The death of Joan Robinson Hill in 38 years caused her husband, John Hill, to be the first person charged by the State of Texas for alleged murder with negligence. This case triggered a series of events that included the killing of John Hill in 1972 and, two years later, a fatal police shooting of the man accused of the murder.
He died after a brief illness on 19 March 1969. An autopsy examination failed to determine the cause of death outside of infection from an unknown source. His father, Ash Robinson, later accused Hill of poisoning his daughter, and petitioned the county attorney to prosecute her husband for murder. Hill murder trial was held in February 1971 but ended with the cancellation of the trial. As the second trial approached, Hill was shot dead by an intruder in his home. A suspect, Bobby Wayne Vandiver, was arrested and indicted for the murder, but was killed in a gunfight with police before his trial. Two other suspects, Marcia McKittrick and Lilla Paul, were convicted of Hill's assassination and serving a prison sentence.
This case is the subject of the 1976 Thomas Thompson Blood and Money book and the film made for television in 1981 Murder in Texas .
Video Death of Joan Robinson Hill
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On September 28, 1957, Joan Robinson married Dr. John Hill, described by the Houston Chronicle as "one of the city's leading plastic surgeons". The couple had a son, Robert Ashton "Boot" Hill, born on June 14, 1960.
John and Joan Hill became a regular part of the Houston social scene, but most live a separate life. Joan focuses on a riding career, while John spends his spare time doing and listening to music.
In 1968, the Hills began to experience significant conflicts in their marriage. After starting an extramarital affair with a woman named Ann Kurth in the fall of 1968, Hill left his wife and started divorce proceedings against him, but withdrew a petition when the couple reconciled shortly before Christmas that year. John continues to see Kurth after returning to live with his wife. Robinson Hill died on March 19, 1969, at Sharpstown General Hospital after contracting a disease originally thought to be influenza. The symptoms include fever, vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. She was first treated at home by her husband, but was admitted to hospital when her condition deteriorated.
Maps Death of Joan Robinson Hill
Death, investigation and trial
Death
Robinson Hill died on March 19, 1969, at Sharpstown Public Hospital shortly after contracting a disease that was originally considered influenza.
After being told that his wife had died, John Hill's screams filled the small hospital. Patients on the second floor of the building came to their room door in an attempt to learn what had happened. Hill manages to get someone to call a friend and his wife, who live nearby. Jim Oates is a physician and fellow musician; his wife, Dottie, is a nurse. The couple had just seen the Hill five days earlier at Houston's annual wild dinner party. Dottie Oates initially did not recognize Joan Robinson Hill, because of the edema and discoloration of the shallow blood vessels that broke.
First author
The laws of the state of Texas at that time required an autopsy by the coroner's area for anyone who died in the hospital within twenty-four hours after admission. The law states that an autopsy should be conducted and the cause of death is determined before embalming or burial may occur, and provide criminal penalties for its offenses. Drs. Bertinot and Lanza, who had attended Robinson Hill, were summoned back to the hospital when she died. Dr. Bertinot spoke to John Hill about the legal need for an autopsy and called the hospital pathologist to begin the process. Hill asks Jim Oates to call a local funeral home to claim Robinson Hill's body. Less than four hours after his death, the funeral home removed the body of Robinson Hill from the hospital.
Within an hour of moving from Sharpstown General, the funeral home began the process of embalming Robinson Hill's body. Hospital Pathologist, Dr. Arthur Morse, arrived at the funeral home at 10 am to do an autopsy, only to find that the corpse had been embalmed. Dr. Morse lacks the ability to take blood samples, because Robinson Hill's blood has been replaced by embalming fluid. Morse concluded an autopsy at 11:30 am without finding any sign of what caused Robinson Hill's death other than the pancreatic red color and offered the opinion that he might have died from pancreatitis.
