Search Captions & Ask AI

The Death of Joan Robinson Hill- Part 2 | Morbid | Podcast

January 04, 2024 / 01:31:34

This episode covers the case of Joan Robinson Hill and the subsequent murder of her husband John Hill. Key topics include the investigation into Joan's death, the grand jury hearings, and the eventual murder of John Hill. The hosts, Elina and Ash, discuss the complexities of the case, including the involvement of Joan's father Ash Robinson and the accusations against John Hill.

The episode begins with a recap of Joan's tragic death and the murky circumstances surrounding it. Joan's father, Ash Robinson, believed that John had a role in her death and pursued legal action against him. The hosts highlight the conflicting autopsy reports and the challenges faced by Ash in seeking justice for his daughter.

As the narrative unfolds, the episode details the grand jury's investigation and the eventual indictment of John Hill for murder by omission. The hosts discuss the implications of John's negligence as a doctor and husband, as well as the emotional toll on Ash Robinson as he fought for answers.

The story takes a dramatic turn with John's murder, which is described as a robbery gone wrong. The hosts recount the chilling details of the crime and the subsequent investigation that leads to the arrest of several suspects, including Bobby Van Diver, who confessed to the murder.

In the conclusion, the hosts reflect on the convoluted nature of the case, the various theories surrounding Joan's death, and the lasting impact on those involved. They emphasize the tragic outcomes for both Joan and John Hill, leaving listeners with a sense of unresolved mystery.

TLDR

The episode covers the tragic deaths of Joan Robinson Hill and her husband John, exploring the complex investigations and legal battles that followed.

