Suspect in “Trash Bag” Killings Freed; Evidence Said Too Weak

by Linda Deutsch

One of two admitted homosexuals originally charged with the so-called trash bag murders” quietly slipped out of jail Thursday after the Riverside County Grand Jury ruled that evidence was too skimpy to indict him. David Hill left by a remote entrance from the Riverside County Jail where he and his former roommate, Patrick Wayne Kearney, had been held since they turned themselves in 13 days ago. Kearney, indicted on three counts of murder, is. being held without bail and will be arraigned July 28. Sheriff’s Captain Roger Denman said Hill and his attorney had requested that he be protected from contact with the media.

None of the reporters waiting at several entrances to the jail saw Hill leave. There was no magic to it, said Denman. The court paperwork had to be received and five minutes later we released him.” Denman Mid the 34-year-old Hill left by car from an unknown location with his nephew and a member of the public defender’s office, which has been defending him. District Attorney Byron Morton dropped the charges against Hill after the grand jury refused on Wednesday to indict him.

The evidence against Mr. Hill was weak, said Morton, who had recommended that Hill be indicted. Sheriff’s deputies in Riverside said they are investigating 28 murders of young men and boys based on Kearney’s information. The nude, dismembered victims of the 4 “trash bag” killings have, been found stuffed into plastic bags left beside Southern California highways.

Morton said much of the evidence tended to exonerate Hill, but he declined to say what evidence was presented to the grand jury. In court papers, sheriff’s investigators had reported physical evidence linking Hill to the murders because he lived with Kearney in a Redondo Beach house. Public Defender Malcolm MacMillan’ said Wednesday, night that this result does not surprise me. He said he would continue to represent Hill and would tell him to remain silent because of more potential charges in other counties.

Authorities in four other counties Los Angeles, Orange, Imperial and San Diego have said the pair is believed to be connected to several unsolved slayings in their areas. However, there were no immediate plans to issue warrants for Hills arrest in Los Angeles, Deputy District Attorney Dino Fulgoni said, “We have reviewed orally, the case with Riverside and it is very thin against Hill.”