Second autor
On Thursday, March 20, 1969, Diane Settegast and Eunice Woolen, who lived with Hills as a guest house a week before Joan's death, returned to Houston to attend Robinson Hill's funeral, and the Settegast asked Hill to salute. Upon arriving home, he found her upstairs in the music room with her son and some friends, watching Laurel and Hardy movies and laughing. Surprised that he does not look mourning, he starts to leave in disgust, but is stopped by Hill before he reaches the front door. During the next conversation, he declares no confidence in the speed of his friend's death, and asks Hill why he can not help him. Hill replies that he wants to take his wife to the hospital but he refuses to leave, saying "You know what he's like about the hospital". Settegast became suspicious because he did not recognize Hill's observations of his friends, and voiced his concern for Ash Robinson. Since receiving his opinion. Morse that his daughter died of pancreatitis, Robinson had consulted a doctor on this issue, who had informed him that this was an impossible cause of death. On the morning of Friday, March 21, Joan Robinson Hill's funeral, Ash Robinson visited the Assistant District Attorney's office I. D. McMaster, where he accused John Hill of killing his wife, informing McMaster about circumstances surrounding death and autopsy. After hearing Robinson's story, McMaster said he would check it out, then called Harris County Medical Examiner Joseph Jachimczyk, told him to go to the funeral home, check the body before the funeral, and stop the service if necessary. Jachimczyk then called two people - the administrator of Sharpstown Hospital, and Morse. Upon hearing of the circumstances in which Morse had performed an autopsy, he instructed the pathologist to submit a blood and urine specimen taken from Robinson Hill, and an initial report. Jachimczyk felt there was enough material for him to do his own autopsy. He then went to the funeral home to see his body, doing it as the mourners started to arrive for the service, but there was no need to stop the process.
Pending the results of the medical examination, Ash Robinson continued to gather evidence against his son-in-law, gathering a team of respected doctors at his home to discuss the case. These include general practitioners, Ed Gouldin, and Grady Hallman. Robinson also took statements from people relating to his daughter, including Settegast, Woolen, and Hill Archie and Effie Green household employees. Jachimczyk submitted his report to a second autopsy at the end of March, setting aside any poisoning, and concluded, "this is my opinion based on the plausible probability that the cause of death is due to acute focal hepatitis, probably from a virus." While reading the report, McMaster felt there was no case, but Robinson refused to believe that no crime was committed. He hired Frank Briscoe's lawyer, former Harris District Attorney who had just left the office. As part of his investigation, Briscoe spoke to Morse. He asked the pathologist if it was possible to inject a person with hepatitis. Morse feels this is an unlikely scenario, but offers an alternative opinion lawyer on how Robinson Hill might be infected with the virus. He said that he had been told that in the days before his death, Robinson Hill had eaten both shells and snails, and Morse felt one of these might have caused him to have hepatitis. Robinson then petitioned his son-in-law to give permission for Joan's body to be dug for another autopsy, but Hill refused.
Third autopsy
Ash Robinson attempted to hire the "best pathologist in the United States" to perform another autopsy on his daughter. Robinson's quest led him to Dr. Milton Helpern, who was the main medical examiner for New York City at the time. Helpern agreed to come to Houston to examine Robinson Hill's body five months after his death. An autopsy was also asked by a Harris County grand jury investigating the death of Robinson Hill. The autopsy was carried out by a team of ten doctors led by Dr. Robert Bucklin, who was then a medical examiner for Galveston County, and included Dr. Helpern, who was represented as a Harris County medical examiner.
As soon as the coffin was opened, Helpern found pieces of dried mud in it, indicating that the coffin had been opened after Robinson Hill was initially buried. When asked, the funeral home told the medical team at the autopsy that John Hill had obtained an order to interrupt his wife three days after his funeral. Hill claims he wants to take a piece of jewelry that has been buried with him. When making wake-up arrangements and funerals, Hill insisted that his wife was buried without any jewelry - even her wedding ring. Helpern did not find anything wrong with the disinterment, but noted that Robinson Hill's stomach and its contents were never removed and examined on the original autopsy. The disagreement of the pathologist became disbelief when he discovered that Robinson Hill's brain and heart were missing.
Dr. Morse then made a shameless confession not to return the organs before being buried. Morse offers that he, however, knows the whereabouts of Robinson Hill's brain - it's in the trunk of his car. Texas pathologist takes the brain for Dr. Helpern. Helpern thought there might be traces of meningitis, but refused to state whether he thought this was the cause of Robinson Hill's death. He examined Joan Robinson Hill's body for seven and a half hours; Helpern then returned to New York with his tissue sample, saying he would issue a report on his findings later on.
