Gene R. Ravenscraft was 28 when he was killed in Chicago on November 14, 1974. He had been working overtime to support his pregnant wife, Cynthia, and their two children. Ravenscraft became the first known victim in a short, violent spree carried out by Gary Rardon from November 14 to November 18, 1974.

Rardon, armed with a sawed-off shotgun, targeted working men during a series of robberies and murders that claimed three lives including Ravenscraft’s. Rardon had an earlier criminal record: a 1962 conviction for voluntary manslaughter in the death of James Homer Smith and a 1969 robbery conviction in Connecticut. Reports say a psychiatrist described Rardon as near psychotic and very dangerous in 1965; he was paroled in 1967. Rardon was arrested after the 1974 killings and later received a 40-to-100-year sentence in Illinois.

If anyone knew Gene Ravenscraft or remembers him from Chicago in 1974, please share what you know.