Family of Peggy Anderson, community speak out after killer gets 55 years in prison

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) – “I hope you rot in prison,” and, “Please lock this man up so he doesn’t kill another person,” were just two statements made by Peggy Anderson’s family Wednesday, before her killer learned his fate.

“Fifty-five years when he’s 41, almost 42, he’s not going to get out,” said Keith Harmon, Peggy Anderson’s brother-in-law. “That’s all we could have asked for.”

Harmon and the rest of his family are still trying to process why 41-year-old William Jones killed Anderson outside Pinnon Meats in northwest Rockford, where she worked and lived.

“There’s really no way to describe how it feels when you lose somebody for no reason,” he said. And we clearly lost her for no reason.”

Jones was lying in wait for 63-year-old Anderson on Jan. 11, 2023, outside her apartment above the market. When she opened the door, he shot her in the chest, took her belongings, then fled in her car.

Jones was later arrested in Alabama.

“It’s impossible to wrap your head around it,” Harmon Said. “It’s been a year-and-a-half, and my entire family still can’t wrap our heads around it.”

Local residents say the murder of Peggy Anderson shook the community because it was random, a brazen act of public violence that occurred in broad daylight.

“I was just a couple blocks down,” said Monique Dawson, who lived near the market at the time of the shooting. “That was unfortunate. And it scared the neighborhood. He should’ve pleaded guilty.”

Jones did plead guilty—twice. He will now likely live out the rest of his days in the Illinois Department of Corrections after being sentenced to 55 years Wednesday by Winnebago County Judge Brendan Maher.

For Peggy Anderson’s family, there’s no real closure. But they can now rest knowing Jones is off the streets.

Rockford resident Michael Edgeston said he grieves along with Peggy’s family and is also relieved that Wednesday’s hearing puts an end to what could have been a long, drawn-out process.

“At least the family will not have to sit through a trial and relive everything all over again,” Edgeston said.

Jones was given credit for 543 days timed served in the county jail.

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