Ep 8 | THEODIS HILL PART 1 Transcript

Voices of a Killer Podcast: Ep 8 | Theodis Hill Part 1 Transcript

Before we begin this podcast, please be advised that the following episode contains language that some listeners may find offensive and inappropriate. The opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not reflect the views of the podcast producers, listener discretion is advised.

What did you do to her? I took her out. It was like something was release and me like I had a lot of pressure up in the end. Once I did, it was like a release, like something. Did she fight back? She tried. In Arkansas if somebody who hunt, they hunt rabbits or something like that or so. But in the city it was different cause they was shooting humans.

Yeah. I seen a lot of violence in those projects. I didn't have no concern for human life at that time. I didn't care. Just anything like a light would go off and do it when I would do it.

Toby: You are now listening to the podcast Voices of a Killer. I'm bringing you the stories from the perspective of the people that have taken the life of another human and their current situation thereafter in prison. You'll see that although these are the folks that we have been programmed to hate, they all have something in common.

They are all humans like us that admit that they made a mistake. Will you forgive them or will you condemn them? They're currently serving time for their murders, and they give us an inside glimpse of what took place when they killed and their feelings on the matter now. Here are the voices of those who have killed.

Welcome to another episode of Voices of a Killer. In this chilling two-part series, we unravel the twisted tail of Serial Killer Theodis Hill, a man whose crimes terrorized the Midwest from Arkansas to Missouri and beyond. In this first part, we tried to understand what drove Theodis to kill. Looking back at his early years in painting a vivid picture of the circumstances that shaped him into the killer he became from his troubled childhood in the violet projects of Chicago to his spree of murders in St Louis. We'll explore the harrowing journey that led Theodis down a path of darkness. But there's more to this story than meets the eye. As we delve into his twisted psyche, we'll uncover never before heard details about the murders that have haunted him. False reports, wrongful convictions, written confessions in attempt to seek redemption. These are all parts of this disturbing story. Stay tuned for the dark secrets that will unravel in part one and brace yourself for the shocking revelation that awaits in part two of this bone-chilling episode of Voices of a Killer.

So Theodis, where'd you grow up? Where you from?

Theodis: I grew up in Chicago, Illinois. I was born in Forrest City, Arkansas.

Toby: Okay. Are your parents from Arkansas?

Theodis: Yeah, my parents were too. Yeah. But I moved, we moved to Chicago when I was one years old in the sixties. There was no work in the south for Americans, cotton fields and stuff like that. Or cotton. Yeah, it was father's brother had moved to Chicago, him and his family, and he started working at a steel place. They was building barges and so my father went down there. He was offered job down there, gave him a job. We ended up going to Chicago, but we had to stay with my uncle for a while and they were standing in the project, so they were standing in the Cabrini-Green projects Cabrini-Green and my mother applied for an apartment for us and we ended up getting an apartment in the same project, but a different building.

Toby: How would you describe your childhood? Did you see any kind of violence or did you, how was it?

Theodis: Oh, it was a very violent project back then and I didn't understand the violence I saw. As I grew up it was a culture shock, because as I say, I left when I was one years old, so I don't really remember much as a little bitty kid. But as I got older and I started going to like elementary school and I got into the elements of being in the city, it took some getting used to because there was so much going on in the city was so big but Forrest city was a little town. It wasn't really developed back then. There wasn't much going on. It was dirt road. And now it's streets and stuff. But I used to go back in the summertime cause my grandparents lived down in Arkansas. So we would go down there in the summer and then when we come back to the city, it was like a change of twilight zone. Yeah. From the country. Going back to the fast city, it never stopped. It was bad. Only time you heard shooting stuff in the Arkansas, somebody was hunting they rabbits or squirrels or something like that or deer or, but in the city they was shooting humans. Yeah, I've seen a lot of violence in those projects and there was a lot of gangs. Yeah.

Toby: What about in your home?

