March 22, 2007

“60 Freeway Slayer” Formally Sentenced to Death

LOS ANGELES – Ivan Hill, the convicted “60 Freeway Slayer” of six women in 1993 and 1994, was formally sentenced to death today by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who presided over Hill’s jury trial.

Prior to sentencing, Fidler denied defense motions to set aside the verdict and modify the recommended death penalty. Family members of some of the six victims – including sisters, a brother, daughters and a husband – presented emotional statements condemning the defendant for acting as “judge, jury and executioner” of their loved ones.

“I can find no reason, Mr. Hill, not to sentence you to death,” the judge said in imposing sentence. He noted that Hill was convicted of six murders in the current case, evidence of two other murders were introduced at his trial and he had been convicted of a murder in an unrelated case. “Those are nine people no longer with us,” Fidler said.

A jury convicted Hill of murder with special circumstances on Nov. 17, 2006. The same jury on Jan. 2 of this year recommended that he receive the death penalty. Some members of the jury attended the lengthy sentencing hearing today.

Hill was in prison in November 2003 when charged with the murders of five of the six victims. The murder of the sixth victim was under investigation when the case originally was filed. A charge alleging her murder was added later.

Two of the victims were killed in San Bernardino County. Under an agreement with the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, all the murders were tried together in Los Angeles County by Deputy District Attorney John Monaghan of the Major Crimes Division.

All the victims were strangled and their bodies left near the 60 Freeway, prompting the serial murders to be known as the “60 Freeway Slayings.” Hill was linked to the killings through DNA.

District Attorney Steve Cooley has called the Hill case a dramatic example of how “law enforcement agencies can reach back in time and bring criminals to justice through DNA technology and a more comprehensive felon DNA database.”

The serial killers victims were:

* Betty Sue Harris, 37, whose body was found about 4:45 a.m. on Nov. 1, 1993, in the parking lot of an industrial complex in Diamond Bar.
* Roxanne Bates, 31, whose body was found about 3:45 a.m. on Nov. 5, 1993, alongside a road in Chino.
* Helen Hill, 35, whose body was found about 10 a.m. on Nov. 14, 1993, in the parking lot of an industrial complex in the City of Industry.
* Donna Goldsmith, 35, whose body was found about 5:15 a.m. on Nov. 16, 1993, in the parking lot of an industrial complex in Pomona.
* Cheryl Sayers, 34, whose body was found about 6:35 a.m. on Dec. 30, 1993, in Ganesha Park in Pomona.
* Debra Brown, 33, whose body was found about 5 a.m. on Jan. 12, 1994, in San Antonio Park in Ontario.

Hill was arrested in February 1994 in Upland in connection with a string of nine robberies between Nov. 23, 1993, and Feb. 24, 1994. Eight of the robberies were in San Bernardino County and one in eastern Los Angeles County.

He was successfully prosecuted in San Bernardino County and was sentenced to state prison. He had been scheduled for release in February 2004, but because of the murder case, he has remained in custody without bail.

The investigation and prosecution, said Cooley, demonstrated interagency cooperation at its best. Besides the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office, other agencies involved included the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Pomona, Ontario and Chino police departments.