.
In any case, Hart and Campbell encountered Mr. Overstreet in a room, where a struggle ensued and both Campbell and Hart fired their weapons at Mr. Overstreet, the prosecutor said. Campbell had a .45-caliber handgun and Hart a 9mm handgun.
The bullet from Campbell's gun severed Mr. Overstreet's femoral artery while the one from Hart's gun went through his upper torso, McCallum said.
After Hart and Campbell's shots rang out, Gilmore allegedly fled and fired a shot down a staircase to the house's basement, where the majority of the partygoers were. That shot hit a then-43-year-old man in the buttocks, McCallum said.
Champaign police responded to the shooting at 1:10 a.m. Overstreet was pronounced dead on the scene at 2:15 a.m. A coroner later said both shots were proximate causes of his death. The 43-year-old's gunshot wound was non-life-threatening.
Wiretap and 'overhears'
Police did not immediately have much evidence to go on. There were no immediate witnesses, surveillance videos, fingerprints or DNA available. Investigators still don't know how many people were in the house when Mr. Overstreet was murdered, as many are believed to have fled immediately after the shooting.
"None of the physical evidence tied directly to a particular individual, so this had to be worked using different investigative means and required assistance from other agencies," said Morris, who has since retired.
But police eventually pieced together what happened after one of the eight people involved in the planning of the attempted robbery agreed to wear a wiretap while in a conversation with Campbell, McCallum said.
Similarly, while Hart and Gilmore were each in custody on unrelated charges, police gained information on their actions in the house by planting an "overhear" wire inside their respective cells that picked up their conversations.
Police then used information gathered through those tapes to gain the cooperation of several other individuals out of the eight total in the group, with some providing recorded statements.
Though Hart and Campbell are originally from Chicago, the four men who were charged were all living in Champaign at the time of the incident.
Campbell and Gilmore were in custody — both since 2016 — when they were charged for their role in Overstreet's murder. Campbell was serving a 14-year sentence for unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon and Gilmore was serving a 13-year sentence for a conviction of being an armed habitual criminal.
Hart and Cann were picked up by U.S. marshals in Urbana and East St. Louis, respectively, on Aug. 25, 2022. Hart had been released from prison just a month before after serving a sentence for unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.
Long-awaited end
Hart and Campbell's guilty pleas, along with Gilmore and Cann's slated pleas, will bring a long-awaited end to the case. The two drivers and the two men whom authorities can't be sure entered the house were not charged with any crimes.
Hart was set to plead guilty April 2 before he changed his mind, stating he had disagreements with his attorney. His case was set to go to trial next month, but Hart changed his mind again Friday after Campbell pleaded guilty Thursday.
Mr. Overstreet was a father who worked as a security guard at the Champaign Public Library, mainly at the Douglass Branch. He graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 2003 with a degree in social services after working for years at Kraft.
At the time of his death, he was working toward a degree in physical therapy at Parkland College and was prepared to start a second job in Danville after the New Year holiday, his family said.
Described by his mother as a family man, Mr. Overstreet would regularly pick up his grandmother Viola Chatmon at 4 a.m. to drop her off at her dialysis appointments. He would also accompany her to the mall, where he'd walk around with her, making sure she got her exercise in.
"He was always looking after me, taking care of me," Chatmon said in 2015.
On the night he was killed, Mr. Overstreet decorated a Christmas tree with his 7-year-old daughter, just two houses down from the one where he was fatally struck by a bullet.
Hart and Campbell each faced 20 to 60 years in prison and must serve 100 percent of their sentences. Campbell was given for 584 days already served in jail, and Hart was given credit for 590 days already served.