Theodis: It was a lot going on cause my uncle just came from Vietnam and he was on drugs real bad. And my father, he used to drink a lot and then jump on my mom, I was trying to stop them.

Toby: At what age did you get into drugs Theodis?

Theodis: I think I started young cause my father used to give me marijuana all the time. Cause he smoked it and he drunk, that's alcohol. So I would sneak his marijuana. He would gimme some and steal his beers and stuff like that. But I didn't get no serious drugs until I was an adult. When I was younger, I wasn't doing like no serious narcotics.

Do you have anybody on the outside that supports you, you're in contact with?

Man, I don't have nobody really, I haven't had a visit in over 12 years, man. I got a son that I haven't seen since he was a baby man. I don't even know where he's located at, but I have no connections with him. It's kinda hard man, cause his mom and I fell out cause I got married to another woman and I affected them due to the other woman she had kids that wasn't mine. And every time I tried to go get my daughter, she'd be like, nuh, my daughter around with a b**** and s*** like that. That's the kinda language she was using. Yeah. And she passed away Now though, my daughter's mother, she passed away three months after my mother did.

Yeah. How's that make you feel?

It It hurts me man. It hurts me cause I wasn't really a bad person out there, man. Before I could committed my crimes, I wasn't. I was pretty good. I never, nothing wrong to my family, anything like that I thought had a close knit family man. It shocked me. And that's what amazes me man. Cause I think they hurt cause of the crimes that I committed. Cause we wasn't raised that way. We didn't have nothing. Yeah. But there was a lot of mental abuse and physical abuse of the kids, you know?

Do you ever get someone like that you don't know, reach out to you and is just interested in you because you know you're considered a serial killer?

I don't have nobody reach out to me. No.

There's a lot of people that are interested in crimes and murder, especially whenever someone like you is considered a serial killer. You have, uh, what, five murders under your belt?

More than that. I think it's a lot more than that. Yeah. But that's what they convicted me of.

As we delve deeper into Theodis Hill's story, it becomes crucial to understand the historical and social factors that shaped his upbringing. Growing up in the tumultuous times of the 1960s, Theodis Hill's childhood was shaped by both the historical context of being born, a black man in the south, and the challenges of growing up in a violent and impoverished neighborhood during this period.

African Americans in the South faced systematic racism and discrimination as the fight for civil rights gained momentum. Segregation and racial violence were all too common creating a hostile environment for black communities. Theodis' experiences were influenced by this volatile atmosphere where the struggle for equality clash with deeply entrenched prejudices.

Moreover, the Vietnam War added another layer of complexity to Theodis's upbringing. African Americans, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, bore a disproportionate burden in the conflict. They were more likely to be drafted into military service facing the harsh realities of war, while grappling with racial injustice back home.

Theodis' uncle, a Vietnam war veteran who battled addiction upon his return exemplified these challenges faced by many black soldiers who fought abroad, but encountered a different battle for acceptance and opportunity upon their return. Against this backdrop, Theodis grew up in a violent project played by gangs and shootings.

The pervasive presence of crime and danger cast a dark shadow over his formative years. Making survival a daily struggle. These early experiences undoubtedly played a significant role in shaping Theodis' path, illuminating the harsh realities faced by many African Americans growing up in marginalized communities during a tumultuous era.

This, no doubt, played a role in his propensity to commit the five murders that he has been convicted of, the first of which was in 2006.

So you are actually in prison for murder, which if, and correct me if I'm wrong, the first person that you went to prison for was Fanny Mae Hill, which was no apparent relation to you. So that happened in St Louis?

Yes.

How old were you about?

This was in 2006. I can't remember how old I was since they take away, I'm 57 now and it's been 23, so I probably was 30 something maybe?

And you just basically hooked up with her and started doing drugs with her?

Yeah. Yeah, that's what it was.

And the murder was committed the same day that you met her?