The autopsy series showed that Robinson Hill had suffered "major infections" from unspecified sources, but because the body had been embalmed before the initial examination was performed, the exact cause of death could not be identified. Harris County hospital and medical examiner initially recorded the cause of Robinson Hill's death as hepatitis, but no signs of illness (such as jaundice) were noted; medical test results also do not show hepatitis. Dr. Bucklin notes the causes of Robinson Hill's death as meningitis and septicemia. After the autopsy, Joseph Jachimczyk issued a new report in which he observed, "It is now my view that Joan Robinson Hill came to his death as a result of a mounting process of transmission, a specific characteristic that can no longer be determined." He went on to recommend that this issue be investigated by the jury. Dr. Milton Helpern did not publish his report until April 1970, more than a year after the death of Robinson Hill. The Helpern report notes that John Hill's care for his wife at home and the delay in seeking special medical attention at the hospital was a contributing factor to Robinson Hill's death.
Will
When John Hill submitted his wife's last will and testament after his death, Ash Robinson quickly produced another will, which he said had been written when Joan was separated from Hill. That desire would make Robinson his executor, leave everything for him, and ask Robinson and his wife to have custody of the son of Hills, Robert. It was signed by two of Robinson's friends, one former employee. Hill believes the desire to become a forgery and hire three handwriting experts to prove the fact. Thompson noticed that Robinson Hill's signature was different from that in the previous will, and that the will was "typed in awkwardly, fraught with spelling mistakes and language more likely to be used by someone who imitated the legal term". Hill asked the District Attorney's office to investigate, but Cecil Haden, who served on the jury at the time, said that the matter would be dealt with once the issue of Robinson Hill's death had been overcome. Robert Hill fought a will in 1978, claiming it was a forgery, but a judge prosecutor who proved to support Robinson.
John Hill's prosecution and murder
After the death of Robinson Hill, Hill married Ann Kurth in June 1969, but divorced Kurth less than a year later, shortly before he was indicted for the murder of Robinson Hill. He divorces Kurth despite the advice of the defense, who tells him that if they remained married, Kurth could not testify against him.
After marrying Hill with Kurth, Ash Robinson accused his former son-in-law of poisoning his daughter, and hired a private detective team to keep an eye on him. He also petitioned the District Attorney to launch an investigation into the murder. Frank Briscoe then discussed the case with McMaster, who had worked as a junior during his tenure as District Attorney. None of the men were convinced that Hill had killed his wife, but they felt that there was enough evidence to file this issue before the grand jury. The grand jury began hearing evidence in the summer of 1969, and rumors began to circulate among Houston's medical fraternity that Hill had played a role in the death of Robinson Hill. In response to the gossip, Hill contacted Clyde Wilson, a private detective who had worked for Robinson. Wilson suggested that if Hill wanted to clear his name, he would have to take a polygraph test. Hill decided to give a statement under the administration of pentotal sodium (otherwise known as the truth serum) in which lawyers and McMaster himself would be present. The drug was administered at Sharpstown Hospital by an anesthesiologist. Richard Smith, who sometimes helps Hill during the operation, but both sides feel they will be a neutral party. Although Hill is considered to have passed the exam, McMaster suspects that the drug is not working properly because he feels that Hill's answer seems too calm.
The first grand jury to examine the case retired without demanding Hill. Robinson then urged Briscoe to pressure the District Attorney to order the excavation, then dismissed the lawyer when he refused, after which he retained the services of Vinson and Elkins law firms. The District Attorney, Carol Vance, then filed the case before the second grand jury to see if they would order the excavation. When they did, Hill hired his own lawyer, Don Fullenweider, who asked his colleague, the lawyer lawyer Richard Haynes, to represent the doctor.
