Patrolman Anthony Charles Raymond

Anthony Charles Raymond

Patrolman Anthony Raymond was murdered after being abducted during a traffic stop on the westbound entrance ramp to the Eisenhower Expressway, at Mannheim Road, at 10:15 pm.

Patrolman Raymond was unaware the three occupants in the suspicious vehicle he stopped had just committed an armed robbery of $5,000 from the Swedish Manor Restaurant minutes before. The suspects abducted the officer, taking him to one of their homes, where he was strangled with a guitar string. He was then stabbed four times in the back, which proved to be fatal.

The suspects placed his body in a 55-gallon drum which was transported to a farm owned by the sister of the same suspect near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Patrolman Raymond's body was then buried in a shallow grave and not found until nearly 11 months later.

In February of 1974, a 38-year-old man arrested for robbery in Muncie, Indiana, was identified as one suspect. On June 13, 1974, the other 40-year-old suspect was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada. The third suspect was killed during an attempted robbery in Indiana in 1973. On September 30, 1974, the body of an ex-convict, turned informant, who gave police the information they needed to make the arrest, was found in a soybean field near Dwight. He had been shot in the head, execution style. Before his death, he gave the police information about an 18-year-old girl who went missing about the same time Patrolman Raymond did. Her body was found buried a few yards from where Patrolman Raymond was found. The informant said the same two suspects had killed her.

Two suspects were convicted of conspiracy, aggravated kidnapping, and murder. The offender who committed the strangling and stabbing was sentenced to three concurrent terms of 100 to 200 years. He died in prison while serving his sentence. The other offender was sentenced to four concurrent terms of 75 to 150 years in prison.

Patrolman Raymond had served with the Hillside Police Department for two years and had previously served with the Berkeley Police Department for one year. He is survived by his wife, 3 and 4-year-old sons, brother, sister, and parents.