Episode

1:31:34
00:00:06
hey weirdos I'm Elina I'm Ash and this is [Music] morbid it is and your hair looks really
00:00:26
good over there your hair looks really good over there your hair looks really good you get thewe without trying and
00:00:31
that upsets me because I try really hard for the swoop your swoop is a good swoop
00:00:36
thank you but it was it's not effortless it's full of effort full of effort know
00:00:42
it looks great you're like I woke up like this no I actually did my hair this morning no you can tell that you did it
00:00:48
but like but still even when you don't do your hair the swoop is swooping swooping swooping yeah uh I just had a
00:00:56
glazed stick so I am feeling why is that so funny it's always funny I don't know why
00:01:06
it's because it sounds horrible that's which is why I said glazed stick you have to you have to be very purposeful
00:01:14
you can't run those two prounce but every been donkins everyone donks baby uh but it's a huge dut
00:01:24
essentially which the look doesn't even make it any better ter they should name it something else uh anyways but it it's
00:01:31
a big doughnut full of sugar and big donut stick that is glazed you know so I feel sugarful I feel sugarful I feel
00:01:39
like sugaray and you know what speaking of sugaray funny little story before we start John got me a cameo of Mark
00:01:47
McGrath sugaray sugaray who he just calls sugaray like just thinks his name is sugaray remember when you saw the guy
00:01:55
at the airport John was like that's Sugar Ray John said that's Sugar Ray oh my God I I didn't know he was still
00:02:00
alive and I was like he's like a he's like not an old guy not at all and he's like your age yeah no I think he's a
00:02:06
little older than me sorry like come on but he had he told him that I was his biggest fan you are aren't you obviously
00:02:16
and he sang me um Fly and he put my name in the song and it was I I can confirm it was a good yeah good it was a
00:02:29
good C I wanted to say tick Tok it was it was very fun when will this episode come out can you tell them what you got
00:02:35
John without spoiling it or no okay I got John so John loves a '90s R&B moment I think I've more than once said that
00:02:43
John is a '90s r is a '90s R&B moment I play Genuine at my wedding simply for John yeah like he's '90s R&B is his
00:02:52
that's everything to him and I'm not kidding you multiple times a day John sings this is how we do it by Montel
00:02:59
Jordan and that was one of his first concerts and he puts it into like different oh yeah like he'll sing to the
00:03:05
tune of it even like if one of our girls does something he's like don't put the glass there like he literally put the
00:03:12
glass there like he does it multiple times and so the girls know the song it is part of
00:03:20
our daily lives so I got him a cameo from Montel Jordan and let me tell you Montel Jordan first of all he looks
00:03:28
phenomenal that that is a handsome man that man is a excuse me I was going to say the snack a snack that man is the
00:03:35
whole damn meal and he was so sweet in The Cameo and I asked him I was like you don't have to but it would be sick if
00:03:43
you could just sing a quick line love this is how we do it but I totally understand if that is like not something
00:03:48
you want to do he did and his voice effortless phenomenal and John's just going to die and I'm so excited for it
00:03:56
it's like one of those fun gifts that you're just like I can't wait to show you I know you need to send it to his
00:04:01
phone like give him the link so that you can video the reaction cuz I want to see
00:04:04
it if I'm not here oh yeah we love we love cameos in this house we love to send each other either genuine cameos
00:04:11
that are like wonderful or hilarious ones yeah you can't even say with the hilarious going but just like ones that
00:04:18
you're like they're like why would you s this person cameos a fun gift I will never
00:04:25
forget when you got me a cameo from Lindsay Lohan my life was complete in that moment
00:04:30
and she told you that I would still look sexy as a or not sexy uh you wouldn't look like a British man if chopped my
00:04:39
hair off and I was like thanks Lind yeah she said so many great things it's true
00:04:44
I love that and you got me one from gig good who's like my favorite Dr Queen ever a good one yeah so that's cameos
00:04:51
we're not sponsored by cameos cameos and Dunkin Donuts but but you know it's a fun little gift if you can find some
00:04:56
that are that are interesting to someone in your life I feel like there's this is
00:05:00
not a odd for cam it's really not somebody for every why we're doing this but I don't know how we guys I just got
00:05:06
really excited about Montel Jordan is like the real no the The Cameo that was honestly one of the best ones that I've
00:05:12
seen truly was so didn't didn't hurt that he is a good-looking fo man anyways man
00:05:20
anyways uh so so moving on from that there's no good way to segue truly not I'm glad you said it cuz I was trying to
00:05:26
figure out how to segue in my head and I couldn't but uh let's recap um I do have
00:05:30
a confession and it's that I lied to you I'm sorry yeah I said that part two was
00:05:34
going to be longer than part one incorrect incorrect incorrect I swapped I was like I looked at the uh pages that
00:05:40
I had written before we recorded and I was like oh um one is longer than the other and I thought it was part two but
00:05:46
it was part one they're different by like a page length so you're not going to be like hurting by the end of the
00:05:50
episode just in case you were counting by the minute and you were like [ __ ] you lied yeah and she knows I would
00:05:55
never lie to you like intentionally definitely unintentionally a lot but let's recap a little bit so in part one
00:06:04
we we got to know Joan uh Robinson hill we got to know her dad Ash and her mom and you know she got married a couple
00:06:13
times and you really thought it was going to work out well in the end and unfortunately it did not
00:06:18
because whether or not uh John Hill has anything to do with her death I don't know personally I think there's the the
00:06:25
waters are too murky to say for sure yeah but whether or not he did kill her he uh is a turd monster for the way that
00:06:33
he treated her I was going to say that's the thing like whether or not he was involved in her death which again we're
00:06:38
not saying he was cuz I have no [ __ ] clue this H it's in part two it's really I don't think it's going to be cleared
00:06:44
up it gets even murkier yeah so and it's like regardless of that he was a shitty
00:06:48
husband yeah exactly and honestly it sounds like he wasn't a very present father as well no at least not for like
00:06:55
the first part of boot's life I think I think he got to be from the sounds of it
00:07:01
I think he got to be a little more involved like after Joan passed away well I hope it was good for boot and I
00:07:06
think it was so I I hope that it was cuz Lil boot deserves that Li boot you do deserve that boot baby you deserved it
00:07:13
but yeah but as we know uh Jones father Ash was like a very big presence in her life and when she did pass away he
00:07:19
full-heartedly believed that John had something to do with it and he it was essentially like his life's mission to
00:07:27
figure it out now when I left off uh in part one we had just gone through basically Ash trying to get anywhere
00:07:34
with the district attorney a team of doctors to prove this and when we finally did finish part one he had um he
00:07:43
was going to go before a grand jury okay like he was being invited so let's pick
00:07:47
up with the grand jury in July 1969 one doctor after another filed into the Harris County Court to testify in the
00:07:55
grand jury case presented by McMaster the district uh assistant district attorney since the case rested mostly on
00:08:03
the conflicting autopsy reports and the cause of death just about every Medical Professional with even a casual
00:08:10
connection to the case was called to testify wow but unfortunately at no time did any of them present any evidence
00:08:18
suggesting that Jan's death had been intentionally caused by Jon or anyone for that matter and it's like that's
00:08:25
like unfortunately and fortunately cuz at the same time you're like I hope she wasn't mured you know like it's like but
00:08:31
also like if she was I want her to get Justice like I feel weird like I'm like it's a strange feeling I would like
00:08:38
evidence because I want her to get Justice if that's the case but I also like I hope you didn't get murdered yeah
00:08:43
but also that's an awful way to die regardless it's like well and I would like some evidence because even if John
00:08:49
is like an [ __ ] in a marriage he doesn't deserve to be painted a murderer if he that's the thing and like it
00:08:55
stinks that it never really got cleared up you know but also there was like some
00:08:59
neglect there cuz it's like he's a doctor why was he allowing this to get as bad as it got that that's a problem
00:09:05
there's no question in my mind that there was neglect I mean the way that the maid walked in and
00:09:11
found that sick she should never have been allowed to convalesce like that at home with especially with a doctor for
00:09:19
but what these medical professionals did do was question and just like we were saying many of the qu the decisions that
00:09:25
JN made and the days leading up to Joan's death from the medication he gave her to his refusal to let anyone to see
00:09:32
her and then to like not wanting to take her to a hospital that was even close by
00:09:36
yeah but despite the compelling hearsay evidence most people couldn't help but speculate that rather than being
00:09:43
motivated by evidence of wrong doing it was Ash Robinson who was really behind the persecution of John Hill CU small
00:09:50
town people talk of course after the grand jury had had heard excuse me all the testimony regarding Jon's negligence
00:09:57
leading up to his wife's death even uh assistant DA McMaster was skeptical that their case would go anywhere as they
00:10:04
waited for the jury to return a decision he told Ash I haven't got enough to convict this boy of running a red light
00:10:10
D like I don't have anything here the problem it seemed was that the case was built mostly on complicated conflicting
00:10:18
hearsay evidence from medical professionals and there was really no physical evidence whatsoever of criminal
00:10:24
Behavior yeah so frustrated by Robinson's continued pressure McMaster told as if he wanted to get a conviction
00:10:31
he would need to present the authorities with evidence of a crime like hard evidence needs something and it turned
00:10:37
out that he was right without the physical evidence the grand jury did not return a verdict finding John
00:10:42
responsible for the death wow but never want to back down from a challenge Ash consulted with McMaster and Frank briso
00:10:50
and together the men came up with a plan to present the jury with evidence of Murder by neglect so they were going a
00:10:56
different route now okay cuz that seems a little more likely to possibly get yes
00:11:00
like some kind of conviction on their point was regardless of how she'd become sick it was J's negligence and
00:11:07
inattention of Joan's serious condition that ended up leading to her death a result that he would have expected
00:11:13
giving given his medical training yeah I mean all the signs were there that she was not doing well yeah so knowing that
00:11:19
Jon had already refused Ash's attempts to have Joan's body exed he and briso managed to get the matter before a grand
00:11:25
jury in uh mid August and in mid August the court ordered that the body be exuded and a third autopsy be performed
00:11:35
which at this point it's like she can't even rest like peacefully and it makes me and I when I was first reading this I
00:11:41
was like I don't know what a third autopsy is going to produce when the like she's already she had already been
00:11:47
embalmed we were never going to get really anything concrete from an autopsy at that point and it's like the
00:11:54
degradation of her tissues and any viable evidence here now is like so much much higher and again it like it's going
00:12:02
to just murky the waters even further and it it's interesting what happens here so while the court may have ordered
00:12:07
the exem it remained that both the ex exem and the third autopsy would be overseen by Dr yimi meaning that he was
00:12:15
essentially being asked to reconsider or undermine his own earlier assessment of
00:12:20
Joan's cause of death yeah which is pretty unlikely that he's going to undermine his professional he not going
00:12:25
to be like wow I [ __ ] up right so knowing that none of Physicians who were assigned to the autopsy would be on his
00:12:31
side Ash actually conducted some research of his own to find out who were among the most well-respected doctors in
00:12:37
the nation like the the nation like let's go Ash is not given up no the list was short but it included Dr Milton
00:12:45
helper the chief medical examiner of New York at the time whose credentials and reputation were Beyond reproach so
00:12:52
ashway did no time contacting Halper and bringing the man to Houston where he was
00:12:57
deputized as an act ing Harris County Medical Examiner so that way he could join the team of doctors performing this
00:13:04
autopsy holy [ __ ] I know that you really overbearing but like the way that he just loved his daughter yeah I mean
00:13:11
that's the thing like if like he has the money to do this so it's like if he has
00:13:17
the money to do this then it's like if I I would do the same thing if I had you know if I was an oy Tycoon and could do
00:13:24
all this after something happen I would go to the ends of the Earth and it's like the dedication
00:13:29
and the and the love for his daughter and like wanting to see Justice served it's so heartwarming but then at the
00:13:35
same time it's so heartbreaking oh it's heartbreaking cuz you're just like you're are you ever going to get the
00:13:40
answers that you want he so sure that he knows what happen and to think to be so
00:13:44
sure in like your own mind and heart that your son-in-law murdered your daughter yeah and that you're trying to
00:13:51
find the evidence of that and and you're coming up at like what a I can't imagine
00:13:56
that journey and then just to come up up like hard stop after hard stop of like it's it's not panning out and feeling
00:14:03
like she's never going to get the justice that must have been so hard yeah and just the way he loved her like I've
00:14:09
never heard of a dad loving his daughter like this hard he really went he did so
00:14:14
on August 11th 1969 Joan Robinson Hill was exhumed and brought to the medical examiner's office now almost immediately
00:14:23
something struck Dr yimi as odd oh the medical examiner had performed the autopsy in the middle of the embalming
00:14:29
process like we know and Joan was buried immediately after but when he opened the
00:14:34
casket to remove the body now he discovered dried mud on the inside of her coffin indicating that this was not
00:14:42
the first time the coffin had been opened since it went into the ground what the [ __ ] when questioned about the
00:14:49
mud the mortician noted that it had been a rainy day when Joan was buried and he
00:14:53
suggested that the mud maybe got inside when they reopened the coffin at John's request so that he could get Joan's
00:15:00
wedding ring and he said maybe that's when the mud ended up there okay the explanation seemed plausible but it did
00:15:07
little to clear Jon of Suspicion because it's like you wanted to reopen the casket to get her I understand like
00:15:13
wanting her wedding ring as like a a Sentimental piece of value I suppose but it's like you all sudden like you I
00:15:21
don't you were having an elit affair yeah and and like didn't really care about her feelings about the whole thing
00:15:29
that's the thing which I'm not saying like he doesn't have a right to grieve and you know there's complicated