In February 1970, the case was heard by a third grand jury, where sat Cecil Haden, a prominent Houston businessman and close friend and associate of Ash Robinson. This panel heard testimony from Ann Kurth, less than a day after she divorced from Hill on 12 March. He told them that Hill had confessed to killing his wife and also tried to kill Kurth on three occasions, and that the doctor had treated him with a pentotal sodium antidote before the test, Richard Smith's claim was dismissed as unreasonable. Helpern is preparing his autopsy report when the jury is nearing the end of his 90s but will not finish it just in time for his invention to be heard. Haden suggested that Helpern present his conclusions personally. District Judge Wendell Odom agreed, and Helpern presented his findings in April 1970. In response to Helpern's presentation, Haynes suggested that Hill testify before the grand jury, but Hill's evidence provides the contradictions given by others involved in the case, and the Way of solitude begins to convince McMaster and his assistant Assistant Ernie Ernst, that Hill had killed his wife. Apart from this, they decided that there was not enough evidence to indict him. However, after several studies, Ernst suggests that they may try him for failing to provide an adequate level of care, which has resulted in his death. The jury chose 10-2 to sue Hill for murder for negligence, deciding that he "deliberately, intentionally and guiltyly" contributed to his wife's death because he did not provide adequate medical assistance. The former state of Texas never charged anyone responsible for murder for negligence.
Hill murder trial began on February 15, 1971, before Judge Frederick Hooey. The case was demanded by McMaster and Ernst, while Hill was defended by Richard Haynes. Robinson Hill's friend and neighbor, Vann Maxwell was the first witness to provide evidence, and testified that Robinson Hill said not long before his death that he had succumbed to his marriage. Kurth testified against Hill, claiming that he had tried to kill him on June 30, 1969, by crashing their car into the bridge, and by injecting it with hypodermic injections. He also told the court that he claimed to have killed Robinson Hill. Kurth claimed to have seen three petri dishes in the bathroom of John Hill's apartment when Joan Robinson Hill fell ill. He says they have "something red inside them" and when he asks Hill about it, he tells her that he's doing an experiment. Kurth testified that Hill was upset at his discovery and the next day, when he found some pastries in the apartment refrigerator, he got annoyed again, telling him not to eat them.
Kurth said that on the eve of their car accident, Hill went into detail on how he had killed Joan Robinson Hill. He claims that the petri dish contains a growing culture of all forms of human waste, and that Hill initially had injected the culture into the cake that he served to his wife. When Robinson Hill got sick just because of swallowing them, he asked her husband for something to cure the disease. Kurth's testimony goes on to say that Hill later added the culture to the injection drug he gave to Robinson Hill. As a result of Kurth's testimony, Haynes called for the cancellation of the trial, a request Hooey agreed upon after some consideration. In June 1971, John Hill married for the third time, to Connie Loesby. Hill's second court was scheduled to begin in July 1971, but at the request of the defense, it was postponed several times, until November 1972.
John Hill's murder
On September 24, 1972, a few weeks before the second trial began, Hill was shot dead by a masked gunman during a robbery at his mansion when Hill and his wife returned home from a medical conference in Las Vegas. The masked intruder forced himself into the Hills' house about half an hour before John and Connie Hill would arrive home. The man tied Hill's mother and son and covered their mouths with tape. When the Hills arrived, Connie rang the doorbell of the house and was greeted by someone with a green mask that she initially thought was her stepson playing a joke. The intruder grabbed Connie Hill, saying, "It's a robbery." He was able to move away from him and run to the streets. As he ran and called for help, he heard a shot being fired. A neighbor heard him scream for help, let him in, and let him call the police. When the police and ambulance arrive at Hill's house, they find John Hill in the foyer, facing down. Standing on it is his 12-year-old son; With his legs and hands tied, he managed to jump from the back room of the house. The tape slipped from her mouth and she cried, "They have killed my father." The ambulance officers searched for vital signs but found none. When the body is reversed, Hill's eyes, nose, and mouth are found tightly sealed with adhesive tape by the killer. Police noted this type of killing was prevalent in the local underground world. John Hill was beaten and shot three times: in the chest, right shoulder and arm.
Connie and Robert Hill believe that Robinson Hill's father, Ash Robinson, has ordered Hill's execution, and launched a $ 7.6 million suit against him for wrongful deaths. Robinson refused to take responsibility for the shooting, but insisted that Hill should be blamed for the death of his daughter. In 1977, after a seven-week trial, a civilian jury freed Robinson from any involvement in the death of his son-in-law.
