A 35-year-old Mississippi man faces a mandatory life sentence after a Peoria County jury found him guilty of murdering his wife and 8-year-old stepson in a West Peoria home in 2022.
The verdict for Rickey Payne came in after a three-day trial. Jurors took about two and a half hours to find him guilty.
Prosecutors say Payne hit his wife Quardreka's face with an object multiple times, before shooting her three times. A forensic pathologist said she did not die immediately after she was shot.
Authorities said Payne then went upstairs and shot his stepson, Cael Thornton, twice in the head while his 15-month-old twins were in the same room.
Officials say Payne then staged the scene to look like a break-in, hid the gun, and called 911.
Sentencing is set for April 10.
