40 years after North Kingstown woman’s murder, her killer is seeking parole

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WLNE) — It’s the 40th anniversary of a North Kingstown woman’s murder, and in less than a week, the convicted murderer who’s currently serving a life sentence for a different case is expected to appear before the state’s parole board.

“She was a very kind, sweet, trusting person, and unfortunately that trusting part of her didn’t work out,” explained the sister of 21-year-old Peggy Flynn, who 40 years ago, in January of 1984, was brutally murdered when she agreed to give Raymond McWilliams a ride to work.

Peggy’s sister, Kelly, who wished to remain off-camera, was 13 years old at the time of her sister’s murder.

“It just brings back a lot of bad memories of what my family went through, how we felt, how we were scared, just something you have to relive all the time, and you know he’s placed himself in our family and we never wanted him there,” Kelly told ABC 6 News reporter Alyssa Azzara.

McWilliams was 21 years old when he killed Peggy. The two lived at the same apartment complex on Ten Rod Road.

During that car ride on January 3, McWilliams asked Peggy out on a date. She said no, and McWilliams became infuriated.

“He reached over and started to choke her,” Kelly recalled. “She pulled over to the side of the road and when she abruptly stopped, he had hit her and then stabbed her multiple times in the chest and heart, and put her in the trunk of her car and dumped her body in Feurer Park.”

According to the Rhode Island Parole Board, McWilliams served 16 years for second-degree murder and was let out on parole in 2000.

Since then, he’s been in and out of prison for violations of his parole and probation along with other crimes.

“We have officers that work here who weren’t even born in 1984, but they know who Raymond McWilliams is,” said Lt. Donald Barrington of the North Kingstown Police Department. “Fortunately we live in a community where this doesn’t happen too often, however, his name comes up a lot. The community is safer with him behind bars.”

In 2008, McWilliams had only been out of prison for a couple of months but was not on parole when he broke into a home on Ten Rod Road with a boxcutter in hand and stole a car. That earned him the life sentence he’s currently serving.

“He enters the house, he has a boxcutter, the woman upstairs to her credit, didn’t panic when he came into the room. Instead of screaming, she tried to rationalize with him, and I fully believe if she didn’t act how she acted, she would be yet another victim of Raymond McWilliams, her and her 3-year-old daughter,” Barrington said.

Barrington was on that case in 2008 and questioned McWilliams at the time of his arrest.

“If he gets out now, you know, he’s good for a couple of years, months, whatever it may be, he establishes another relationship with somebody or something happens that he thinks he needs to act upon and he’s doing another good deed, what’s going to happen? I just really question his judgment and his well-being on the road and everyone else’s,” Barrington continued.

McWilliams is set to appear before the state’s parole board on Monday, Dec. 8, for his two life sentences from the 2008 break-in.

Monday’s hearing sparks immense fear for Kelly and the North Kingstown Police Department, raising concerns about what would happen if he were ever to be released again.

“We just see a pattern here, he uses a knife, he targets females, he’s just a menace, he’s been so institutionalized he is not going to make it out on the road,” Barrington said. “He will hurt somebody, he will end up back in there and they can mark my words on that.”

Kelly’s wish is for people to reach out to the parole board and ask for McWilliams to not be granted parole.

For information on how to contact Rhode Island’s parole board, click here.

Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office said they plan to submit a letter to the parole board objecting McWilliams’ release on parole.