During Ash Robinson's death sentence, Thomas Thompson, author of Blood and Money, argues that Hill may not have enough medical knowledge to kill his wife without leaving evidence. Thompson, who has watched many doctors while writing a book, describes plastic surgeons and orthopedists as the "carpenter" of the medical world. He characterizes internists and researchers as true thinkers of medicine, and says that Hill's interest in research only applies to the music world.
Bobby Vandiver and Marcia McKittrick's capture and trials
Houston detectives Jerry Carpenter and Joe Gamino were summoned to the River Oaks after a boy found the abandoned luggage of Hill, who was stolen during a robbery. While searching for the scene, Carpenter found a gun under the bushes. A ballistic expert is able to determine that bullets fired into Hill are handmade, and as a result of this Houston police can track the weapon to a doctor. When asked how the weapon found its way to the River Oaks, the doctor said that it had been stolen by a woman he described as a "whore". He goes on to explain that he has entertained two prostitutes, who stole money and one of his cars while he was sleeping. He has taken a gun and plans to go looking for the women, but when he is about to leave, he is summoned by another prostitute who calls himself Dusty, who asks if he wants company. When he was with her, he said, he took a gun. He then says he believes Dusty's real name is Marcia McKittrick. Carpenter, a former deputy squad officer, used his old contact to track McKittrick, and found him involved with Bobby Wayne Vandiver, an ordinary criminal who has established himself as a pimp following his latest release from prison.
Vandiver was arrested in April 1973, but refused to cooperate with police until he was positively identified as the perpetrator by Hill's mother. When he confessed to murder, he told police he had done it for financial gain. During his confession, Vandiver involves McKittrick and Lilla Paul, a former prostitute from Houston, as an accessory to Hill's murder. He claimed that the shooting was a contract assassination that he had been asked to do $ 5,000. He told the detective "[Paul] told me that the contract was with a doctor who had killed his wife, and it was the father of his wife who wanted him dead." For several days of police interrogation, Vandiver told Detectives Carpenter and Gamino that Lilla Paul first mentioned the contract in the summer of 1972, but he never intended to go through it. He says that after he agrees to kill Hill, McKittrick phoned Hill's office to arrange an appointment with the surgeon, but was told he was in Las Vegas. They then travel to Las Vegas to commit murder there, but can not find Hill, so they return to Houston. After Vandiver killed a doctor at his home, he fled with McKittrick to Los Angeles, where they shared apartments for several months, but they often quarreled, and returned separately to Texas in 1973.
On April 25, 1973, a grand jury chose to indict Vandiver and McKittrick for first-degree murder, and accused Paul of being a murderer. Vandiver's trial was set for September 1973. Meanwhile, District Attorney Bob Bennett arranged for him to stay in a motel with his wife, Vicki. He had found a job as a servant, but he had to stay in his room unless accompanied by someone from the DA's office. Vicki was in the process of seeking custody of her children from a previous marriage, and in June 1973, Vandiver asked Bennett if she could travel with him to Dallas while her case was heard. Bennett granted the request on condition that Vandiver would come in with him regularly. Vandiver appeared as promised in September, only to find out that the trial had been postponed, and Bennett reluctantly allowed him to return to Dallas. The trial was finally rescheduled for April 1974, but Vandiver failed to emerge. He continued his escape and moved to Longview, Texas, adopting the alias J. C. Sheridan and trying to maintain a low profile. However, Longview police officer John Raymer became suspicious of newcomers in his town. After finding the man's first name was actually Bobby, Raymer met Vandiver at a cafe one night in May; Vandiver pulled the gun, and Raymer shot him dead.
