Murder charges filed in July stabbing

BLOOMINGTON -- A man from Normal is facing three counts of first-degree murder in the death of a man whose body was found July 14 in a mobile home on the city's south side.

The charges against 26-year-old Nicholas Brooks were included in an indictment unsealed Thursday.

Brooks has been in the McLean County Jail since August on charges of violating a 2005 order of protection in another case.

The murder charges accuse Brooks of stabbing 24-year-old Johnny Turnpaugh and penetrating his skull with an unknown object.

Turnpaugh's badly decomposed body was found by a maintenance man investigating an odor in a mobile home.

Brooks' bond was set at $1 million, and he must post the full amount plus the bond on the previous charges to be released.