The Solved Cold Case Murder of Erika Hill

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13th November 2018  •  3 min read

On 26 February, 2007, the badly abused and tortured body of a teenage girl was discovered in a garage in Gary, Indiana. It took eight long years before she was finally identified as 15-year-old Erika Hill.


The Solved Cold Case Murder of Erika Hill

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On the 26th of February, 2007, two brothers driving through an alley in Gary, Indiana, spotted what appeared to be two burned legs inside a cinder block garage. Upon further inspection, they discovered the partially clothed body of a teenage girl and alerted local police who arrived at the scene. It was evident that the young girl had lived a tragic and traumatic life. She had 170 scars of varying stages all over her body and face; her teeth had all been knocked out; she had been systematically starved and she had been set on fire. Her cause of death was suffocation but she had also sustained blunt force injuries and stab wounds.

Following the discovery, police trawled through local missing person reports and an artist created a composite sketch of her likeness in an attempt to identify the body but to no avail. She became known as the “Lake County Jane Doe.”

It wouldn’t be until 2015 that the body was finally identified after Kiara Hill went to Gary police to confess that she knew who “Lake County Jane Doe” was and who had killed her. She told police that the body belonged to her adoptive sister, 15-year-old Erika Hill, and that she had been killed in February of 2007 after suffering years of torture, abuse and starvation at the hands of her adoptive mother, Taylin Hill, who was a cousin of Erika’s birth mother. Erika had initially lived with her grandmother but when her grandmother died, Erika moved in with Taylin and her family and was subsequently adopted by Taylin. Erika was her grandmother’s favourite which may have explained why she was so horrendously abused by Taylin; all of her other children were abused but not to the extent that Erika was abused.1 All of the children had been removed from school at times to hide the signs of their abuse. According to Kiara, it appeared that Erika “could do no right.”2

Erika would be forced to stand on one foot while Taylin beat the other foot until it bled. Taylin often carried an extension cord around her neck which she would use to whip Erika whenever she felt like it. In addition, Erika was systematically starved and Kiara described her complexion as “gray.” On one occasion, Taylin took Erika to hospital after she struck her hand with a hammer but took her home after medical staff asked Erika to change into an examination gown out of fear they would see her injuries. Kiara told police that in early February of 2007, Taylin called her – and her other siblings – into the bathroom of their Fitchburg apartment where she showed them the lifeless body of Erika in the bathtub. She had been repeatedly beaten with a heavy object, asphyxiated with a cloth which still remained in her mouth and then stabbed.

Taylin ordered Kiara and her two other siblings – Joshua and Ciara – to stuff Erika’s body into plastic garbage bags. Afterwards, they dragged her into the garage where she remained until the smell of decomposition became too hard to ignore. Taylin then “gathered up her children” and forced them to carry Erika’s body from the garage to the family van. They then drove to Chicago and dumped her underneath an overpass. Taylin pulled out her teeth and set her on fire in an attempt to render identification. Having second thoughts, they then decided to move the body to Gary, Indiana, out of fear that an elderly person may have a heart attack upon finding the body. Kiara said that Taylin had threatened her and her siblings from telling anybody what had happened. Kiara told investigators that she did tell an ex-boyfriend about Erika at one point but said she didn’t think he believed her. After the murder, Taylin became somewhat less abusive towards Kiara and her siblings, using her hands to strike them as opposed to objects.

The Solved Cold Case Murder of Erika Hill

Years later, Kiara spotted a drawing created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of the burned body found in the garage in Gary, Indiana. Kiara said she knew immediately that the drawing was that of her adopted sister; the drawing took her right back to that tragic night. Until now, she didn’t know that Erika’s body had been found. She confessed what had happened to her therapist who urged her to go to police. Disturbingly, Taylin worked as an aid in the special education department at Madison School District. She worked in this position from 1998 until a leave of absence in October 2004. Her employment ended in 2006 when she didn’t return from leave but she subsequently went back to work in the same position in December 2013 and remained there until her arrest. When Taylin was arrested, investigators asked her about Erika, and she claimed that she had ran away in 2009. Investigators then informed her that her body had been found back in 2007 and had now been identified.

Taylin Hill pleaded guilty to child neglect causing death and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. During her trial, her two other children, Ciara and Joshua, remained staunchly loyal, stating that she had nurtured and supported them throughout their life. Joshua said that what happened to Erika’s body was “not okay” and that there needs to be some justice for it, but that his mother had already been in jail for a year.3

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Footnotes:

  1. Chicago Tribune, 20 September, 2015 – “Arrest in Cold Case Reveals Victims Sad, Violent Past”
  2. Wisconsin State Journal, 15 September, 2015 – “Fitchburg Girl is Indiana’s Jane Doe”
  3. Wisconsin State Journal, 8 November, 2016 – “Adoptive Mom Sentenced”

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Sal
Sal
5 years ago

This is so disturbing. Why adopt a child, take on the responsibilities of a child, and then torture and kill them? What is the motivation… I don’t understand. At least she has been identified now and can be laid to rest.