Yeah, same day. W

henever you first met each other, your first interaction, were you thinking about that? About about murder or just like doing drugs with her and just being around her?

No, not at all. I wasn't thinking about it right then and there. It wasn't even on my mind.

So what time of day did you meet her?

The sun had just went down, it probably was about like seven o'clock, the summertime when the sun go down. It wasn't cold yet. Yeah. So went down.

So how exactly did you meet her? You just, was she somebody that did drugs with you?

No, I never met her before. I was just driving down the street. Actually, I didn't even know why I was even in that neighborhood.

Were you already high on crack?

Oh, no. Uhuh. I had been drinking. Yeah, I had been drinking and it wasn't always, every time I committed a a crime, I wasn't high. That's the f***ing strange part about it. Each murder I committed I wasn't high once.

Yeah. So you're driving down the street and you basically run across her and holler at her and you get to know her?

Actually, she turned around and I slowed up, she came over to the car, I said, where you going?, I said, I was just riding around. She said, can get in? I said, get in.

Did y'all end up doing any drugs together?

She brought it up. She brought it up. She was like, you get high. Like get high for what? Coz they had some drugs over there with 'em. She said she was sold, yeah, I know where to get some at, I said, ok, go on let's go get some, had a little change, a Little money. Let's back to her place. And we went back her place, that's how it started yeah.

What was she like? Did you, did you like her? Was she a nice lady?

I can't kinda recall. From what I remember was that she was explaining to me something about she had to move .I remember her saying something about how she had to move.

What happened at some point in, y'all get into an argument or where does it go for you to get to where you're?

Never got into a argument. It just happened. Started getting high and next thing I know she was dead there.

Whenever you, this happened though, did you finish your drugs or did you still have some left?

I just left. I left.

Before you attacked her. Had you ran outta drugs?

No Uhuh. I still had some left.

What did you do to her?

I choked her out. Yeah.

Did she see you coming, or did you sneak up behind her or what?

No, she saw me coming.

What'd she say when you started attacking her?

Nothing. She didn't say nothing.

Was she fighting back?

No, she didn't do anything.

What'd you do? Did you grab ahold of her with your hands?

Yeah. Yeah.

What I've read here is it says that you killed her with a towel on the second floor apartment in St Louis.

That wasn't the towel. No, it wasn't with the towel. The towel was there and I tried covering her up with the towel, her face up with it.

Why'd you wanna cover her face?

I don't know. I don't. I really don't know.

After you got physical with her and you actually started to attack her, how long did it take to kill her?

Not long, probably. Probably about. Three minutes maybe. Yeah, that was, it happened real quick.

Yeah. While you're doing this, cuz three minutes, if you think about it, if we started counting right now, three minutes, that's actually a long time. So what I'd like to know, and I think most people is at any point in time, minute 1, 2, 2 and a half, or you thinking like, Hey, I probably shouldn't do this cuz this person will eventually expire?

I didn't think about it like that. I just. I didn't.

So you didn't think about while it was happening after you were done, did you have any regret looking down, knowing what you did?

Yes, I did. I had some regret. I had some regret cause I was like, she didn't even do anything to me.

Yeah. Did you think about maybe trying to call the police or trying to revive her?

No. No. I didn't.

How long did you stay around in that building with that body in there now?

I left immediately.

And you covered her with a towel before you left?

Yeah.

But you actually used your bare hands. You didn't use the towel like the news says?

No. Or the process, dunno what I, yeah, I dunno where they got that.

Yeah. Well-

It's a lot's a lot about that because I had somebody read it to me one time. A lot that they had stuff in there that didn't occur.

Yeah. After you killed Fanny Mae, how long after that day did the authorities approach you and arrest you or question you?

Oh, it was a while. This was a while.

Years, months?

I was, the first time they came and asked me about that, they didn't even wanna believe that I had done it. And they asked me had I ever been in apartment and I told them yeah. I said, yeah, I used to go over there all the time, but I was lying. And they believed it actually all had to do in the the log book cause it was a sign in book. They never checked it.