00:15:34
feelings everywhere here like I I get that right but given the det the casket again to take the wedding ring feels
00:15:41
like it's like and to given the details of everything else like stacked against him right now it's just when you put it
00:15:48
up against that it's weird yeah you know I'm not saying it makes him a murderer I'm just saying not at all it's a
00:15:53
strange Behavior yeah strange and I think it's just within all of this that's the thing like it can be
00:16:00
understood yeah like we're both saying like I get it right but it's like put together with everything else you're
00:16:05
just kind of like huh it makes you just scratch your head a little lift your eyebrow a little bit now it turned out
00:16:11
that the mud on the inside of the coffin was uh only the first of many bewildering aspects of this case really
00:16:16
because when Janes remains uh were removed and prepped for the autopsy the team was shocked and I I think you'll
00:16:23
have a bigger opinion of this than even I did but it was shocking to me and the team was shocked to discover that Not
00:16:29
only was the brain missing but so was the heart what the [ __ ] her brain and her
00:16:35
heart were missing so the team contacted the original medical examiner Dr uh Arthur Morse excuse me who explained he
00:16:43
had removed both during the first autopsy and taken them back to his lab for examination saying I knew this was a
00:16:50
case where I couldn't go back in so to speak yeah I mean I don't know how it works here or in this time period yeah
00:16:59
it's like the 60s you should have to have permission to keep body parts research there's a lot of red tape and a
00:17:06
lot of signatures that need to be signatured for you to keep a brain and a heart right that's what I would think
00:17:13
like at least when when I was working in autopsies if you were going to keep a body part of brain specifically or any
00:17:19
other you needed like a specific reason there were specific forms that needed to
00:17:23
be signed by family members by everybody involved by the doctors mhm by everybody
00:17:30
and it needed and there's like a chain of custody with that organ you need to know where it is why it's happening I
00:17:36
mean every a lot of people have to agree to somebody keeping an organ because usually when you're studying one you
00:17:42
take a piece you take your sample but you put it back and I feel like unless otherwise asked for right and that I
00:17:48
mean that makes perfect sense to me that there would be a chain of custody and it
00:17:51
would be like a rather intense process and to me the fact and we don't know what the process was like I couldn't
00:17:58
figure figure out what the process was in the 60 this is a different state it's a different time period so I don't know
00:18:02
who knows you would think that some protocol would be in place yeah and because everybody thought this was so
00:18:08
odd that kind of tells me that there there was some protocol that maybe wasn't followed and the fact that this
00:18:13
doctor this original doctor Arthur Morse felt like he needed to kind of potentially defy that because he
00:18:21
couldn't go back in I'm like you thought that this case was going to come back up again that's the
00:18:27
thing I'm like so were you not happy with the original examination you were able to do like and I don't
00:18:33
think he was because that's what it sounds like because of the embalming process having already started so and I
00:18:40
wonder I'm like did you think that maybe I mean again small town I'm sure people
00:18:44
were talking did you think to yourself I need to be prepared if if [ __ ] goes down
00:18:50
and people want answers about state of this body cuz that's that's risky on his part and for him to take a risk like
00:18:57
that exactly sounds like he knew he was going to have to speak for something that's what it sounds like to me or
00:19:03
speak to something you know what I mean and that's just very strange yeah like it's strange to go against what you
00:19:10
would assume is a pretty re like a r rigorous protocol right right that cuz I know I can't imagine there's anywhere in
00:19:19
the country that is like super willy-nilly about just like I can just keep a brain like it's no like you have
00:19:25
to put that back strange unless otherwise noted obviously cuz there's plenty of times where you request to
00:19:31
keep an organ cuz you know you want to do studies on it for a long period of time right but again there's got to be
00:19:37
so much permission involved and to me the fact that if there was like a paper trail that would have had to have been
00:19:42
followed and he wanted to avoid that I like why did you want to avoid that because you were worried about John Hill
00:19:50
being a doctor well and I'm also wondering about the reasons for the brain and heart specifically because
00:19:57
usually when you do keep a brain it's because the there was something pointing to the brain being like a part of
00:20:05
whatever was happening here right or like you know the heart the same thing and it's like so why did you I know
00:20:10
those are two like the powerhouses of your body obviously but it's like did you just do that CU you were like these
00:20:15
are the two main parts CU it's like also like her kidneys were involved in a lot
00:20:21
of this I'm sure I mean her kidneys were the main reason why she had died keep those the kidney failure what did you
00:20:27
think happened yeah that you had to keep those organs instead that's the thing and there was and remember if you do
00:20:34
remember from part one he also took like multiple tissue samples and fluid samples and Y I think he was preparing
00:20:41
for the potential of a court case he was probably like they whisked her body away
00:20:47
so quickly shering protocol from the Geto Right and started and bombing it at lightning speed so no one could touch it
00:20:56
he I'm sure that was his first red flag cuz it was for all of us and this man is
00:21:01
a medical examiner he's probably like um excuse me this is not how this works so
00:21:05
maybe you're right maybe that's he was like you know what something's off about this right off the bat to me because I
00:21:11
would be I would be red FL of that popping out everywhere so maybe he was like I'm going to take the two most
00:21:18
important parts because they're going to be affected by whatever is could have happened here yeah I'm going to take
00:21:24
these two because I need to like keep this that's have it for cuz I don't know what's happening here or why she was
00:21:32
taken so quickly without an autopsy that's exactly so maybe that is like he just was like which like good for him
00:21:38
for like it's it's tough CU you need to have permission to do these things and like you know it gets hairy like
00:21:44
ethically and all that but like of course I'm glad he at least thought he was like looking and being like
00:21:49
something's a little off here right you know right exactly wow so wild and that's what my gut just says that he he
00:21:57
knew something was off and you wanted to be prepared right that's what it seems like so it took nearly two months but in
00:22:03
October of 1969 the first two uh excuse me the first of two autopsy reports were
00:22:08
submitted by a team of three Pathologists working on the case and uh I say the first of two autopsy reports
00:22:14
from this third autopsy I know that's a little confusing uh the first report authored by Dr Robert Buckland stated
00:22:22
that Jan's cause of death was and I quote a result of bacterial menitis with septicemia blood poisoning damn Dr yimi
00:22:30
on the other hand released his own separate report stating that Jan's cause of death was and I quote the result of a
00:22:37
f fulminating infectious process the specific nature of which is no longer determinable okay so he's backtracking I
00:22:46
was going to say he seems like he's uh because he was lines a little very steadfast that it was hepatitis yeah and
00:22:53
now he's like now we can't be sure I can't determine and he added quote it is my further opinion that the exact cause
00:22:59
and manner of death cannot be established from the exuded body autopsy alone okay now given all the
00:23:05
inconsistencies he actually Dr yimi recommended that a grand jury investig investigation be undertaken because he's
00:23:12
like I mean at least he's that good for him for at least not sticking with his original one just to stick to it yeah he
00:23:19
looked at the evidence again and he said you know what right now I can't say that
00:23:22
that's what it is I thought that was pretty honorable yeah that seems pretty good to me and while the court and Ash's
00:23:26
group of investigators waited for hell's report John Hill did his best to carry on like everything was normal despite
00:23:33
the fact that uh his life pretty much seemed to be collapsing all around him at this point I'm sure you can imagine
00:23:39
his business had taken a serious hit he's a plastic surgeon due to all the rumors and accusations leveled by his
00:23:46
former father-in-law and circulated then by the Houston gossip circuit yeah I mean if people think you're a murderer
00:23:52
I'm not want to go under anesthesia with you with a knife no and less than a year
00:23:57
in his marriage to an felt like a big mistake I don't want to say I told you so wasn't so exciting now that you're
00:24:04
not cheating on your wife yeah one I'm not sad about yeah he felt like she was never satisfied with anything he did or
00:24:10
said and he was already thinking about a divorce years later his mother would recall him saying if I didn't marry her
00:24:17
she threatened to call ID McMaster and say I killed Joan and if I divorced her she said she'd commit suicide and leave
00:24:23
a note saying I was responsible for her death and get it together I know if that
00:24:30
is if that is the case of what she said who knows either way it's like you guys are a wreck yeah get it together
00:24:36
regardless need to get it together like my goodness that's the thing now Dr Helper took several months longer to
00:24:42
complete his report than the other pathologist which I respect he was like no I'm getting this right yeah and when
00:24:47
he did finally submit it in April of 1970 now damn the report did not contain anything particularly damning in fact
00:24:55
rather than fully implicate imp replicate John and his wife's death helper's report actually cleared Hill of
00:25:02
many Rumors by noting the cause of death while indeterminate was unlikely to have
00:25:08
been intentionally caused I wonder how he was able to say those two statements though yeah I don't know what the cause
00:25:15
of death was exactly but I know that somebody didn't do it and it's like right explain to me how you can how do
00:25:21
you reconcile those two statements because I need you to have a cause of death to know that nobody did I'm going
00:25:25
need you to determine the cause of death before you tell me that no one could have caused it yes that's the thing like
00:25:31
those seem very conflicting to me I'm like n that doesn't that doesn't jive for me I think the reason that he said
00:25:36
that he didn't believe that it was uh intentional intentional thank you was because he found no evidence of any
00:25:43
injections having been having been administered that was a big part of the only way you can kill someone but it's
00:25:48
like have you ever heard of like an oral like like he could have given her any kind of medication orally or yeah you
00:25:54
know there's plenty of places where you might not find one under a nail yeah very true you know that's the thing
00:26:01
but in simple terms helper's report confirmed what Dr yimi had already indicated as a result of
00:26:07
miscommunication and improper medical practices immediately following Joan's death it was very unlikely that her
00:26:13
specific cause of death would ever be known which is really incredibly unfortunate oh yeah so frustrating now
00:26:20
while it may have dismissed the theory that Jon had directly caused his wife's death helper's report made it clear that
00:26:26
as both a husband and a doctor Jon's behavior in the days leading up to his wife's death was without a doubt
00:26:32
negligent of course and earlier treatment he said absolutely could have preent prevented Joan's death and that's
00:26:38
horrifying and that's the question at hand here at this point not did he do it but did he ignore symptoms that resulted
00:26:47
in her death so by May 1970 two grand juries had heard the District Attorney's argument and declined to return an
00:26:54
indictment against John Hill with the latest results from the autopsy in hand McMaster returned to the Grand Jury for
00:27:00
a third time and presented his case again this time with the opinion of one of the nation's most well-regarded
00:27:07
medical examiners for the most part the case was represented the same as it had been the other two times that they'd
00:27:13
been before the grand jury but this time jury members actually wanted to know the
00:27:17
extent to which Jon's Behavior had hastened Joan's death yeah and according to helper he said failure to provide
00:27:24
medical attention at home and reluctant delay in hospital ation for diagnosis and effective therapy aggravated a
00:27:31
situation which proved fatal yeah so he's saying he didn't take her to a hospital he didn't give her like in time
00:27:38
he didn't give her proper medical attention at home which is wild considering he's a doctor and so the
00:27:45
fact that it was too little too late is his fault is what hurn is saying yeah and what they're trying to prove and
00:27:51
after a brief deliberation the jury returned a decision against John Hill with 10 of 12 jurors in favor of an
00:27:58
indictment for Murder By Omission oh yes damn so unlike manslaughter which implies a person's negligence
00:28:06
unintentionally led to the death of another Murder By Omission implied that Jon had willfully intentionally and
00:28:13
culpably culpably I I feel like I always say that wrong and then I say it again and I'm like no that was right
00:28:19
contributed to Joan's death damn at that point the charge had actually only been
00:28:24
used in less than 20 court cases I was going to say I've never heard that used Never Had it been used in Texas up to
00:28:31
this point damn crazy only 20 cases 20 I I got like chill saying that that's crazy it's a lot so the indictment
00:28:39
immediately split the Physicians on the autopsy team with half flatly rejecting helper's conclusions and criticizing the
00:28:46
jury for their decision Dr Paul I think it's rette told the Press if criminal charges in this type of situation be
00:28:53
appropriate then anyone whose mate expires unexpectedly after a few days of symptoms whether from pneumonia heart
00:28:59
attack or septic shock could also be indicted and here's the thing like I get where they're coming from that like it
00:29:05
could seem like a slippery slope of like okay so if I don't know it's that bad and I don't take them in time and they
00:29:13
die that's my fault like right you know like if I if I can't see the symptoms you know what I mean like but then
00:29:19
you're like I think what it's saying here is that one he's a doctor which you are trained from years and years of
00:29:26
schooling and experience to recognize symptoms that somebody is very very ill and also her symptoms were not invisible
00:29:33
symptoms like you like I didn't know she was this sick and we brought her and it's too late right she was vomiting so
00:29:41
much that she couldn't even get herself into the bathroom right and was like the
00:29:45
maid found her covered in vomit and feces on the floor like it never should have gotten to that point she was
00:29:52
violently also I'm sure she was wildly dehydrated and I know that a doctor can spot dehydration from [ __ ] counties
00:30:01
away like there a doctor can look at you and go dehydrated like I mean hell I can
00:30:06
look and see if somebody's dehydrated like yeah it's there's certain symptoms you just know and it's like you know she
00:30:12