McKittrick remained free for several months, but was eventually arrested in Dallas on September 21, 1973, after attempting to cash out a payroll check at a drive-in bank. Under interrogation he reinforced Vandiver's story, and also told Carpenter and Gamino that he had met Ash Robinson when he lived with Lilla Paul in 1972. McKittrick claims that Robinson has said he will do everything he can to get his custodian's custody, but that the only way that will happen is if Hill dies. He said that Robinson and Paul often met at Ben Taub Hospital, where money was handed over, and that Robinson also visited Paul at his home, where he gave his plan to Hill's home and $ 7,000 on the day of the shootings. McKittrick is scheduled to stand trial in 1974, along with Paul. However, Paul's lawyer Dick DeGuerin argues for Vandiver evidence to be dismissed under the Sixth Amendment, which gives defendants the right to face their accusers; the request was granted. DeGuerin also requested McKittrick's evidence against Paul to be ruled unacceptable. But even though this request was also given, the presiding judge of the Price decided that McKittrick's evidence could be used in the case of the state against him. McKittrick's lawyer, John Caperton, then sought consensus for him to plead not guilty, but received a guilty verdict, something Bennett approved. McKittrick was found guilty of being a Vandiver vacation driver and sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released after serving five years.
Lilla Paul's trial and conviction
When McKittrick was brought from court, Bennett asked him to give evidence against Paul, but at first he was reluctant to do so. He continued to refuse until Paul's case was heard in February 1975. At trial, McKittrick testified that Robinson had paid Paul $ 25,000 to find someone to eliminate Hill, and that in turn, Paul had paid Vandiver $ 5,000 to carry out the murder. McKittrick and Robinson both passed the polygraph test. The results show that McKittrick was honest when he stated that Robinson had caused John Hill's death and that Robinson was telling the truth when he said he had nothing to do with Hill's murder. Bennett also produced evidence that Ash Robinson had issued a personal phone number, which had been found written on a scrap of paper in Paul's bag. DeGuerin then attempted to portray McKittrick as a liar by summoning Paul to the witness stand, a strategy that almost succeeded until Paul departed from approved testimony. She tried to portray herself as an honorable widow who felt sorry for McKittrick. However, after telling the court that he did not know Vandiver, but had brought McKittrick to his home after a friend of his late husband introduced them in the spring of 1972, Paul offered commentary on the differences between the two lifestyles of women. He told the court "I love [McKittrick] although you can gather from his conversation that his life is a little different from me".
Paul claims he does not know anything about McKittrick's past, but Bennett thinks his comparison of the women's lifestyle is unusual if he tells the truth. He knew that several years earlier he had been arrested on charges of vandalism and prostitution, and he sought ways to indict his testimony. An officer who had caught him, Lieutenant Allbright, then testified, cast doubt on his credibility, after which Bennett finally persuaded Paul's daughter Mary Jo Wood to provide evidence against it. The relationship between mother and son had worsened a few years earlier, after Paul did not approve of a man dating Wood, trying to get them both killed, then sending his daughter locked up in a mental hospital. Wood had escaped from the institution and fled with the man to another state, where the couple married, and he was afraid to return to Texas. He agreed to testify only after Bennett assured him that the DA's office would ensure his protection when he was in Houston. Bennett introduced Mary Jo Wood as a surprise witness. He went on to testify that when Wood was a young girl, Paul had owned some property in Galveston's Post Office Street, a famous red-light district, operated as a brothel. He also said that Paul had received payment from a man who wanted to take a sexual act with Wood. Wood testified that he and his mother met Joan Robinson Hill through Diane Settegast around 1963. While at Robinson Hill's house, the women also met Ash Robinson. Wood said that he and his mother sometimes sat in Robinson's box on a horse show. When Wood visited his mother in December 1970, he claimed he was told by Paul of a call from the Settegast, saying that Robinson wanted to hire someone to kill John Hill.
Diane Settegast testified that she had known the Robinson family since 1952 and had met Paul in 1957 or 1958. She refused to tell Paul that Ash Robinson wanted someone to kill her former daughter-in-law. Settegast, who had stayed at Paul's house during the first murder trial for Hill, said he had three phone numbers for Ash Robinson; he believes he received a third number after John Hill's murder and may have given the number to Paul. He goes on to say that he has seen Paul at the firm of Ash Robinson only once; it was at Chatsworth Farm during the 1968 holiday season.
