Where is David Leroy Bright now? Whereabouts explored ahead of Murder in the Heartland on ID

Exactly three years after David Leroy Bright fatally struck James Skinner in the head with a sledgehammer, causing him to die, he was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the killing that occurred in September 2017. There were multiple pieces of evidence used against him during the conviction, including phone records and blood-soaked clothes found with him.

Reports state that David Leroy Bright, who was convicted in 2018, is currently serving time at the Pinckneyville Correctional Center.

This week's episode of Murder in the Heartland revisits the recent case of James Skinner on Wednesday, March 22. The synopsis for the episode, titled The Killing Kind, states:

"After James Skinner turns up dead in his own bedroom, the agricultural community of Brownstown, Ill., enters into a paranoid spiral, unsure who would want to kill this beloved local rodeo rider and cattle rancher."

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David Leroy Bright was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder, receiving a 30-year prison term

In remote Brownstown in September 2017, James Skinner was murdered by Bright, who was then charged with two counts of murder the following January and was eventually given a 30-year jail term with a sentencing hearing scheduled for later in the year. He is currently serving the lengthy sentence at the Pinckneyville Correctional Center and will be eligible for parole in 2047.

David Leroy Bright will likely serve the rest of his living years in prison (Image via The Cinemaholic)

In September 2020, after a four-day trial that featured blood samples and cell phone data, Mulberry Grove resident David Leroy Bright was found guilty of killing James Skinner in a remote area near Brownstown.

In Bright's trial, the jury took around four hours to deliberate before finding him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. There was no defense testimony, and Bright elected not to testify for himself.

Sgt. Andrew Smith of the Illinois State Police testified in court, stating that on the day of the murder, Bright left 12 unanswered calls to Skinner. According to an examination, his phone records also revealed that on the day of the murder, his mobile phone pinged in towers south of Bluff City in Florissant, Missouri, and in Germantown, and also near the victim's home at the time of the murder.

During the initial stages of the murder investigation, David Leroy Bright told authorities that he did not leave home on the day James Skinner was murdered. However, he later refuted his claims, admitting that he was at the victim's home on the day he was murdered, but maintained that he was only there for a short while and that the victim's vehicle was missing.

Furthermore, Holly Finney, a sergeant investigating the murder, testified that while searching Bright's van, she found stains that appeared to be blood. She also found a pair of jeans that had stains that were later determined to be blood in a laundry basket. Stains were also discovered at the back of the front seat and on the middle seat of the van, as well as on multiple pieces of clothing.

DNA testing conducted on the bloody pants discovered in Bright's van confirmed that it was Skinner's blood on them, leading to the ultimate conviction. It was alleged that the accused attacked the victim with a sledgehammer while he was asleep and left the murder weapon in his front yard.