was absolutely and that alone can kill you mhm so if you see that she's going down that path of like even just
00:30:18
dehydration from being sick even at stomach bug you can get too dehydrated need to go to the hospital get an IV
00:30:25
right so even if she was going down that path where it was just like wow you're dehydrating here you should have got her
00:30:30
to a hospital absolutely so she could get IVs so that could stop it's like that's what I can understand that the
00:30:37
doctor here is saying could be a slippery slope if we allow this to be this case if this is
00:30:44
not the way it is but it's like this one is different this is case specific and that's why this has only been used 20
00:30:50
other times because this is very case specific and this case alone it's hard for him to reconcile and and explain why
00:30:58
he didn't get her to a hospital sooner exactly I don't get it it was multiple days like at least three days of
00:31:05
symptoms like that and it's like after the first day of violent violent symptoms if she's not better to the
00:31:12
doctor she goes that's the thing like that's the thing why not right what's the worst that can happen they're like
00:31:17
she's okay just go home and you put that hand in hand with not letting anybody in
00:31:21
the house to see her giving her what somebody said and obviously we'll never know was a tranquilizer tranquilizing
00:31:28
her when she's in this like I don't triling her seems like a terrible idea if she's vomiting exactly choke on her
00:31:36
vomit she could die that way right and it's like yeah and then people said she got this sick after something that he
00:31:44
gave her and yeah and that again that's hearsay cuz none of us were there but yeah there's a lot of factors that go
00:31:52
into this specific case exactly I can see why they used this charge and where it's silly to say that like oh like you
00:32:00
know if he goes down for this watch out husbands of America it's like no I don't
00:32:04
think that's the case and look how tough it was to get here in the first place you know it wasn't like this was like
00:32:10
stop one it's the doctor of it all really takes it up a notch right exactly so helper's autopsy report had
00:32:18
definitely influenced the jury's decision to return and indictment against John but so did testimony given
00:32:24
by his now ex-wife and Cur oh when John had initially asked his lawyer to draw the divorce papers his attorney actually
00:32:33
strongly advised against it noting that it would look pretty bad if he was already divorcing the woman he'd left
00:32:39
his wife for yeah but JN insisted it needed to happen and the couple was divorced on March 12th 1970 one week
00:32:47
short of the anniversary of Joan's death man yeah they had like man they had barely
00:32:53
made it a year what when I say you got to get it together together I mean you got to get it together you got together
00:33:00
you doing truly what you doing cuz it's like when they got married right after this remember we were talking about it
00:33:05
listen like I'm not saying anything I'm not saying he did it I'm just saying if you know the whole place is thinking you
00:33:11
might have done it and then you go marry the lady you were having an affair with
00:33:14
what are you doing 5 minutes after she dies got [ __ ] publicist you got to think a little bit and just use your
00:33:20
goddamn brain dude serious like come on it turned out though that John's lawyer was right to be worried when she took
00:33:27
the witness stand and obviously angry and bitter an performed very dramatically for the jury telling them
00:33:34
quote John John Hill had not only killed his first wife but had also tried to kill her on three occasions damn man an
00:33:42
insisted that uh JN had managed to fake his polygraph results and made her best attempt to convince the entire courtroom
00:33:49
and the assembled press that John Hill was a violent and dangerous man wow now he very well could have been yeah but
00:33:59
it's like I feel like in this case I don't know should we it's this is tough this is tough but it's also like I she's
00:34:08
mad she obviously right is she so mad that she's going to Brand him a murderer I that's the thing I mean that's pretty
00:34:16
mad that's pretty mad that's pretty bad blood between a an ex couple it is like I really don't like my ex-boyfriend I'm
00:34:27
not going I'm not going to paint him as a murderer like I'm not going to be like
00:34:31
oh [ __ ] it's my chance to get him behind bars for the rest of his life but and
00:34:36
and that's the thing is there some truth to something here that like she's saying
00:34:40
and who knows and I'm not saying that there isn't for the record like that's I'm like was there could be could he
00:34:45
have been violent with her but wouldn't you think that sitting on a jury you would question that testimony of course
00:34:52
problem that's why I'm like was that really a smart decision to even put her on the stand the and exactly that's
00:34:58
where the problem lies is if she is telling the truth then that sucks even more because she wasn't taken seriously
00:35:05
exactly and it's like everything about this sucks because it's like she could absolutely just be unhinged and be up
00:35:13
there angry and decide to ruin this really [ __ ] this guy's World up and just make up the worst [ __ ] you can possibly
00:35:21
make up about somebody people have done that oh yeah it's like we've seen it happen you know like it's not unheard of
00:35:27
case [ __ ] that got made up during that case yeah it's like to me it's shocking
00:35:31
to think somebody would be so angry about the breakup of a marriage that they would want to paint that person as
00:35:36
a murderer but itely happen and and again I'm not saying that that's the case she's not if she is telling any of
00:35:43
the truth then that sucks even more because she's just being ignored and treated as which like I'm not an an fan
00:35:50
as we know but like if she was being abused in any way or he was violent with her deserve that but I'm I the I don't
00:35:59
think I ever would have put her on the stand as a prosecutor or as a it was it was not good for anybody no to be quite
00:36:06
honest no but the accusation and the the accusations and the indictment were all
00:36:11
deeply troubling for John uh but just as the grand jury investigation was wrapping up he started dating a new
00:36:18
woman okay this one lasts okay John but seriously like the marriage I should say
00:36:23
like come on yeah Connie losby who would serve as a source of comfort and support
00:36:28
through the upcoming trial was the new woman John was dating under normal circumstances his romantic life
00:36:34
obviously wouldn't be that important but now in the context of his legal troubles
00:36:39
it appeared to the outside world that he had a bit of a habit of uh trading one wife in for another pretty rapidly in
00:36:46
fact it took uh John's lawyer Richard racehorse Haynes who I'm actually working on another case of his right now
00:36:53
oh my God considerable effort and convincing to prevent his client from marrying Connie before the trial he was
00:36:59
like I don't think you should do this dude just take a minute he's like I told you not to divorce Ann in the middle of
00:37:06
this and look at her on the stand over there that's not good for you now you're ready to marry again in the middle of
00:37:11
this like dude get it again use your [ __ ] brain like going on not only are you on trial for murder murder By
00:37:18
Omission like that you're in the headlines for that anyway you would be regardless you're a high society man
00:37:24
what the [ __ ] are you doing this is just wild play the game idiot this is just
00:37:28
wild Jesus Christ so when the trial did finally begin on February F uh yeah February 15th 1971 John Hill's love life
00:37:37
was of course put on display for everybody to see yeah which it didn't need to be it didn't need to be but in
00:37:44
this case it's like honey but that's what I'm saying like he didn't need this to be part why did you do this just take
00:37:49
take a beat yes take a beat pleas be a dad take a beat and deal with what's going on in your life like don't
00:37:57
I understand you need to like if if cuz again if he's not part of this if this is all like holy [ __ ] I didn't do this
00:38:04
which we don't know which we don't know I mean he was negligent that is by 100% nobody can deny that but it's like if
00:38:10
he's really just going through this [ __ ] and is like holy I understand needing
00:38:15
Comfort like somebody to like you're it's probably lonely and scary and like whatever I get that don't date someone
00:38:21
right away be be a friend find a friend yeah it's like wait a little bit that's the thing you know it's not going to
00:38:27
work good don't be seen in the 50 foot radius of a woman that you're not related to so in his opening statement
00:38:34
uh for the jury ID McMaster said we expect to prove that problems arose in the course of this marriage which which
00:38:40
resulted in the filing of a divorce petition on December 3rd 1968 when John learned that Joan planned to contest the
00:38:46
marriage using his affair with Anne against him he withdrew his petition McMaster continued on having failed to
00:38:52
terminate the marriage legally the defendant began to formulate a plan to R himself of an unwanted uh unwanted wife
00:39:00
so after opening statements McMaster called several witnesses to the stand to testify as to Jon's behavior and actions
00:39:07
in the days leading up to and immediately following Joan's death among the first Witnesses was a woman named
00:39:13
Diane uh setag Gast I believe she was a family friend who paid multiple visits to check check on Joan before she was
00:39:19
even admitted to the hospital among other things Diane told the jury that on the night before Jones funeral JN was
00:39:27
showing Laurel and Hardy films to his friends in the home just laughing and having a good
00:39:33
time the night before her funeral like after she had died the most violent death in front of him and in his
00:39:40
arms okay yeah according to Diane Jon said Joan had a and this is a quote had a very high fever approximately
00:39:48
106 and he had broken it he said after he broke the fever he didn't take her to a hospital because he thought she was
00:39:55
getting all right John 106 degree fever as an adult are you [ __ ] kidding me I like you're bordering brain damage
00:40:05
at that point 106 is just wild that is bordering brain damage right I think they found research that suggests that
00:40:13
it's like not as simple as that but I I don't I honestly do not know what the newest thing is that was always the
00:40:19
thought that pasted I think it was like 105 or something well so back then you would have thought back there I was
00:40:25
going to say so that was the thought process back there and and it still might be now I haven't seen the updated
00:40:30
stuff but I know for an adult that is incredibly High cuz I know they let kids get a little higher it's a strange thing
00:40:37
yeah and and that's only nowadays that they let kids get higher back then even you would have brought your kid or your
00:40:42
wife to a hospital well that's the other thing with that doctor who was like oh watch out husbands of America you're all
00:40:47
going to get thrown in jail for killing your wives if they die it's like but think about it if like you you did this
00:40:53
to like cuz he's acting like that's so wild and it's like but but if you just watched your
00:40:58
child suffer for days and did nothing to bring them to a hospital or help them you would be charged with something
00:41:06
exactly for like willfully ignoring that your child was sick so why is your partner any different agreed you know
00:41:13
like it's just like you should if it's a person in your life that you have especially legally bound yourself to
00:41:18
yeah you should have to bring them you should give a [ __ ] right yeah this I mean 106 is just to be like oh yeah she
00:41:25
had 10 fever but I broke it so like I figured she was fine why the [ __ ] did she have a 106 fever in the first place
00:41:30
it's like you're sitting there being like I broke it I broke it it's like how' you break it that like what did you
00:41:35
do yeah like what the [ __ ] and it's like why was it that high in the first place
00:41:39
that would be the shocking thing right sure maybe you broke it but you bring it to the hospital and go why did it get
00:41:44
that high exactly like what kind of infection is her body fighting off I mean that's a lot that's high damn now
00:41:50
by the time an Kur took the stand to testify on behalf of the state it was becoming clear that just as they had in
00:41:56
the grand jury case the District Attorney's office was hoping to succeed with a case built on innuendo yeah in
00:42:03
fact racehorse Haynes the uh defense attorney there had argued considerably actually to keep an out of the courtroom
00:42:09
for obvious reasons knowing that her anger and resentment could lead to a mostly slanderous mostly slanderous
00:42:16
testimony about his client but he was ultimately overruled and on February 25th she did arrive in court to testify
00:42:23
according to an Jon hated Joan and quote couldn't stand to be around her and she
00:42:30
that's also [ __ ] up to yeah we don't need to I guess we do need to know that no I know it's just like it just sucks
00:42:36
that's the mother of his child like that's really [ __ ] up it's sad now over the course of her testimony Ann
00:42:41
claimed that she'd found quote three laboratory dishes containing a reddish substance with white spots in John's
00:42:47
apartment and she heavily implied that he had used tainted pastries to poison Joan that's specific very specific all
00:42:56
of that is pretty specific according to an his violent rage was not just reserved for Joan like I said earlier
00:43:02
while on the stand she told the jury that he had also tried to kill her multiple times once by deliberately
00:43:08
crashing their car into a bridge abutment or abutment yeah and another time by quote trying to inject her with
00:43:15
a syringe so it's like these are like pretty specific again I know people lie I know I realize that I'm not being like
00:43:23
well how some much wrong yeah but it's like oh God that's specific [ __ ] and we're going
00:43:30
to get more specific because when asked by McMaster why she thought John was trying to kill her with a syringe an
00:43:35
said he just told me how he killed Joan with a needle he pulled the syringe from
00:43:39
his pocket and tried to get it into me I mean that's scary and who am I to say that that didn't happen I don't [ __ ]
00:43:47
that's the thing it's like I'm not going to sit here and say she's lying do I like an no do I do I believe her I don't
00:43:52
know I have no idea I'm not going to say she's wrong and that she's totally lying
00:43:56
like imagine if she's telling the truth well that's the that's exactly the problem you're just going to like but
00:44:02
it's like what a shitty way for this to come about if she is telling the truth cuz so many people aren't going to
00:44:07
believe it and just think she's angry and you wish that there was somebody there during those times like like you
00:44:13
wish that some kind of there was some kind of person near her that knew that there was something going on that could
00:44:18
be like yeah there was some stuff happening especially after that car crash it's too bad that potentially like
00:44:23
she didn't say anything then and they couldn't have figured out like was this intentional like you know how they can
00:44:28
look into that yeah this is this is interesting but an claimed that Jon's hand was shaking too hard to inject the
00:44:35
syringe into her and he actually dropped it but that he had another and again attempted to inject her with something
00:44:41
but abandoned his plan when the headlights of an approaching car came into view she said the [ __ ] now that
00:44:46
dramatic Revelation was immediately followed by a loud and emphatic obje um emphatic objection from Haynes the
00:44:54
