By Brad Dison
William Bruce “Bill” Rose was an unsavory character. Police arrested him numerous times for non-violent crimes. In 1964, 22-year-old Bill left his 18-year-old wife Sharon and their two-year-old son William Bruce Rose Jr. and infant daughter Amy. In 1965, Sharon met Stephen Bailey and married him the following January. When they married, Sharon told Billy and Amy that Stephen was their father, and they took his last name. As a teenager, Billy disliked the name because kids teased him for being Bill Bailey. Stephen and Sharon raised Billy, Amy, and their only child together, Stuart, in a Pentecostal church. Their children often performed in church as the Bailey Trio, but there were problems at home. Billy and his stepfather fought constantly. When he was 17 years old, Billy accidentally learned that Stephen was not his biological father. Billy knew nothing about his biological father, but he began going by the name Billy Rose. For better or worse, Billy never met his father as an adult.
In 1984, Bill Rose, who had recently been paroled from prison, disappeared from Marion, Illinois. Three years later, in May 1987, police arrested 39-year-old James Faulkner for murdering Bill sometime between May 1 and July 4, 1984. The family had kept the murder a secret until James’s son Jimmy revealed it to Katie Adams, a counselor with the area Youth Services Bureau. At her insistence, Jimmy contacted the police. Jimmy told investigators that Bill was killed in their home at 409 E. DeYoung Street in Marion. Jimmy said that on the night of Bill’s murder, “My mom and dad and Bill went out drinking.” Later, they returned to the Faulkner’s home where the trio began having intercourse. At some point, James left the bedroom, went to Jimmy’s bedroom, and woke him. James told his then 15-year-old son that he needed him to see something. Jimmy followed instructions and walked toward the bedroom. He noticed that his father was holding a long knife. As Jimmy stood there in shocked silence, his father stabbed Bill, then dragged Bill into the bathroom. He said “Sayonara, Bill” and finished him off with a baseball bat. Jimmy said his parents wrapped Bill in painter’s cloth and tied it with a piece of clothesline. James put the knife into a jug of bleach. James had his wife and son help load Bill’s body into the trunk of their car, and the family drove five miles to a remote wooded area known as Crenshaw Crossing. James, Judith, and Jimmy removed the body from their trunk, and they rolled it down one of the area’s many embankments. James covered the body with debris to disguise it. The family returned home and James and Judith began scrubbing the floor and carpet in the bedroom. James told Jimmy to throw the knife in the city reservoir a few blocks south of their home and to put the baseball bat on a public baseball diamond. Jimmy complied. Jimmy later showed investigators where he had thrown the knife and divers retrieved the weapon. Judith’s testimony initially agreed with Jimmy’s, but she later changed her story to help James. On September 9, 1987, James was found guilty of murder even though Bill’s body had not been found, and he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. Bill’s body has never been found.
Had Billy Rose wanted to meet his biological father as an adult, he never had the chance. Like his father, Billy was arrested numerous times for various crimes. Just as he had done as a child in church, Billy always found comfort in singing. Billy became a famous singer. The world knows William Bruce “Billy” Rose Jr. as Axl Rose, lead singer for Guns N Roses.
Sources:
1. Southern Illinoisan, May 7, 1987, p.1.
2. Southern Illinoisan, August 13, 1987, p.9.
3. Southern Illinoisan, August 24, 1987, p.9.
4. Southern Illinoisan, September 2, 1987, p.21.
5. Evansville Courier and Press, September 4, 1987, p.1.
6. Southern Illinoisan, September 10, 1987, p.1.
7. Dave Basner, “25 Things You Might Not Know About Birthday Boy Axl Rose,” February 6, 2025, IHeart Radio, https://kfmqrock1061.iheart.