Yeah. So you had to sign into the apartments?

Yeah.

But then they finally basically arrested you for it. And, uh, did you confess immediately or did you go all the way to trial and plead not guilty?

No. They had locked me up for the same murder two or three times and let go. 20 hours. 20 hours. 20 hours. They never had enough to indict me. They kept letting me go. Yeah. And so it just locked me up for it until after I back from Arkansas after the Lowe murder, once they figured out that I had did that one down there. Then Arkansas was looking for me on that murder there. When I came back to Missouri, that's when they locked me up. Yeah. They would've never locked me up for that murder there. If I had never went to Arkansas and committed those other two murders, they never would.

The tragic killing of Fanny Mae Hill in 2006 showed the beginning of Theodis', modus operandi. He met Fanny coincidentally, but little did she know that he would become the driver of her final journey. Those fleeting hours in search of a short term high with crack cocaine would be her last on this earth. It gives way to the time world advice of "don't take lifts with strangers." Most disturbingly is the lack of reason for this senseless act.

It is difficult to know what really happened that day, but Theodis's account is chilling. Intriguingly, Theodis's ability to continue his spree of murders raises unsettling questions about the accountability of authorities. According to him, after his first murder, he was repeatedly held by the state only to be released after a mere 20 hours.

Could their failure to detain him be directly linked to the subsequent killings? Theodis himself places blame on the state suggesting that they had kept him in custody. He may not have committed the following two murders in Arkansas, which now begs the question, could Theodis Hills reign of terror have been prevented?

Now Theodis, while you're actually in prison for the killing of Fanny Mae, you were charged with Marissa Lowe's murder while you're there, right?

In another state. Yeah. That's not Missouri. That's not Missouri.

So did you have to be transported to Arkansas for that Marissa Lowe's murder?

Yeah, that was the one with Fanny Mae. That was the second. Marissa, low murder. That was a capital murder and abuse of a corpse that was a capital murder, and I think three days after that murder there, I committed another one down there as well. Yeah, murder

Fanny Mae happened in St Louis. Now you went to Arkansas. How did you meet Marissa?

There's a place called Big Store. It's like a gas station, and sells beer, gas, food, it's kinda like a quick trip.

You just started talking to her and then y'all hung out?

No, I didn't even see her coming. I was sitting in the car walking outside of the big store and I was drinking some beer in the car. It's hot, summertime. And I was sitting there drinking some beer in the car. You know those big tall cans of beer at the time, and she walked up to the car. When she actually scared me when she walked up on me. I didn't never see her coming. I just turned around. She was there.

Yeah. So now let me ask you, Theodis, so at this point, You've actually already killed a woman. Whenever somebody, like for instance, when somebody like Marissa walks up, are you going through your head like, Hey, this is somebody I can possibly kill again? Is that, do you think that Now?

I wasn't thinking it like that, but I wasn't thinking you see what made me kill her was, I gave her some money to go get drugs and she went at a house and did, I sat out the front for a while, she went out the back door on me. And I happened to just drive around the street and she was walking up the street.

She was trying to basically steal the drugs from you?

Yeah. And she was walking up the street and I said, where's my stuff at? She said I Got it right here. I said, where you going? She said oh Somebody had told, me that I had to walk up the street and give them something. I was like get in the car man. And I knew then I was going to kill her. That's when I in, I was fired up.

So when she gets in the car, do you play it off for a little while or you say you're, as you know, you're gonna be dead?

Yeah, I played it off.

So where did y'all go? She gets in the car and, and you know, at that point I'm gonna kill you now. Where did y'all go?

We had a house that my grandmother used to own.

Was it like an older abandoned house or just a house you were?

No, no lights was on, gas was on. Everything, wasn't abandoned.

