Two brothers at the center of several long-running homicide investigations in Madison appeared in Dane County Court on Monday, marking a major development in cases that date back to 2016 and 2017. Jordan Sharlow and his brother, Justin Sharlow, are facing first-degree intentional homicide charges in cases authorities say have followed them across state lines for years.
A court commissioner set Jordan Sharlow’s bond at $1 million. He’s accused of three counts of first-degree intentional homicide. His brother, Justin, faces one count of the same charge, and the court set his bond at $850,000.
Prosecutor Kasey Deiss spoke during both hearings and laid out how the brothers’ names have resurfaced in multiple investigations over the years, including one that had been dropped earlier because of witness issues.
According to Deiss, both Jordan and Justin Sharlow were once charged in another Madison homicide case, but prosecutors had to drop it when a crucial witness became unavailable. The brothers were then extradited to Cook County in 2018 in connection with a separate homicide case in Chicago.
After delays in that case, both were released from custody. Not long after that, the key witness in the Cook County case was murdered in Crest Hill, Illinois, which forced prosecutors to drop the case entirely.
Deiss told the court that investigators now believe Jordan and Justin Sharlow are connected to the Crest Hill killing as well. Officers from Crest Hill even joined local authorities during the arrests last week. A victim who spoke in court at both hearings urged the commissioner to set the highest possible bail, saying the brothers are extremely dangerous.
The criminal complaint also adds another name to the mix. Along with the charges against the Sharlow brothers, it includes a first-degree intentional homicide count for Donta Collins, who is accused of a 2017 deadly shooting on Adderbury Lane.
Police have said they’ve been watching the brothers for years. Jordan Sharlow, 34, was arrested in Madison, while Justin Sharlow, 33, was taken into custody in Sauk County.
Authorities went through the three homicide cases again in an update last week. The first dates back to May 2016, when officers found a 38-year-old man shot inside a vehicle at a gas station on Verona Road. According to the complaint, Jordan Sharlow gave inconsistent statements about where he was that day, and cell tower records put him and the victim at the scene when the shooting happened.
The second case happened in March 2017. A 31-year-old man was shot while sitting in a vehicle along East Washington Avenue and later crashed into a hotel, where he was pronounced dead. Video from a nearby bar shows Jordan Sharlow and Collins together before the shooting, and cell phone data again placed them at the scene. Officers later seized the suspected vehicle and found ammunition matching shell casings recovered from the site. Collins later told police that Jordan Sharlow killed the victim because he thought the victim was someone else.
The third homicide occurred in July 2017 on Adderbury Lane, where a 29-year-old man was found shot inside a vehicle. Collins provided a statement to police about that case as well, and both brothers now face charges connected to that killing.
Both Justin and Jordan Sharlow are scheduled for preliminary hearings on December 4.