Dale D. Finch C71602
Illinois River Corr. Center
Route 9 West
P.O. Box 1900
Canton, Il 61520
By Dani Maxwell
ROCKFORD - A murderer sitting in prison for the last 30 years asks his victims’ families for forgiveness. Dale Finch wrote a letter to them long ago, but just recently sent it to 13 News. We sent it to the Pixler family.
Finch killed Michael Pixler, 17, and Randy Morton, 16, in Rockford in 1976. Michael’s family still hurts at the thought of what happened. His brother, Doug, says “We’ll never forgive him.”
Doug Pixler, now living in Tennessee, read the letter we sent him from Dale Finch. He’s the man who murdered Michael and Randy at a gas station 32 years ago Christmas day. Doug says, “I found him and I have to live with it every year. At Christmas-time, I have to live with the picture that I seen and everything.”
Finch’s letter asks the Pixler and Morton families for forgiveness. Finch told us he wrote it while in segregation at Danville Correctional Center on a day he thought he was going to die.
Doug was the only one who wanted to read the letter. He says it was extremely hard to get through it. “It kind of made me a little mad because he’s just looking for someone to make himself feel better. His point of view is to try to get us to feel sorry for him so we wouldn’t push it as hard as we have been to keep him in there.”
Since Finch has been eligible for parole, the Pixler family has fought to keep him behind bars. So far, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board has agreed with them. The Pixler family may make a special trip back up to Illinois to be at his next parole hearing in a few months. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s where he belongs. He took the lives of two young boys. He should never walk another free day in his life.”
We couldn’t get in contact with Randy Morton’s family. Finch was given up to 100 years in prison for each murder. He’s eligible for parole every three years.