The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Justice Delayed in Girl’s Murder

Posted on | November 18, 2012 | 6 Comments

In 1970, 9-year-old Donna Willing was kidnapped, raped and strangled in Milwaukee. The investigation of her murder failed to solve the crime, but in 2007, Donna’s younger sister persuaded detectives to re-open the case. The cold-case investigation soon identified a suspect: Convicted sex offender Robert Hill, who had lived next door to Donna’s family at the time of the murder. Hill was serving a prison sentence for his sexual assaults on four children between 1995 and 2002. Hill made two separate confessions:

Hill first told police he sexually assaulted Donna after she got into his car that night, according to court documents. She began to squirm and slapped him. He became angry, afraid she would tell on him. He strangled her and dumped her body in a garage. It all took about 10 minutes, he said.
In another account outlined in court documents, Hill said he molested Donna for years, and that night picked her up in his car and raped her. After she screamed, he put his hand over her mouth and strangled her.
Hill, who is now being in held a supervised facility, has since recanted both statements. But Balash said Hill’s statements contained specifics of Donna’s injuries that hadn’t been released publicly. . . .

Read the whole thing. Unfortunately, physical evidence in the Donna Willing was thrown away by police years ago, so there is no DNA or other forensic evidence available, but prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Hill, who is now 73 years old. It is sad that he was not apprehended immediately for that 1970 crime, which would have spared Hill’s other victims.

Category: Crime, Wisconsin

Comments

6 Responses to “Justice Delayed in Girl’s Murder”

  1. kari ward
    November 18th, 2012 @ 2:13 pm

    Death to sexual predators.

  2. nsaidian
    November 18th, 2012 @ 2:17 pm

    RT @smitty_one_each: TOM Justice Delayed in Girl’s Murder http://t.co/R5HnV2Hk #TCOT

  3. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    November 18th, 2012 @ 2:19 pm

    Justice delayed is justice denied. Unfortunately, with appeals and the passage of time, the death penalty is probably remote (although justified if Hill is convicted). I am glad the sister pursued this. That was the right thing to do.

  4. EsausMessage
    November 18th, 2012 @ 3:21 pm

    It really should be against the law for any governmental entity to dispose of physical evidence in either a homicide or rape case. I don’t care about the cost. These are criminal cases that should always remain open, even if they go cold, until they are solved. The effect on the community is just too grave to let them go.

  5. Becca Lower
    November 18th, 2012 @ 9:23 pm

    Read the story. It states that the evidence was lost, either through flooding or “when detectives cleaned out the evidence room in the 1990s”. If this statement by police is accurate, then nothing was “thrown out”.

  6. EsausMessage
    November 19th, 2012 @ 8:10 am

    I did read the story. What do you consider the detectives cleaning out the evidence room? That’s throwing things out. And frankly, the story makes clear that they don’t know how this happened. If that’s not negligence, then the word has no meaning. Do not let the cops off the hook.