defense attorney who argued that the testimony was prejudicial inflammatory and privileged as communication between
00:45:00
a husband and a wife that's [ __ ] up yeah and at that point [ __ ] he moved for a
00:45:09
mistrial it's [ __ ] up but the that whole loophole there people rely on that that's that's a weird that loophole can
00:45:18
be so [ __ ] detrimental and it it doesn't always work I I was watching something recently I don't even remember
00:45:25
if it was fiction or not or maybe I read something about it recently maybe it was
00:45:29
a dream maybe it was a dream no I remember reading or or watching something where like they were going to
00:45:36
try to use that defense but then they couldn't yeah definitely it's a hairy it's a very specific situation I think
00:45:43
that it can and I'm talking about like the privileged testimony but so but he was like [ __ ] this we're going for it
00:45:49
and he moved for a mistrial Judge Fred hoie overruled hayne's objection and called a recess but when they returned a
00:45:57
short time later the judge said he reconsidered what had occurred in the courtroom and granted a mistrial are you
00:46:04
kidding me that's why I was like why the [ __ ] did you guys want her on the stand
00:46:08
like I know it would have been great but the testimony was so intense and and so wow yeah that I I you could see this
00:46:20
coming from a mile away that a mistrial was going to happen oh and it's like again and if he really did do that [ __ ]
00:46:30
then that is so [ __ ] up that her just simply saying that he did that [ __ ] and
00:46:35
if it's the truth made a mistrial can you imagine that's real you s you sit up there and they say do you swear to tell
00:46:42
the whole truth and nothing about the truth and you're like yeah and you go ahead and do that like hopefully this is
00:46:48
[ __ ] up and if that's the outcome like that's why people don't testify sometimes that's why people don't talk
00:46:53
about this [ __ ] wow that's really [ __ ] up also uh judge hoie hooie I know that's a great name Hy I just had to say
00:47:02
it it's great judge hoie oh my God so outside the courtroom reporters had expected to find John Hill pleased with
00:47:08
the outcome and they were actually surprised by his reaction to the judge's declaration he told the Press I'm
00:47:14
disappointed that we didn't get to carry on with this I would have liked to get it over with oh being like I like I
00:47:20
really would like my name cleared here like I would like to be declared innocent not just because a Mist trial
00:47:24
does does carry with it some connotations like it cuz it's literally like something went to eyy and and and
00:47:31
we're not continuing but we still have no idea's going that's the thing yeah now it turned out that John may have
00:47:37
been right to be disappointed though a poll of the jurors conducted just a few days after the trial indicated that
00:47:43
there was an overwhelming majority in favor of an aquid wow yeah yeah so he was right so John Hill was not the only
00:47:50
one disappointed with the m trial obviously after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in his pursuit of
00:47:57
justice and just in general Ash Robinson was outraged by this decision ID McMaster was also in a similar situation
00:48:06
he spent a wild amount of the state's time and resources pursuing this case that many at this point just believed
00:48:13
was a lost cause and given all that had gone into the case against John Hill to that point neither man was willing to
00:48:20
let it go so easily and a few months after the mistrial was declared the DA's office announced that the second trial
00:48:26
of John Hill wow would begin November 15th 1972 now throughout his relationship with Connie Jon had managed to keep the
00:48:35
details of the trial and his relationships with Joan and an kind of private from her somehow that's a little
00:48:41
shocking it truly is but over uh excuse me of course she knew why he was on trial and she'd heard about Joan's death
00:48:47
in the papers but she actually didn't know anything about Ash Robinson an's claims that Jon had tried to murder Joan
00:48:54
were also something that Connie didn't really know about oops and she didn't really know about any of the other
00:49:01
details that came out in court I don't I guess she wasn't there but that changed
00:49:05
in the days just before the wedding because he does end up proposing to her uhoh and just a couple days before the
00:49:11
wedding a folder arrived addressed to Connie's parents inside there were newspaper clippings reports and other
00:49:18
information detailing the entire situation the Press reports of Joan's death the reports from private
00:49:24
detectives and doctors and a wealth of information of about Jon's indictment and trial the envelope had no return
00:49:32
address but most in Texas assumed that it had come from at least Ash Robinson or his people yeah at least his people
00:49:40
trying to save save a gal which what they from what they think is you know I I can't be mad at that I I simply
00:49:48
can't information he and his truly believed to to warn this girl is the right thing to do guess in my opinion
00:49:57
and if he you know whatever it's just o if he truly felt this way and and I and he did truly feel this way now John had
00:50:05
fully expected McMaster to retry him for murder but in the meantime he wasn't going to let the district attorney or
00:50:11
Ash Robinson control the rest of his life and in June of that year he and Connie did end up getting married in a
00:50:18
small ceremony of friends I'm surprised her parents didn't yeah weren't a little
00:50:22
weary of that very interesting or maybe they were I'm sure they were to some degree but she's a grown woman so it was
00:50:30
his third marriage and her first by that point John's income had been seriously impacted by the case and most of his
00:50:37
savings had also been eaten up to pay for his defense and to make matters worse the bank that held several of the
00:50:43
loans that he had taken out to renovate the house had called in the loan placing
00:50:48
further Financial stress on this new couple and preventing them from even taking a honeymoon wow so sad but still
00:50:55
the couple was happy and excited about their future together with the new trial more than a year away at this point
00:51:00
everyone pretty much got back to what passed I guess for a normal life Jon and his lawyers continued pursuing a civil
00:51:08
suit against Ash for slander McMaster won excuse me ran for and won a seat on the criminal court and Ash Robinson
00:51:15
continued his uh protracted amateur investigation I guess we could call it of John Hill it was for the first time
00:51:23
in a very long time mostly quiet in the lives of everybody involved in the case Connie even actually felt like John's
00:51:29
colleagues and neighbors were finally putting the past behind him them and willing to welcome him back into Social
00:51:35
Circles things seem to just it's wild how when like how what time does how people are just willing to forget like
00:51:44
sure a new case happens a new and they just move on and they just move on exactly mhm so in late September of 1972
00:51:52
she traveled with John to Las Vegas for a plastic surgery convention neither of them was particularly fond of Vegas but
00:51:59
the trip kind of was like a honeymoon for them since they hadn't been able to take one after the wedding and they were
00:52:04
just really happy to be together like getting some time away they returned to Houston on the evening of September 24th
00:52:11
and took a cab from the airport back to the house both of them were eager to see
00:52:15
Robert little boot little Boot and tell him about the trip Connie practically ran to the door like she really loved
00:52:21
Robert well that's nice yeah she seems like a good woman from what I read and I hope it seems
00:52:27
like they were happy together so I hope they were yeah uh so she ran to the door
00:52:32
but when she got to it she was surprised to find the door locked so she pressed for the doorbell and waited for a minute
00:52:37
but nobody answered and inside all she could hear was the television on like really like like blaring loud and she
00:52:44
assumed Robert must have just gotten wrapped up in what he was watching and didn't hear the Bell but she also
00:52:49
thought why hadn't Jon's mother who was there taking care of Robert heard it so she peed sced through the small window
00:52:56
next to the door and she actually saw a figure moving in their Direction and she
00:53:00
figured it was Robert but as the figure got closer Connie noticed that this figure was dressed in what looked like a
00:53:06
green jumpsuit or coveralls with a hood covering their face what the [ __ ] and for a split second she was like why
00:53:13
would Robert or Myra John's mom be wearing a costume like what what when the door finally did open Connie saw
00:53:21
that it was indeed a hooded figure standing before her and she still thought it was Robert so she said what's
00:53:27
this and for a few seconds the two just stood at the door looking at one another
00:53:31
and not saying anything what and then it occurred to Connie that the figure before her was actually too tall to be
00:53:37
Robert and too large to be Myra and before she could call out to John the man in green grabbed her by a gold
00:53:45
braided necklace she was wearing and dragged her into the house oh my what yeah everything happened incredibly
00:53:53
quickly from that point the figure finally spoke telling them that it was a robbery Connie Twisted trying to get out
00:53:59
of the guy's grip and at this point JN is here and he steps forward to protect his wife and that distracted the
00:54:06
Intruder and gave the opportunity to Connie to break free of the intruder's grasp so now free Jon pushed Connie out
00:54:15
of the way and she ran out the front door toward the neighbor's house to get help she just reached the house two
00:54:21
doors down when she heard a gunshot and then she heard another shut up so she shouted to her neighbor
00:54:27
my husband's being murdered just as the neighbor opened the door fck is going on
00:54:31
right now it's insane Connie managed to calm herself down enough to call the police on the when when she was inside
00:54:38
her neighbor's house and explained what happened and then she called uh don fulenwider one of John's lawyers who
00:54:44
actually lived in their neighborhood so don races over on foot and he actually managed to reach the house before the
00:54:50
police did moving slowly he approached the front door which was still slightly open and he pushed in he pushed inside
00:54:57
and inside the house looked fairly undisturbed but then his eyes settled on something in the middle of the room
00:55:04
12-year-old Robert Hill was standing over his father sobbing with his feet his like Robert's feet and his wrist
00:55:12
bound with heavy tape he looked up and there was this is just so sad it's also very graphic there was still a piece of
00:55:19
tape hanging from the corner of his mouth where somebody had taped his mouth shut but at that point he had been able
00:55:24
to get it open and he looked up and he said they've killed my daddy oh my God destroy me which like ruined me I just
00:55:31
want to hug Robert I no he went the this kid went through way too much went through I was just going to say my by
00:55:38
the time he was 12 years old like and then like you think you're get like it sounds like Connie really cared about
00:55:43
him and like yeah it seems like it was going to be like a happy home hopefully oh this is all so complicated and like
00:55:51
very upsetting it's just [ __ ] up so Fuller carried the boy outside to the front lawn just as the police and
00:55:58
paramedics arrived at the house and they went back inside with the officers to direct them to Jon's body the paramedic
00:56:04
checked for a pulse or any sign of life but there weren't any and when they turned the body over this is a pretty
00:56:11
pretty bleak when they turned the body over they were shocked to find that Jon's eyes nose and mouth were
00:56:17
completely covered in the same heavy tape that had been used to bind Robert what and there was blood seeping out
00:56:23
from underneath whoever did this shot is that what they did they shot him they shot him and then covered his eyes nose
00:56:30
and mouth with tape or they did that first they yeah they did that first I I think what the [ __ ] yeah it's very
00:56:38
strange wow yeah so the paramedics approach just stunned Don F and wider and said I'm sorry Mister we're too late
00:56:46
at just 41 years old John Hill was dead1 years old 41 wow years old wow so following the the Declaration of a
00:56:55
mistrial more than a few people wondered whether John Hill was in danger now wow
00:57:00
Connie recalled countless nights of harassing phone calls she said that she would spot Ash driving back and forth
00:57:06
outside of their house late at night John's lawyer Richard Haynes had even suggested that John hire a bodyguard but
00:57:13
by that point JN didn't have the money to get one eventually what' you say sorry that's awful it is yeah eventually
00:57:20
after a few months the calls did slow down and eventually stopped and even Ash seemed to slow the frequency of his
00:57:26
alleged drive-bys which led Connie to believe that they were out of danger and things were finally settling down like
00:57:33
she had kind of said earlier like it seemed like people were finally chilling out but despite the relative calm few
00:57:39
people were all that surprised when the news of Jon's murder was reported in the
00:57:43
Press ID McMaster told a friend when that old boy signed that letter Ash Robinson wrote way back in December and
00:57:49
then reneged on it he signed his death warrant oh yeah others were like that's indictment right damn I know
00:57:59
others were less subtle or quiet about their opinions which honestly that wasn't that subtle I don't know if that
00:58:04
was about as subtle as a [ __ ] like iron slab falling on you not not very subtle no but I guess other people were
00:58:13
like a piano falling on you yeah so just one day after the murder Richard Haynes
00:58:17
told the Press he thought the robbery was a coverup and the slaying could have been an assassination with the
00:58:22
implication that Ash Robinson was behind John's murder so the first thing detectives did after searching the scene
00:58:29
was talk to Robert Hill according to the boy a man had shown up at the hill residence about a half hour before his
00:58:35
parents got home and forced his way inside after tying up Robert and his grandmother Myra The Man simply sat in
00:58:43
the house and waited for John and Connie to return okay Robert was in another room when he heard that the gun when he
00:58:51
heard the gunshots and by the by the time he managed to get out to where his father was the Intruder was gone I mean
00:58:57
that was that seems like that was the intention you wait for him to come oh kill him and then you leave it was 100%
00:59:04
that was the in that kind of proves the at least the part that this was clearly this wasn't like just a robbery
00:59:11
that John happened to be no involved in not at all no it would take a few more days before Jon's mother Myra could
00:59:17
speak I mean of course uh and also I mean one because of the emotional trauma but she had also been kicked in the
00:59:24
throat wrote by the killer oh my God yeah well that doesn't seem like it would be someone Ash Robinson not that I
00:59:31
believe that that was really it anyway but this doesn't seem like it would be connected to Ash Robinson having his own
00:59:37
wife kicked in the throat I feel like that wouldn't be that's not his wife it's John's mom oh John's mom I forgot
00:59:43
this was John's mom yeah but um yeah no that but that's also doesn't CU it's like having Robert TI I don't know it
00:59:53
just doesn't feel he loved Robert he loved Rob I feel like he would never put that kid in I don't know Ash I'm acting
00:59:59
like I know him I'm like I know him and I feel like from what I've heard here it
01:00:03
