ROCKFORD (AP) — State officials say a man convicted of killing two teenagers at a Rockford gas station on Christmas Eve in 1976 has died in a southern Illinois prison.
The Illinois Department of Corrections on Tuesday confirmed that 56-year-old Dale Dean Finch died Friday at Centralia Correctional Center. Finch was serving consecutive 50 and 100-year prison sentences in the deaths of gas station employees 17-year-old Michael Pixler and 16-year-old Randall Morton.
The Rockford Register Star reports (http://bit.ly/16Vy3N9) that the Illinois Prisoner Review Board denied Finch parole 20 times. Winnebago County State's Attorney Joe Bruscato says he made Finch's case a priority. Bruscato says he made "every effort" to keep him in prison.
Authorities say Finch shot the teens execution style and stole $600.