ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Few criminals have left a darker mark on Rockford’s history than Raymond Lee Stewart, a spree killer whose six-day rampage in 1981 left six people dead in Illinois and Wisconsin.
Although Stewart was born Jan. 21, 1952, in Burlington, North Carolina, he spent much of his adult life in Rockford. After moving to the city with his family in the early 1970s, Stewart developed a lengthy criminal record that included a series of gas station robberies.
He was eventually convicted and served six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the robberies. What ultimately motivated Stewart’s killing spree remains a subject of debate…