Obadyah Ben-Yisrayl (born Christopher Dwayne Peterson January 20, 1969) is an American serial killer found guilty of committing four murders and acquitted on three other murder charges related to the "Shotgun Killer" spree in Indiana from October 30, 1990, to December 18, 1990.

[2][non-primary source needed] Ronald J. Harris was also charged and found guilty in two of the murders.

He was sentenced to 90 years in prison[3] The incident is controversial for a number of reasons such as Peterson is African American, while the initial descriptions of the suspect of the murders was described as white;[4] Peterson had been illegally arrested for committing another crime which impacted the use of evidence in the "Shotgun Killer" spree trials because it was deemed improperly collected; Peterson's initial confession was recanted under claims of duress; the trials with all-white juries came to different conclusions than juries which included people of other races; and in the final case to go to trial, the judge over-ruled the jury's decision not to impose the death penalty.

Between October 30, 1990, and December 18, 1990, there were a series of murders in northern Indiana in which seven people were killed by assault with a shotgun.

[1] A witness at one of the murders provided a description of the killer to police, who made up a drawing of the suspect and distributed it on flyers.

The witness's description was of a "clean-shaven, slender, white man with long stringy brown hair.

"[5] Peterson, from Gary, and at the time was on an unauthorized absence from the Marines, and Antwion McGee, 21, were arrested January 29, 1991, after a robbery and an attempted murder of a restaurant manager at the Southlake Mall near Merrillville.

This would have established his presence at the crime scene, but it was not allowed as evidence because it was regarded as "poisonous fruit" of Peterson's illegal arrest.

McGee faced a 50-year sentence, but as part of a deal requiring him to testify against Peterson in forthcoming trials, prosecutors agreed to charge him with a lesser offense carrying an 8-year term.

The prosecution's evidence included Peterson's confessions, the shotgun and shell identification, McGee's testimony, and Kotso's eyewitness account.

[22] Kotso had originally repeatedly identified his attacker as a black man, but he had been badgered by highly aggressive questioning by an officer of the Indiana State Police to the point that he backed off the racial identification to avoid being seen as a racist.

[24] Wildermuth had been killed in a rage fueled by drugs and racial antipathy; Kotso would not have been shot if he had been black.

Jurors stated they had come to their decision because (1) Police had not taken fingerprints from the shotgun itself; (2) they didn't seal off the crime scene and the shotgun shells used as evidence were found the next day; (3) only Peterson's confession, about which they had doubts, put him at the scene of the crimes, and (4) the police had conducted a 25-minute interrogation the day before the confession, but hadn't recorded it.

Prosecution evidence included Peterson's confession, McGee's testimony, and identification of shotgun shells found at the scene.

[1] Peterson was granted post-conviction relief and re-sentenced to a total of 120 years in prison December 12, 2004.

[2] According to the Indiana Department of Correction, Peterson is scheduled for release on December 25, 2050 — one month shy of his eighty-second birthday.