seems it seems so unlikely that somebody who loves their grandson that much and dots on them so much and cares about
01:00:10
them would put them through that kind of trauma even for their own gain you know
01:00:14
that I agree with that and I'm not saying that he did arrange this but just playing Devil's Advocate maybe he didn't
01:00:19
know that Robert was going to be home that's true or maybe he had if but he would kind of have to know if he knows
01:00:25
that they're on their their trip Where's Robert if they're not taking care of them then yeah you know I don't know
01:00:32
maybe he didn't want to know the details yeah I mean it's it's en I don't know that he it's all just this is very
01:00:39
confusing and poor Myra yeah geez the throat po poor everyone involved in this case what the tragedy just keeps
01:00:48
trickling down but when she was able to speak Myra told a nearly identical story
01:00:54
to what Robert police according to Myra they received a call at the house the night before from a man who said his
01:01:00
name was James gleon there was an urgent tone she said in his voice and he was very anxious to speak with John so Myra
01:01:07
said the hills would be returning the following evening and as soon as she said that the man hung up oh now
01:01:13
hindsight is 2020 but going forward don't ever tell anybody when your family members or when you are going to be home
01:01:18
or anything about your schedule yeah don't don't let people strangers know those things no the man called again and
01:01:24
then next after uh excuse me called again the next afternoon and again Myra said that they would be home that night
01:01:30
around 7:30 and the man hung and obviously she didn't know that this of course she didn't but at about 700 p.m.
01:01:38
that night the doorbell rang Robert got up to answered assuming it was his parents but when he opened the door he
01:01:43
found a large man standing before them wearing a hood and what appeared to Myra to be a wig which that just [ __ ]
01:01:50
creeps me out the man raised his gun and pointed it at them informing them that this was a robbery he then ordered them
01:01:56
into an adjacent room where they were tied up taped and just told to sat to sit down and wait about 20 minutes later
01:02:04
they heard the sound of a car pulling up inside the driveway and fearing that Robert or Myra might call out to John
01:02:11
the man kicked Robert in the side of the head 12-year-old boy and Myra in the throat and then left the room the [ __ ]
01:02:19
Myra told the detective she didn't recognize the man and he never said anything to indicate who he was was or
01:02:24
why he was there other than saying it was a robbery that's terrifying but he's sitting in the house waiting for them to
01:02:30
come home he's not going through anything he's just tying them up exactly what the [ __ ] so sensing the gravity of
01:02:38
the situation Dr Joseph yimi decided to handle the case himself on behalf of the
01:02:44
coroner's office he's like I'm already deep in this so so John had been shot it turned out three times with a 38
01:02:51
caliber revolver he'd been shot once in the wrist which which I'm assuming was like in a struggle a defense mhm once in
01:02:58
the right shoulder and the third shot was the Fatal one which was through the stomach and it severed his aorta oh yeah
01:03:05
oh the bleeding yeah Yim chck estimated that this is horrible John likely bled internally for 3 to 5 minutes before
01:03:14
dying from his wound so this was a unfortunately a slow death awful there were also deep scratches and abras
01:03:20
abrasions on his face and arms which the coroner interpret uh interpreted as a sign that Jon had put up a considerable
01:03:26
fight before sustaining the disabling shot yeah I mean your kid is in the house of course sure he was you're going
01:03:32
to fight yeah the detectives at the scene started operating from the position that Jon's death was simply a
01:03:38
robbery gone wrong I guess that's all they had at that point so how else are you you going to go about it and if you
01:03:45
start from there then maybe you can figure it out looking it very unbiasedly there so maybe that that's I think that
01:03:52
is the smart way instead of going in with a pre conceived notion of like something strange happened here right
01:03:57
and there were signs that maybe this was a robbery because his uh John's briefcase and wallet were missing and
01:04:03
the man who had killed him like we know said more than once that it was a robbery yeah but as far as anybody could
01:04:09
tell once they started kind of going through everything the killer hadn't even entered or seemed interested in the
01:04:15
rooms the other rooms in the house besides the one where the murders took or the murder excuse me took place which
01:04:22
obviously struck the investigators as strange because John and Connie's house was full of valuable items that would
01:04:28
have attracted the attention of a robber and again why are you waiting for the other people to come home you've already
01:04:35
subdued the grandmother and the child so now this would be your chance to go take
01:04:41
anything you want and get the [ __ ] out of there before somebody who's maybe more in the prime time to fight back
01:04:47
with you and especially home he got there at 7 she Myra had told him you know like my son who it seems like
01:04:54
or thiser this mystery and if if this is that was set up as a robbery and it is connected you'd have a half hour to get
01:05:02
all the [ __ ] you could get out out before they get home and not have to kill anybody so so yeah no there's no
01:05:09
way so other than that those couple things uh the scene was light on evidence and after 6 hours of searching
01:05:16
the premisis the most that the the detectives found were the rules of tape used to bind uh Robert and Myra one of
01:05:22
the fingers from the work gloves that the Intruder wore and the green hood that he had been wearing which turned
01:05:28
out to be a cheap green pillowcase with holes cut out so that he could see oh my
01:05:32
God ter like the strangers yes oh yes I hate that oh it freaks me oh God poor Robert and poor Myra like seeing that
01:05:41
and Connie to open your door to that oh my God I forgot that she just oh yeah oh
01:05:46
I hate something and that's out of a nightmare later when the evidence had been processed the detectives would be
01:05:54
disappointed to find that no fingerprints had been left anywhere of course mhm of course so
01:06:01
about a week later lead detective Jerry Carpenter got a call that some kids had found Jon's briefcase in some bushes a
01:06:07
few miles from the home when he arrived Carpenter was disappointed to find that all the children in the neighborhood had
01:06:14
heavily handled the briefcase kids but as he searched around the site for additional evidence he noticed what he
01:06:20
thought was a pipe covered in leaves and mud but as he started pulling out of the
01:06:24
dirt he realized it was not a pipe but a 38 revolver oh which is what John was shot with when the ballistics test
01:06:33
finally came back a few days later they confirmed that the revolver discovered in the lot with the briefcase was the
01:06:39
exact same one that had been used to kill John Hill only a few miles from the house they threw it in a bush yeah what
01:06:46
the [ __ ] yeah that's weird so detectives this is where [ __ ] is going to go it
01:06:52
goes even more Wy you couldn't make this you would watch this in a movie and be like they did a little too much here
01:06:58
like I I'm not following what I'm gonna do my best it's not that complicated but
01:07:03
it's just you're like wild so detectives trace the gun back to Dr Orin I believe
01:07:08
it's staves or staves what uh a Washington DC doctor he sheepishly informed detectives that he had indeed
01:07:15
purchased the gun while he was in Texas on business but that it had been stolen from him by a sex worker that he had
01:07:22
hired while he was a sleep and he said that this sex worker also stole one of his cars damn he couldn't remember much
01:07:30
about the woman but he said that she referred to herself by the name Dusty and he thought that her real name was
01:07:36
Marsha mctic okay Madrick using his former vice squad contacts Carpenter learned that there was indeed a sex
01:07:44
worker in Houston who did operate under the name Dusty and that she would likely
01:07:49
be found in the company excuse me in the company the comp the company it's a fancy company a company a company of her
01:07:56
boyfriend Bobby van diver and an older woman by the name of uh Lila paus what the [ __ ] is going on I told you it sh it
01:08:05
gets very very complicated so after months of dead ends and dried up leads the investigators finally managed to
01:08:12
track down all three of these people at Lila's home in Houston all were arrested
01:08:19
without incident on April 27th 1973 at first all three were very uncooperative with investigators they
01:08:26
all denied any involvement in the murder they refused to say anything else to detectives other than did your gun end
01:08:31
up there the a gun that you stole but things started to change when Myra and Robert Hill were brought into
01:08:39
the precinct for a lineup of the men standing on the other side of the glass only two looked Vaguely Familiar to
01:08:46
Robert but he couldn't be certain if either was the Intruder Myra on the other hand had absolutely no doubt about
01:08:53
about it after looking each person over carefully and listening to their voices she identified Bobby Bobby vaner as the
01:09:01
man who had broken into their home and attacked them whoa yeah it took a few uh days of contemplation and back and forth
01:09:10
with investigators before B uh Bobby finally accepted that there was likely not any way out of this situation and he
01:09:17
agreed to talk to Carpenter according to Bobby it was late in excuse me it was August 7 197 2 when Lila the older woman
01:09:26
who I I think they were just like friends with her yeah Lila started talking about a contract on someone's
01:09:31
life with a $5,000 payout shut the [ __ ] up ordinarily Bobby didn't do things like that he said but he was
01:09:38
particularly broke at the time and he told her that he'd think about it I love ordinarily I wouldn't ordinarily I
01:09:44
wouldn't be a hit wouldn't kill people for money but but I'm tough times you know Jesus Christ so a few days later
01:09:52
Lila called to say that somebody else had taken the job so forget it but then a few days after that she called again
01:09:59
and she said that had fallen through and Bobby it's still available if you want it he told the detective she told me
01:10:05
that the contract was on a doctor who had killed his wife and it was the wife's father who was wanting him dead
01:10:11
oh boy during his statement Bobby knew all the details of the case from the location of the Hill's house to their
01:10:19
schedules when Lila gave Bobby the photo of his Target it had been cut along the
01:10:23
corners into the shape of a coffin which she said had been done by Ash that is theatrical theatrical as [ __ ] Mara
01:10:32
helped gather the information and tracked the hills movements to make sure that everything would work out as
01:10:37
planned and Bobby's description of the night of the murders was nearly identical to what the investigators had
01:10:43
been told by Robert and Myra he told Carpenter I got the pillow case from Lila Po's
01:10:49
house what the [ __ ] this is so [ __ ] up it's unreal his account of the murder
01:10:55
not only matched the witness's statements but it also fit with the theory and the evidence collected at the
01:11:01
scene and from the body but the problem was while they believed what Bobby had told them their entire case was turning
01:11:08
into this in this gigantic conspiracy cuz now we're bringing Ash Robinson into it and saying he contracted these people
01:11:17
and now we have to prove that how do we prove that holy [ __ ] this just keeps turning this this is one of the most
01:11:23
twisty attorney cases that I have ever read is so the biggest challenge facing the district district attorney at that
01:11:30
point was according to Texas law a jury could not convict a person based solely on the testimony of their
01:11:37
accomplice that's to say Bobby might have confessed to the murder but in order to get additional convictions for
01:11:44
his girlfriend Marsha m u mckitrick and Lila paus and Ash Robinson they would all need to have corroborating testimony
01:11:52
oh [ __ ] but still still prosecutor Bob Bennett decided to bring the case before
01:11:56
a grand jury who indicted Bobby van diver and Marsha MC critic for first-degree murder and Lila paus uh as
01:12:03
an accomplice wow so while they waited for the trial date to come Bennett put Bobby Vander and his wife who was not
01:12:10
Marsha oh my go these men I know up in a motel where it was basically like a kind
01:12:17
of house arrest where Bobby agreed to stay in the motel unless given explicit permission to go anywhere else in June
01:12:24
of 1973 Bobby explained that his wife Vicki had been engaged in a bitter custody
01:12:30
battle with the father of her child and needed to travel to Dallas for a hearing
01:12:35
and he was seeking permission to accompany her and stay there for the duration of that trial so I just want to
01:12:41
get this straight Qui get um this his wife is trying to get custody of a child while married to a
01:12:50
man who admitted to just doing a contract killing yep or I don't know if she currently had custody don't give
01:12:59
them custody yeah don't give them custody I know this is long ago in the past but like hope that kid is okay
01:13:04
because the fact that he's like I would like to join her for that custody hearing it's like my guy I don't think
01:13:09
you should yeah I think that's actually going really I think that's going to be a strike against her yeah you would
01:13:14
think like it's like you are living in a motel right now because you have to because you just admitted to arrest
01:13:20
doing a contract killing kicking of grandma in the throat yeah and kicking a kid in the head and
01:13:28
murdering a man after murdering BR a man and you would have murdered Connie if she had not gotten out of the house
01:13:35
like no one's all right no one is okay no one's okay here no this is really wild I just can't my brain won't wrap
01:13:42
around any of these people's actions or thoughts so and when we say no one we mean um no one because given how
01:13:50
Cooperative Bobby had been to that point Bennett said yeah you can go travel to that custody uh hearing on the condition
01:13:57
that you check in with me regularly in return for your trial which is scheduled for September so you really meant no one
01:14:05
no I I straight up me no one no one no one's all right now you're you're going to be shocked to hear that months passed
01:14:13
and Bobby actually did seem to be following the rules laid out by bet is shocking which set the prosecutor's mind
01:14:18
at ease he even showed up for his trial in September just as he was expected to do but but upon his arrival he learned
01:14:25
that the trial would be delayed and was rescheduled for April 1974 uh unfortunately for Bennett when
01:14:32
the trial date finally did arrive Bobby was nowhere to be seen yeah maybe the reality of uh a first-degree murder
01:14:39
conviction was finally setting in or maybe he had just gotten tired of waiting around but whatever the case
01:14:44
after the trial was rescheduled Bobby decided not to return to Dallas and instead he and Vicky went on the Run
01:14:51
where they hopefully without that child I don't think the child was with them I actually cannot confirm that but I
01:14:57
really hope not I'm I'm gonna say for my own and for everybody's piece of behind
01:15:00
that no they were not and that child is an adult now and it's fine yeah totally fine uh they ended up settling in Long
01:15:06
View Texas under the name or he they both settled in Long View Texas and he underwent the name JC Sheridan wow he
01:15:13
took on an alias yeah as one of the smaller cities in Texas long View's law enforcement agencies had a tendency to
01:15:20
