Collinsville

A former standout. East St. Louis athlete has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of a Belleville woman on April 20.

Kraig T. Appleton is being held on $1 million bond at the St. Clair County Jail on charges he killed Kellie Ferrell, 41.

East St. Louis Police were assisted in the investigation of the shooting by Illinois State Police investigators after being called to the 2900 block of Converse Avenue at about 10:34 p.m.

Ferrell was taken to Touchette Regional Hospital, where she later died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to a release from state police Saturday.

Police are not discussing the motive or the events leading up to the shooting.

Appleton was a standout wide receiver at East St. Louis in 2009, when the Flyers won a state championship. HIs senior year, he earned all-state honors in both track and football. He also was on the school’s academic honor roll.

His 10 touchdowns and team-best 23.5 yards per catch earned him a football scholarship to the University of Wisconsin., where, as a true freshman, he made three receptions. He was suspended for an unspecified violation of team rules and disappeared from the Badgers’ roster.

In 2011, he was hospitalized after being shot multiple times in East St. Louis.

Willie Jones, an East St. Louis musician, said he kept in touch off and on with Ferrell since they attended Alta Sita Elementary School in East St. Louis together. He said he was “heartbroken” by the news of her death and remembered Ferrell as a “likeable, outgoing” person.

“She had standards at an early age,” he said. “We last waved at each other on Facebook on March 12 of last year. We both didn’t keep in touch all the way. In a Facebook post, she congratulated me on my music success. I told her to ‘let’s keep in touch.’

“When I got this devastating news, I was overwhelmed. Man, she was a nice person.”