GALESBURG - The armed robbery suspect shot and killed by police last month in the Twin Cities also allegedly robbed a Galesburg bank in October 2006, a case detectives have now closed after comparing photos of the suspect, Galesburg police said Thursday. | Photo gallery: The chase | Video: Dec. 9 robbery

Robert Sylvester, 57, of Bloomington was shot following a high-speed chase that ended near the Interstate 74 split with Interstate 55, just north of Normal Community West High School.

Sylvester was wanted in connection with the armed robbery of a Check 'n Go on West Market Street earlier that day. A suspect matching Sylvester's description also was wanted in a string of bank robberies in the weeks prior.

Illinois State Police are investigating the shooting, and few details have been released since Sylvester's death.

The lead detective in the Oct. 4, 2006, robbery at Associated Bank, 1865 N. Henderson St., Galesburg, saw a photo of Sylvester in the newspaper after the shooting and thought he looked like the suspect caught maskless on a surveillance camera during that hold-up, said Galesburg police Capt. Lindsey May.

Galesburg detectives asked Bloomington police for additional photos of Sylvester and used transparent-overlay technology to compare the two suspects' faces, May said. Within weeks of the shooting, Galesburg police determined it was in fact Sylvester and closed the case, he said.

"All the facial physical characteristics fit in our comparison that we did here," May said.

In the years leading up to that first Twin City bank robbery Dec. 3, 2008, Sylvester's financial problems were evident in court records, including a foreclosure initiated in 2007 that was later dropped. Sylvester, journeyman ironworker, also had faced domestic battery and drunken driving charges in recent years.

The suspect in the Twin City robberies displayed a weapon; the suspect in the Galesburg robbery did not. The suspect in the Galesburg robbery did not wear a mask, May said; the suspect in the Twin City hold-ups did wear something to conceal his face.

The physical description released to the public after the 2006 robbery was male, 55 to 65 years old, short gray hair, wire-frame glasses, gray pocket T-shirt, light-colored pants and a silver watch.

It was unclear Thursday if Bloomington police have been asked by agencies other than Galesburg for supplemental photos of Sylvester.

Galesburg, in Knox County northwest of Peoria, is about an hour and a half drive from Bloomington.