So you brought to Marissa there and y'all went inside and started smoking crack. Yep. But I had went down there. The reason why I went down there, cause they kept messing with me about, the Fanny Mae case right?

Yeah.

So I end up down there I was going to, Just laid back, hide away for a few years. And, uh, but when I got down there, she triggered something off. When she did what she did. And I think soon after that is when I caught the other murder down there, it wasn't even a week.

How much crack did you buy?

I can't even remember. I think it was probably about like hundred dollars for

Did you wait till after you smoked at all and then you killed her? Or did you let her have any at all?

Yes. She had it first.

DId you kill her after the first hit or did you smoke all of it?

No, I let her smoke first and then after that I did. I didn't even smoke none of it.

So you let her take a hit and then you killed her?

Yeah.

How'd you kill her?

Same way.

You choked her with your hands?

Yeah.

Does it make you feel powerful like drugs do? Like whenever you kill somebody with your own hands?

It doesn't make you feel powerful. It was like something was releasing and outta me. Like I had a lot of pressure build up in me, and once I did, it was like a release. Like I could breathe again or something.

What do you think you were releasing whenever this happened?

I don't know. I think there's a lot of anger and frustration maybe.

And where does that come from?

Oh, that I just been holding in, I guess from years and years. Just feeling that type of way, feeling that rage, about the world itself. Things that I was through, I really didn't care anymore. I didn't care anymore back then. I didn't have no concern for human life at that time. I didn't care.

Did Marissa fight back when you started to attack her?

No, none of them never did. Never did.

They just grabbed your hands and try to pull it off. That's all. When you're choking them?

That's That's it. Yeah. That's all they got.

Do you look at 'em in the face when you're doing that or you, what do you do?

Yeah. Yeah. I did. I did.

At any point in choking Marissa, did you think that, wait a second. I've known last time that I did this, someone died and I know that's not?

No, I know. If you think that, cause I already, I was going to be arrested for the other one. So Theodis, what I'd like to know is what truth is there in it is it where they say in the news that you put Marissa in a ditch?

Yeah, I did. I put it in the trunk of my car. And I drove. I couldn't find out where to dump the body, and so I went down there. Today there's a federal prison down there. It's right up the street from there. I don't think the prison was there then. There was buildings, I think there was buildings and there was a ditch there and I threw the body in the ditch, that's why they gave me a capital murder. At that time I actually wanted to death penalty for that case.

Why?

That's, I was tired and I knew if I ever got back out that I was going to do it again.

Would you say that now? You'd still do that again if you got out there?

Oh, no, not today. I wouldn't, no, not almost 15 years ago. I, anything today, I wouldn't. Cause I've changed my life. I've gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ, that's why I confessed to those because it was weighing on my heart so heavy.

It is important to highlight the tragedy of this case from Marissa Lowe crossing paths with Theodis led to her demise, and yet another senseless, unjustified, and gruesome murder. Listening to the details of Theodis's intimate connection with the act makes it hard for us to remove the fact that he is, after all, a serial killer.

Despite this fact, we need to acknowledge that Theodis knew about this and wanted the death penalty for himself. It seems like a crazy thing for anyone to wish upon themselves, but after his first conviction, Theodis was racked with guilt. He was hiding a secret that he confessed to in the form of letters to the authorities.

Were those thoughts consuming you?

Yeah, they were consuming me, but I was getting frustrated cause people did not wanna hear about them. Yeah, they didn't want hear about them.

More about these after the break.

So while you're in prison though, on Fanny Mae, you wrote authorities and talked about other murders. You actually wrote a judge, a St Louis judge, and I want to quote you here cuz it's actually pretty powerful what you said. It says the murder is involved, depravity of the mind, and was outrageously and wantingly vile, horrible and inhumane. It's evident that this was weighing extremely heavy on you. Were those thoughts consuming you?