know and keep tags uh tabs on the local troublemakers so when officer John rmer noticed a new
01:15:26
car and two new faces hanging out at the local pool halls and bars this is so small town I love it so he made a point
01:15:32
of finding out who this new couple was he had good instincts and he prided himself on his ability to size people up
01:15:38
with reasonable accuracy I mean he's doing good so far he is this guy this is the end of this is truly a movie it is
01:15:46
it sounds ridiculous but it's real as soon as he saw quote unquote JC JC Sheridan he figured the guy was in town
01:15:53
for one of four reasons to sell drugs to look for an underworld contract pimping
01:15:59
or he was on the Run yeah after getting Sheridan's name rmer ran the man through
01:16:05
every database he could think of and he came up with nothing under the name JC Sheridan of course but still something
01:16:11
didn't seem right with this new guy in town so he was like I'm going to keep a close eye on this one good for you man
01:16:16
yeah instincts strangely enough Bobby's arrival in Long View did coincide with a
01:16:23
startling increase in barroom fights and fatalities around the area don't so weird uh and law enforcement officials
01:16:29
had been on high alert alert for any report I was reading alert and reports at the same time alert alert they've
01:16:36
been on high alert for any reports of bar fights or problems at drinking establishments and on the evening of May
01:16:43
11th John Ramer was punching out of work and he went down to the Continental where Vicki was working as a waitress at
01:16:49
the time he was just drinking his coffee and he heard a commotion on the other side of the room the noise turned out to
01:16:55
be coming from a drunk person just harmlessly ranting about something but as he scanned the rest of the room he
01:17:01
did lock eyes with uh JC Sheridan AKA Bobby who was playing pool they stared at one another briefly and then Bobby
01:17:11
gently set his queue down on the table and made a hasty exit toward the back door subtle yeah his quick exit uh only
01:17:19
made him more suspicious in raymer's eyes but things felt too tense in the bar that night so Raymer thought it was
01:17:24
best to just stick around and make sure things didn't get out of hand in the bar
01:17:28
and he was like I'm going to I'm going to table that character I'm I'm going to let that
01:17:34
just kind of settle marinate a little bit yeah just for now but a few days later he had gotten off of work and was
01:17:39
settling into bed at home when his phone rang the anonymous voice on the other end sounded young and slightly Gruff not
01:17:46
anybody he recognized the caller informed rmer that the man he'd been keeping an eye on in Long View was not
01:17:53
JC Sheridan but Bobby vver or vaner a man who had recently gone on the lamb to avoid first-degree murder wow yeah
01:18:01
murder trages excuse me Having learned this new information rer knew that he was not going to be able to sleep at
01:18:07
this point so he got back to the office and he called uh the mesk police to get a physical description of Bobby the his
01:18:14
contact at the M mes Police Department said they would get back to him with a photo identification by teletype
01:18:22
teletype teletype rather than wait for the image to reach him though rmer went out to patrol in the hopes that he might
01:18:28
find Bobby on the street somewhere rmer is like he's that one like chain smoking
01:18:33
in his his office he's the detective here like he's just I'm like all all right raver yeah all right he's got
01:18:40
instincts and they're they're right and he was right he was dead on dead on just
01:18:46
that's cool that is cool she just see some guy and be like I don't know like I'm sorry rber is like like m VP here
01:18:53
that's cool yeah and he's just not giving up either he's not like letting it go he's like something's up here
01:18:58
quintessential small town C like I like from a movie in Texas I love it he he lives in a saloon and I know it he lives
01:19:05
in a saloon his home house do exactly brain brain telepathy right there but so he's like yeah I'm going to go out and
01:19:14
find this [ __ ] he was just outside of the Continental when he got a radio communication asking him to
01:19:20
contact the contact the department so he found the nearest pay phone and he called the department and of course he
01:19:26
got the confirmation that JC Sheridan was Bobby and more importantly during an arrest for drunk driving in February
01:19:33
Bobby told the arresting officer quote he would kill the next officer who tried to arrest him wow so now raymer's like
01:19:40
[ __ ] [ __ ] now he knew that Bobby at this point was inside the continental and
01:19:46
under the circumstances though he called for backup and waited for them to arrive
01:19:50
before attempting the arrest rayar keep keeps getting better he's not going in there like an idiot he's like I just
01:19:57
heard straight up black and white I'm going to kill the next officer who tries to arrest me I'm not going to blow
01:20:02
myself in there no I'm going to get some backup like he's this man's taking all the right steps he is I'm impressed by
01:20:08
rmer I am too I hope I continue to be you will don't disappoint me okay I was like don't make him bad yeah so with a
01:20:16
plain clothes officer positioned outside the back door rmer entered the continental and approached the area with
01:20:22
the pool table of course when he called out Bobby's name Bobby Bobby looked up in surprise to see
01:20:30
that rmer was walking towards him with his gun drawn like [ __ ] you're under arrest I love that he called out
01:20:36
Bobby and Bobby looked up you know Instinct idot going to look up so with rmer standing directly in front of him
01:20:42
the two men stared at one another for a few seconds and then Bobby reached for the gun in raymer's hand attempting to
01:20:49
push it aside while then reaching for his own gun with the the other hand damn so instinctively rmer fired but Bobby's
01:20:56
hand had pushed the gun down and the bullet ricocheted off the floor and lodged in the ceiling damn however the
01:21:03
heat from the discharge made the barrel of the gun really hot which made Bobby let go and that gave rmer the
01:21:09
opportunity to get him down what an intense takedown this is a shootout so rmer fired a second shot this time
01:21:16
directly into Bobby's chest at Point Blake range cuz he's he was about to shoot him he was he was reaching for you
01:21:23
got to do that yeah uh and he this this shot tore a huge hole in Bob's body Bobby grabbed desperately at rmer and
01:21:33
dragged him to the floor with him Vicky ran over to her husband in Terror pushing rmer and the other officer aside
01:21:39
but by the time she had Bobby's head in her hands he was already dead holy [ __ ]
01:21:44
so he died so oh now with Bobby vanand dead vver dead Bob Bennett's case against those involved in Hills John
01:21:53
Hills murder was in Peril yeah I was just going to say that [ __ ] everything up though it did [ __ ] everything up
01:21:59
which you can't be disappointed in rayer because he didn't really have another option there like I mean that's that was
01:22:05
a situation of killer be killed wow yeah so damn but it [ __ ] this up yeah it [ __ ] this up yeah Marsha MC critic's
01:22:14
lawyer argued that uh excuse me mckitrick lawyer argued that since Bobby was dead and couldn't Testify the
01:22:20
prosecutor was in danger of viola Marsha's Sixth Amendment right to face her accuser I cuz Bobby accused her being
01:22:29
involved yeah but the the way that like multiple trials in this case just get [ __ ] by like the most details like
01:22:38
yeah and just like tiny little loopholes yeah so the judge shot down the the lawyer movement to dismiss the case but
01:22:46
Bennett knew the lawyer had a point so rather at this point than risk a mistrial or an acquittal Bennett it
01:22:52
actually stuck a deal struck a deal with Mara to plead no contest and accept the
01:22:57
guilt as an accomplice in Hill's murder particularly as the driver of the car okay as a result of her plea Marsha was
01:23:05
given a sentence of 10 years in prison and was paroled after 5 years so she took the deal damn mhm now Lila paus
01:23:13
went to trial in February of 1975 on a charge of being an accomplice to murder as part of her plea deal Marsha had
01:23:20
testified against Lilla though she only did so after her immunity was granted of
01:23:25
course she told the court that Lilla had been paid $225,000 by Ash Robinson to arrange the
01:23:31
murder of his former son-in-law and 5,000 of that was what she offered Bobby to actually do the killing which I was
01:23:37
like whoa you only got 5,000 of the $25,000 and you're doing the the hit like that's a bad deal it's a bad deal
01:23:46
no matter what cuz you're murdering someone but yeah in the end Lila polis's trial was lengthy and involved many of
01:23:52
the Hills closest friends and Associates but the link between Lila and Ash was tenuous at best really as expected when
01:24:00
he was called To The Stand Ash of course strongly denied playing any role in Jon's death and told the court I didn't
01:24:06
want him dead his killing didn't solve any problems of mine I mean which like he makes a valid point what
01:24:14
what yeah like I'm we I want what it sounds like what he wants is I want him put behind bars he's like my whole
01:24:21
Pursuit here was Justice yeah that just ends it now it's over I mean I guess it depends on his definition of justice
01:24:27
exactly and it depends on if he was willing to he just wanted it over right and this was the closest thing to
01:24:33
Justice which again who knows not me now little I really wanted to believe and I
01:24:40
still want to believe that Ash didn't have anything to do with this you'll never really know we'll never know but I
01:24:45
really I really just want to believe he didn't I know well Lila paulus tried everything she could think of to put
01:24:51
distance between herself in the murder including telling the jury that Jerry Carpenter had manipulated her into
01:24:57
implicating Ash Jesus saying that she would get immunity if she accused Ash OH the plot thickens but in the end the
01:25:04
jury believed the prosecutor and sentenced Lila to 35 years in prison the sentence was overturned on appeal in
01:25:11
1981 but it was actually then reinstated by the criminal court the next year and
01:25:17
unfortunately if she was innocent Lila paus died from breast cancer in prison in 1986 wow very complicated in 1977
01:25:27
Connie Hill filed a $7.6 million civil suit against Ash Robinson alleging that he had colluded with paus to have Jon
01:25:34
murdered uh in court Myra Hill told the jury that Ash had been obsessed with Jon
01:25:40
ever since Joan's death and was quote unquote fishlyn towards her son in his defense Ash told the journey uh the jury
01:25:48
this has been a journey it has he told the jury I did want him prosecuted and if he was guilty then convicted and
01:25:54
pushed for it punished for it but there was no intention Any Which Way in the world of killing him or having him
01:26:01
killed okay so he's like I didn't do it yeah uh in the end the jury ruled 10 to2
01:26:06
against the hills stating that while he may have been responsible for a certain amount in emotional damages quote Mr
01:26:13
Robinson was not guilty of the conspiracy charge and he could not be forced to pay for what had already for
01:26:19
what he had already been cleared of by a higher Court Dam D now in 1980 CBS News
01:26:25
aired a segment on the case alleging that it was very possible Joan Robinson Hill had died from a newly discovered
01:26:31
medical condition known as toxic shock oh yes first identified in the late '70s toxic shock syndrome scariest thing ever
01:26:41
scariest thing ever especially as a woman because it was first identified in the late '70s and associated with tampon
01:26:47
use Toxic Shock Syndrome causes many of the symptoms Joan experienced right before before her death and would have
01:26:53
explained the rapid on rapid onset and quick deterioration wow and as it hadn't been established in the medical
01:27:01
community at that point in time it also could have accounted for the multiple conflicting causes of death CU nobody
01:27:07
could pinpoint it because they didn't know a lot about it and at this point we'll never know because everything has
01:27:13
been so compromised at this point wow well now when the news of the new new Theory broke John's former lawyer
01:27:19
Richard Haynes told reporters I'm not a doctor but I'm satisfied in my own mind that Joan Robinson Hill met her death
01:27:26
unkindly as it was as a consequence of what we now know to be toxic shock wow which he can't say that definitively no
01:27:35
of course not Poss saying that that's what makes him sleep at night he's saying that's what makes him sleep at
01:27:39
night exactly that's the perfect way to put it but still we don't know that very
01:27:45
well could be it but there was a point in time where it very well could have been hepatitis and then everybody was
01:27:50
like no there's no way it's hepatitis could have beenal in there no way it infe so we'll never know
01:27:59
unun but after the end of all the trials Ash and rehea Robinson relocated to Florida where they lived out the rest of
01:28:05
their lives in 1981 after years of bitterness Robert Hill reconciled with his grandparents
01:28:13
and maintained a good relationship with them until their deaths good for him and
01:28:16
Ash Robinson died of natural causes in February 1986 at the age of 87 wow and that is the wildly complicated case of
01:28:27
the death of Joan Robinson Hill and the murder of John Hill I am the Away by that at the end of
01:28:38
it you don't even know what to believe in either case I no idea what happened anywhere in that case cuz it's like no
01:28:44
idea I I don't know if Ash hired somebody or not but like why would somebody else just ran randomly kill
01:28:54
John other than um I can't like um I don't know what cuz also it's like what what happened with an I know sounds like
01:29:03
there was a lot of [ __ ] going on there and it's like was any of that true but then it sounds like Connie was very
01:29:10
happy in her relationship with John sometimes that sometimes that happens that happens we'll never [ __ ] know cuz
01:29:18
it's like it's not like he was without enemies I mean look at an is is an enemy of his and might have
01:29:26
some people around her who are not happy with John or how she was claiming to beated that's a good point you know what
01:29:32
I didn't think that's a whole other and again I'm not saying she did anything or
01:29:35
like she hired anybody or knows anybody that hired anything yeah just just saying that it the buck doesn't stop
01:29:43
with Ash Robinson there as the only person who could have possibly been this angry with John Hill very good point I
01:29:50
didn't even think of that Avenue so it's like there's also I mean like you can see it he made enemies within the within
01:29:58
the uh the like the doctors the medical field sorry this case has been so long I'm like I can't think uh within the
01:30:06
medical field because I'm sure some people believed that he had killed his wife and others and didn't he have some
01:30:11
malpractice he had that one malpractice thing it was so long ago at long so there was that but it's just to say that
01:30:18
like there was some stuff and like obvously the ash Robinson thing like there's some pieces that you can sit
01:30:25
there and put together and go well yeah that makes a lot of sense but yeah some other stuff could make sense too which
01:30:30
is unfortunate yeah either way it sounds like this everybody just what a complicated awful tragic in
01:30:40
every way conceivable story truly and I wow really think that's the perfect sign
01:30:45
off for so Tru with that being said we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it wee
01:30:52
weird oh but I don't I don't even know where to go with that slightly this weird yeah don't even don't even think
01:30:59
about it do you know that yeah don't love you [Music] bye

