LANCASTER — A Grant County Sheriff’s jailer died in a military training accident in Illinois Saturday.

Dylan Bellamy, 22, Benton, was struck and killed while walking along a highway near Mattoon, Ill., while training with the Illinois Army National Guard.

Bellamy started his career as a dispatcher in Illinois before moving to Wisconsin a little over a year ago to work in the Grant County Jail.

According to Sheriff Craig Reukauf, Bellamy had recently told one of his supervisors he wanted to become a deputy someday.

“Dylan was a hard worker, and had a lot of integrity,” said Reukauf, who had been Bellamy’s superior when Reukauf was in the role of jail administrator before he was appointed sheriff at the end of 2024. 

Reukauf said Bellamy would work extra shifts to help his fellow jailers who needed time off, and was a stickler for detail to the point he would tell his supervisor of a mistake, no matter how miniscule.

Bellamy was serving as a member of the Illinois Army National Guard last weekend in Mattoon. Sometime before midnight Saturday, Bellamy was walking along Illinois 16 near the Interstate 57 clover interchange, when he was struck by a car driven by a 35-year-old man with two young girls as passengers.

No one in the car was hurt. The crash remains under investigation with no cause announced.

Mattoon is in Coles County, where Bellamy started his career in law enforcement as a dispatcher for Coles County before joining the Grant County Sheriff’s Office in December 2023.

“Dylan was a bright young man with a great future at the Sheriff’s Office,” said Reukauf.

To assist Sheriff’s Office staff, Grant County has activated its Peer Support Team. A grief counselor is being made available for additional services.