Shotgun Attack Victims Recount Horror, Look Toward Future

In the early morning hours of February 9, 2005, Rebecca Allens ex-husband Aubry Tucker went on a rampage that changed the course of several lives. Despondent over Allens breakup and refusal to return to him, Tucker came to Allens house near Lawrenceville, IL, armed with a shotgun. He methodically fired on Micheal Allen, with whom Rebecca was living, then turned the gun on her. "I was conscious through it all," Rebecca Allen said. "I was thh one he looked straight in the eyes and said, I took your heartbeat." After shooting Rebecca Allen, he went into the house searching for Allens 16 year old daughter Trinca Crump. Crump was hiding with her niece, two and a half year old Caitlyn Bilski. Tucker shot both of them at point blank range, killing the toddler. Crump survived, but suffered severe head injuries. To this day, she has shot gun pellets lodged in her head. The attack ended when Aubry Tucker returned to the front porch, where hed shot Rebecca and Michael Allen, to finish them off. As he prepared to fire at Michael Allen again, Rebecca called out, "Leave him alone, hes dead, you killed him, you killed em all, just shoot me!" Allen says Tucker turned the gun on her, and as he did, Michael Allen was able to get to his feet and wrestle it away. They both survived the ordeal after extensive hospital stays. Two and a half years after the attack, Aubry Tucker went on trial in Mt. Vernon, IL. He was convicted last week of the murder of Caitlyn Bilski, and on Friday, a jury sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. That sentence closed a long and painful chapter in Rebecca Allens life, but its also left her with an unfulfilled feeling. "Its almost an emptyness," she said. "(Theres) nothing to look forward to." "I dont know what Im gonna do now, Ive been living to see him punished," she added. Allen says her family must now find a way to focus on the future, and put the dark days of their past behind them. Of the conviction, she says, "Its a new beginning, it has to be." Allen is disabled from the attack, and can no longer work. Her daughter Trinca was able to return to South Knox high school and graduate after she was released from the hospital.