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 95
    Biggest twist
  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
    Most unpredictable
  • 85
    Most dramatic

Episode Highlights

  • Cameos and Sweet Surprises
    Elina shares her excitement about receiving a cameo from Mark McGrath, who sang her name in a song.
    “He sang me 'Fly' and put my name in the song!”
    @ 02m 25s
    January 04, 2024
  • A Father's Love
    Ash Robinson's relentless pursuit of justice for his daughter Joan showcases a father's love and dedication.
    “The dedication and love for his daughter is so heartwarming.”
    @ 13m 33s
    January 04, 2024
  • Murder By Omission Indictment
    John Hill was indicted for Murder By Omission, implying he willfully contributed to his wife's death.
    “Damn, so unlike manslaughter...”
    @ 28m 02s
    January 04, 2024
  • Ex-Wife's Dramatic Testimony
    John's ex-wife accused him of attempted murder during her testimony, painting him as a violent man.
    “John Hill had not only killed his first wife...”
    @ 33m 36s
    January 04, 2024
  • The Mistrial
    A dramatic turn in the case as a mistrial is declared after intense testimony.
    “That's why people don't testify sometimes.”
    @ 46m 51s
    January 04, 2024
  • Connie's Shock
    Just before her wedding, Connie receives shocking details about John's past.
    @ 49m 05s
    January 04, 2024
  • Tragic Discovery
    In a heartbreaking scene, Robert discovers his father's body after a violent incident.
    “They've killed my daddy.”
    @ 55m 26s
    January 04, 2024
  • John Hill's Tragic Death
    At just 41 years old, John Hill was found dead, shocking his community.
    “I'm sorry Mister, we're too late.”
    @ 56m 43s
    January 04, 2024
  • The Intruder's Intent
    The intruder waited for John and Connie to return, indicating a planned attack.
    “It was 100% that was the intention.”
    @ 59m 02s
    January 04, 2024
  • Bobby's Confession
    Bobby van Diver confessed to details of the murder, implicating a larger conspiracy.
    “I got the pillowcase from Lila Po's house.”
    @ 01h 10m 46s
    January 04, 2024
  • The Intense Takedown
    Raymer confronts Bobby, leading to a dramatic shootout in the bar.
    “What an intense takedown!”
    @ 01h 21m 11s
    January 04, 2024
  • The Unsolved Mystery
    New theories emerge about Joan's death, complicating the already convoluted case.
    “We'll never know because everything has been so compromised.”
    @ 01h 27m 13s
    January 04, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • It's a strange feeling wanting justice but hoping she wasn't murdered.
    The Death of Joan Robinson Hill- Part 2 | Morbid | Podcast
  • Something's a little off here right?
    The Death of Joan Robinson Hill- Part 2 | Morbid | Podcast
  • 106 degree fever as an adult, are you kidding me?
    The Death of Joan Robinson Hill- Part 2 | Morbid | Podcast
  • They've killed my daddy.
    The Death of Joan Robinson Hill- Part 2 | Morbid | Podcast
  • What the [ __ ]? Yeah, that's weird.
    The Death of Joan Robinson Hill- Part 2 | Morbid | Podcast
  • The plot thickens!
    The Death of Joan Robinson Hill- Part 2 | Morbid | Podcast

Key Moments

  • Father's Dedication13:33
  • Medical Negligence26:32
  • Negligence38:05
  • Divorce Filing38:40
  • High Fever39:46
  • Mistrial Declared45:58
  • Police Investigation1:02:42
  • Small Town Vibes1:15:28

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown