Serial Killer: Raymond Lee Stewart
More appropriately labeled a “Spree Killer”, Raymond Lee Stewart kept Rockford, Illinois in fear during his shooting spree in January of 1981.
Raymond Lee Stewart was born in Burlington, North Carolina. He had a rough up bringing full of poverty, physical and sexual violence. I say this, not as an excuse but as a means of trying to determine what causes or creates killers such as Stewart.
The family moved to Rockford, Illinois where Raymond went to school. He was kicked out of high school for getting into a fight with other kids over politics, according to sources.
He began a life of crime that involved assault and armed robbery. He was eventually caught and served 6 years in prison for robbery.
After his release he went back to North Carolina to live with family. But, he returned to Rockford, when his child was born.
It was some time after this that he went on his killing spree. It seems as though he just snapped, and crossed a line from being a robber to being a murderer.
He was living in a motel on Rockford’s west side. The Westward Motel.
From there, he went down the road and killed Willie Fredd and Albert Pearson at Fredd’s Grocery Store, which was owned by…
