Raymond Lee Stewart (January 21, 1952 – September 18, 1996) was an American robber and spree killer who murdered six people during a week-long rampage in Rockford, Illinois and Beloit, Wisconsin in 1981.

Stewart was sentenced to death for the murders he committed in Illinois and was executed in 1996 at Stateville Correctional Center.

An additional robbery count was dropped due to a lack of evidence, and Stewart was paroled after serving six years.

[4] Stewart's rampage ended at a shopping mall in Beloit, Wisconsin, where Richard Boeck, 21, and Donald Rains, 26, were both found shot in the head inside a RadioShack.

[8] After police connected the murders to Stewart, he was tracked down and arrested in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 21, 1981.

At a clemency hearing with the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, Stewart submitted a 15-minute taped statement.

"[12] At his clemency hearing, Constance Mitchell, the cousin of Willie Fredd and mother of Albert Pearson, supported Stewart's bid to receive a positive recommendation from the board for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison without parole, as she did not believe in capital punishment.

Alex said he became an alcoholic, dropped out of school, and watched the health of his mother and grandmother worsen after Stewart murdered Willie.

He said he was in his biology class at Rock Valley College when he was pulled out and told that his father and cousin had been shot.

When Alex went back to school he could not concentrate well, and ended up failing to obtain a degree in business administration.

Crocker wept openly even before the hearing as she blamed their abusive father since he "hated Ray with a passion.

"[8][13] Winnebago County State's Attorney Paul Logli said Stewart did not deserve to live given the gravity of his crimes.

Bob Hurley, a former Beloit police officer who worked on the case, said the Wisconsin murders were among the most brutal he had seen.

"[8] David Koski, the prosecutor in one of Stewart's murder trials, said "the whole community was electrified by the knowledge or the suspicion that there was a psychopathic killer who was killing people in cold blood and in daylight.

[12] Shortly before his execution, Stewart read from the Bible and prayed with Cardinal Bernardin, who himself was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer and had about a year left to live.

Bernardin gave Stewart a card bearing the 23rd Psalm, which recites "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me."

His last meal consisted of fried perch, potato salad, coleslaw, canned peaches, and fruit juice.