A Mississippi man was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for the 2022 murders of his wife and stepson in West Peoria.
Rickey Payne, 35, was found guilty by a Peoria County jury in February inn the deaths of Quadreka Payne, 32, and 8-year-old Cael Thornton.
Payne struck his wife in the face with an object multiple times before shooting her three times, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also say Payne's 15-month-old twins were in the room when he shot Cael Thornton after killing the boy's mother. The twins weren't harmed.
