A Fitchburg, Wis., woman has been charged reckless homicide and six other crimes in the death of her cousin, a death that ended up a cold case in Gary from February 2007.
Fitchburg Police Lt. Todd Stetzer said Tuesday the Gary Police Department received a call from a female relative of Taylin M. Hill, 50, of Fitchburg, sometime in August regarding the death, which was classified as “Lake County Jane Doe.” Gary officers contacted Fitchburg two weeks ago, and Fitchburg officers arrested Hill Sept. 10. The victim, Erika Hill, was 15 at the time.
The Gary Police Department found Erika Hill’s body in the 200 block of Polk Street on Feb. 26, 2007, according to Gary Police Lt. Dawn Westerfield. At the time, the Lake County Coroner’s office declared Hill’s death a homicide, noting she had more than 170 healing injuries and scars, police said.
In August, a woman claiming to have first-hand knowledge about the death contacted Gary Detective Lorenzo Davis, Westerfield said. The woman, identified in the criminal complaint as KMH, identified Jane Doe as her cousin, Erika Hill, and knew where she was found in Gary.
KMH also told Davis Erika Hill wasn’t killed in Gary, but in Fitchburg. Taylin Hill, who had been raising Erika, had severely abused the girl and ended up killing her, and she and KMH brought the body to Gary to cover up the crime, Westerfield said.
In taped interview with Davis, KMH said Taylin Hill forced her to help dispose of the body and threatened to harm KMH if she ever said anything. KMH did, however, conduct an Internet search to see if Erika Hill had ever been found, and she found a flyer listing Erika as a Jane Doe, and started contacting Gary Police, Westerfield said.
Taylin Hill has been charged with six counts of Intentional Child Abuse-Bodily Harm and First Degree Reckless Homicide. Stetzer called the 20-page criminal complaint against Taylin Hill “extremely detailed and graphic.”
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter with the Post-Tribune.