Michael Steven Pixler was a 17-year-old student at Jefferson High School when he was shot and killed on December 24, 1976. He and a 16-year-old coworker, Randall Morton, were working at the Citgo Service Station on 11th Street in Rockford, Illinois, when both were fatally shot during a robbery, a loss that deeply affected their classmates and the local community.

The investigation led to the arrest of Dale Dean Finch, a former employee of the gas station. Finch was convicted of the murders in 1977 after witnesses placed him at the scene; his conviction was followed by repeated parole hearings that the victims families and community opposed. Finch remained in prison until his death in 2013.

Are there people who knew Michael or his family who can share memories or details about that night?