Roommate charged in homicide

DIXON – The roommate of a slain Ashton man is in jail after finding his accused killer covered in blood in their apartment, giving him cleaning supplies to “cover fingerprints and clean the murder weapon,” then lying to police, investigators said in court documents filed Thursday.

» Related link: Defendant's blood to be tested.

Kaylyn E. Gideon, 21, was arrested Tuesday and charged with felony obstruction of justice, punishable by 1 to 3 years in prison. Bond was set Thursday at $100,000.

Eric M. Lemons, 28, of Ashton, was charged Monday with first-degree murder. Investigators say he killed Gideon's roommate, Todd E. Harn, 28, by bashing him in the head with a large landscaping rock early Sunday.

Gideon, who is unemployed, appeared in court via video Thursday to hear the charges against her and get a public defender, Anna Sacco-Miller.

Gideon, also 8 months pregnant and the mother of a toddler, burst into tears when Lee County Circuit Judge Ron Jacobson set her bail.

"There's no possible way I could get out of jail," she told Jacobson.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the document that outlines why she is being charged, Gideon first told investigators that she woke up, left her room, found Harn dead on the living room floor about 7:30 Sunday morning and called 911. She said she heard noises in the night but didn't leave her bedroom until morning.

Later that night, she called investigators and said she had not been truthful. In fact, she left her bedroom sometime earlier than 7:30 a.m., found Harn's body on the floor and Lemons covered in blood in the hallway, the affidavit said.

She said she gave Lemons cleaning supplies to "cover fingerprints and clean the murder weapon (rock)," according to the affidavit. She walked around with Lemons while he cleaned. While he was in the kitchen, he "trashed it to make things look like a robbery," she told police.

Gideon had been arrested Monday night and charged with misdemeanor obstruction for returning to the crime scene. She was released on $100 bond Tuesday morning.

After calling police, she was arrested again that night and also charged with the felony.

The four moved into the apartment 604 Brown Ave. a month ago, Lee County Sheriff John Varga said.

The three adults knew each other when they lived in the Monmouth area, but he did not know for how long, Varga said.

Lemons, who works at Crest Foods in Ashton, may have met them through the local bar scene, he said.

The male roommate, at work the morning Harn was killed, told investigators Lemons had been at their apartment at least twice Saturday, the sheriff said.

He declined to provide a possible motive for the bludgeoning, or to name the other roommate.

Gideon and Lemons each have April 22 court hearings.