Sarah Elizabeth Britt
Sarah Elizabeth Britt
5 years ago
Reply to  Sal

It’s usually got something to do with money. You get $$$ every month and assistance for fostering or even adopting. They’re barely feeding the kids, much less buying them clothes or other basic necessities so they get to keep all that money/assistance for themselves. Then you got the pedophiles who take kids in for sexual gratification. Or even both, I’ve heard of a lot of cases where they were taking children in so they could turn around and pimp them out to pedophiles for $$$. And it keeps happening over and over and over and even when cases like this… Read more »

Tora
Tora
4 years ago

You do NOT get money for adopting. Considering I was adopted, I would know this.

Romane
Romane
3 years ago
Reply to  Tora

In some places you do get money for the child when you adopt. I don’t think it’s enough for it to be worth it.

Lenice mcdade
Lenice mcdade
3 years ago
Reply to  Tora

It depends on the circumstances and where you live. Some people do get additional income for adoption

Tinamarievr
Tinamarievr
3 years ago
Reply to  Tora

Every state is different. Look at the West boys in CA case.

RayLynn
RayLynn
2 years ago
Reply to  Tora

As an adoptive parent myself, I do know for a fact that you do get adoption subsidy for taking care of a child(ren). the adoption subsidy does not belong to the adoptive parent it goes toward the child’s needs; clothes, food and board. I adopted my biological niece and received adoption subsidy which was used for her care. So yes, the state in some cases do give adoption subsidy.

Robin
Robin
1 month ago
Reply to  Tora

Wild. My nephews are adopted and they get money , medical insurance covered ( Medicaid ), college paid for , various other resources. Also are we sure she wasn’t considered fostered? I worked at a dental clinic in Gary Indiana for 10 years. The amount of abuse I saw from foster parents I can’t count. You can 100% tell they are doing it for the money. And yes we called every time services.

Tinamarievr
Tinamarievr
3 years ago
Reply to  Sal

One reason…MONEY!

Nina
Nina
5 years ago

So goddamn horrifying 😭 That beast is a fucking psycho who deserves to get tortured the same way she hurt all those kids. She had to have screwed them up for life so sad.

Tara White
Tara White
5 years ago

This bitch…I can’t even begin to say what I hope happens to this head case in prison, where she better stay for life! The only positive from this is that poor girl is finally free from the abuse she endured for far too long. And then the psycho was Working in a special needs classroom…oh, so she abused them too I’m sure of that! Nasty. Vile. Repulsive POS

Joyce williams
Joyce williams
2 years ago
Reply to  Tara White

She only got 20 years

April
April
5 years ago

What a sick evil woman…

Susanna Vesna
Susanna Vesna
4 years ago

It’s crazy how child services in USA will chase parents who smoke pot from time to time, but are like blind rats when it comes to REAL fucking abuse!

Danielle
Danielle
2 years ago
Reply to  Susanna Vesna

Can’t investigate abuse that has never been reported to them. They aren’t magicians! And the LAW states marijuana is illegal, so legally they have to act.
Don’t like it- advocate to change the laws! CPS in CA and NV do nothing for marijuana because it’s legal there.

Susanna Vesna
Susanna Vesna
2 years ago
Reply to  Danielle

Dude, all of her children were systematically missing school due to abuse! What are the teachers and schooling system for, if not to take note of this shit and report to the authorities! The government likes investigating things that bring them money. Who cares about the children!

Pam
Pam
3 years ago

This POS is in prison for only 20 years? For systematically torturing, scarring and then beating to death a child? Wow. Remind us again about the justice system?

Lenice mcdade
Lenice mcdade
3 years ago

Fuck this bitch! I dont understand you assholes that take kids in to hurt them! Send them to live elsewhere if you hate them so much.

Joyce williams
Joyce williams
2 years ago
Reply to  Lenice mcdade

I’m just as angry (almost) at the nurses in the ER who let her walk out of there w/o calling the authorities! All the “Karens” that we read about who call the police on black people primarily for dumb ish and when it come to something that’s truly visibly appalling, you let it GO?

Pamela
Pamela
1 year ago

Are you kidding me? Child neglect which ended up causing a death? Oh my God. Taylin literally tortured & beat the poor neice with objects for heaven’s sake!!!!! She had nothing but violence & hatred in her heart. Beat all those poor kids. How can she NOT be charged with first degree murder with special circumstances which warrants a death penalty? I don’t understand!!! This was prolonged, planned, well-thought out & carried out torture??? What is going on here? That girl’s body was scarred up & toothless.

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