Paul was found guilty and sentenced to 35 years. Robinson claims that Paul loves his daughter and that his actions were born out of a sense of justice for avenging Robinson Hill's death. He continues to maintain his innocence. Paul then appealed, and in October 1981, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed the conviction, stating that there was not enough evidence to prove Paul's error, and that McKittrick's evidence was unreliable. This decision was subsequently overturned by the Texas Criminal Court of Appeal in May 1982, restoring his original convictions and sentences. Paul died of breast cancer at Gatesville prison on May 16, 1986.
Aftermath
In 1979, Ash and Rhea Robinson moved from Houston to Pensacola, Florida, to distance themselves from an ongoing interest in the death of their daughter. In 1981, Robert Hill had reconciled with his grandparents and also lived in Pensacola. Ash Robinson died in Florida in February 1985, age 87. His wife Rhea died, 86 years of age, more than two years later in June 1987. After her husband's death, Connie Hill petitioned the court for custody of her 12-year-old son. stepchild, Robert. She joins in applying by mother and sister John Hill. Connie and Robert Hill stayed at Kirby Drive's house for several years. Robert Hill decided to sell the house in 1981. At that time, he lived in Florida, while Connie was preparing to remarry. Ann Kurth and her three sons went into exile outside Austin, Texas, where she died of an aneurism in January 1990, aged 59 years.
In November 1980, CBS-TV reported that medical evidence had been re-examined, and that Hill's defense lawyer Richard Haynes argued that Joan Robinson Hill might have died of toxic shock syndrome, a condition associated with the use of tampons. But while Houston Medical Examiner Joseph Jachimscyk agrees that some of the symptoms of Robinson Hill are indicative of toxic shock syndrome, he says that the others do not, so will not change his original conclusions.
Cultural impact
The events surrounding the death of Joan Robinson Hill have been the subject of several books, as well as the 1981 television film. Journalist and author of Thomas Thompson's 1976 book Blood and Money provided a detailed explanation of the case. He became interested in the story as he shadowed doctors in Houston as a research for his earlier book, Hearts, about the world of cardiac surgery. Ann Kurth filed a $ 3 million lawsuit against Thompson for his description of him as a "provocative dress, fake woman", but his action was fired by a jury in Austin in March 1981, which ruled that despite his insults, his description. about it accurate. The legal case is one of Thompson's three encounters for his book.
Kurth published his own account of a case titled Recurring Murder where he repeated his claim that Hill had tried to kill him, and alleged that he might have poisoned his first wife with bacteria-mixed pastries. He also suggested that Hill had not been killed in 1972, and instead moved to Mexico after faking his death. Retired Harris County District Attorney Carol Vance also discussed the case in his memoir, Boomtown DA.
In 1981, the Robinson Hill case was the subject of Texas Murder, a television film featuring Farrah Fawcett as Robinson Hill. This agrees with Kurth's theory that Hill may have faked his death, indicating that he arranged for someone else to be killed in his place. Journalist Jerry Buck noted in an article before the film's debut at NBC that the face of the shooting victims has been battered and there are anomalies in the autopsy report, especially that Hill has a different eye color than the one noted for the dead. Buck also wrote that Hill was having financial difficulties with the Internal Revenue Service in 1972 and faced a murder case against him. Sightings of Hill has also been reported in Mexico and New York.
The death of Robinson Hill is also the subject of a genuine crime-drama documentary as part of the Behind Mansion Walls series of the Investigation Discovery television network. "The Thredbred Heiress" first aired in June 2011.
See also
- Unsolved death list
The source quoted
- Evans, Colin (2007). Killer Doctor . Penguin Press. ISBN: 978-1-10120-597-6. â € <â € <
- Sizer, Mona D. (2008). Brave Texans: Tales of the Rich and Infamous . Taylor Trade Publications. ISBN 978-1-58979-402-3. Ã,
- Sizer, Mona D. (2000). Texas Justice, Purchased and Paid For . Taylor Trade Publications. ISBN: 978-1-46162-555-1.
- Thompson, Thomas (1976). Blood and Money . New English Language Library.
- Thompson, Thomas (2001). Blood and Money (reprint ed.). Running Press. ISBN: 978-0-78670-947-2.
Note
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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