Granite city, Ill. (AP) A man suspected of killing eight people in two states was smoking a cigarette outside an Illinois tavern when he was captured.

Nicholas Sheley went into a bar in Granite City, near St. Louis, where people who'd seen news reports about the manhunt recognized him and called police.

A local police chief says the ex-convict “gave up without a fight.”

A tavern customer says there were “police all over the place”

The killings began last week in Illinois with the beating death of a 93-year-old man whose body was found stuffed in a car trunk. Other victims included a child, and a couple whose blood-soaked dogs were found roaming in the parking lot of a Missouri motel.