Yeah, they were consuming me, but I was getting frustrated cause people did not wanna hear about 'em, yeah, they didn't wanna hear about 'em, they figured that they already had me for the Fanny Mae murder and the Lowe murder. They wasn't even interested in all the other murders. Yeah, they wasn't until being consistent. I sent probably 10 letters before those people started contacting me. Yeah. Just letters they didn't talk about.

Was that one of the first ones you wrote, the prosecutors, or did you write the prosecutors about every single murder at once?

No, I wrote the two states at different times.

Was it a little bit at a time or did you just let 'em all know all about all of them?

I tried to tell 'em about all the ones in Missouri. They didn't want to hear about the two of them, two in Missouri. They didn't wanna hear about the other murders.

Theodis Hill's, letters from prison shed a haunting light on the depths of his troubled mind and the extent of his culpability.

In these correspondences, he confesses to the gruesome murders he committed expressing remorse and acknowledging his responsibility for his actions. Within his written confessions, Theodis also attempts to offer some insight into the factors that drove him to commit such heinous acts. He attributes his actions to mental illness, claiming a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, narcissistic personality disorder and a drug and alcohol dependence. These letters became a crucial piece of evidence providing chilling details about the killings that only the true perpetrator could possess. The revelations within them were instrumental in connecting him to additional crimes that had previously gone unsolved.

So one of the victims that you called about was Sierra Sullivan, who's 22 years old, killed her in St Louis in July, yeah. Of 2009. How did you meet her is just the day you met her, the day you killed?

Yeah. I was coming out of a liquor store and she was coming outta an alley, outta a liquor store. It was on Martin Luther King and Hamilton St Louis on the west side.

Okay. How would you describe yourself as charismatic, approachable? Do you look friendly?

Yeah, I was clean cut.

Did you have a rough appearance? You looked like you were a mean guy or did you have an appearance that looked like you were a friendly guy?

I was like a friendly guy. I was approached cause people would approach me so.

What'd you do for work back then? Did you work? Did you have a job?

I had a jobs and worked different jobs and stuff like that. Yeah.

Like doing what?

I worked a lot of factory jobs. I had factory jobs. I've had good jobs.

Working at these jobs. Did you ever think about or fantasize about maybe just killing somebody you work with?

That I work with?

Yeah. Somebody that you're just working with.

No, I never was really fantasized about anything like that. I know one time I got into it with a manager at a job and I was thought about going back up to the job and doing something.

And you'd already killed somebody before when you were mad at 'em like this?

Yeah. Yeah.

What made you not do it?

I don't know. I just. I didn't want nobody else to get hurt. I guess it was without this had target on him.

It's funny is cause a lot of people kill when they get mad and obviously you get mad when you kill, but there's no mechanism from these women. They, not all of 'em. I'll get to one where they triggered you, but like you're saying, you just do it just to do it. They haven't made you mad or anything?

Just hadn't made me mad or anything. Like a light will go off to do it when I would do it.

So with Sierra, after she approached you, y'all basically hung out together and did y'all do drugs together?

No we didn't do any, we didn't do any didn't do nothing at all.

What was the purpose of y'all hanging out?

She asked for a ride.

Okay. So you took her for a ride and did you go kill her?

Yep, I did.

You rode down the road and what happened?

I parked over on this one side street. I parked on the street called Amhurst.

So you pulled over, you put it in park, and then what happened?

I put it in park and then I just grabbed her in the headlock, choked her out. Yeah.

You didn't say anything to her before you did that?

Nope. Nothing at all.

And at no point she said, why are you parking?

She never asked why.

Were y'all flirting with each other? Did she just need a ride? And that was it?

No, no. She just asked me for a ride and it was going that way where I was going over that way, I guess she probably thought I was pulling over to probably somebody's house. Yeah. I dunno.

Here's what I'll tell you. So you're in the driver's seat, she's in the passenger seat, and you say you put her in her headlock?

Yeah.

I'm not saying that can't be done, but it's a little bit hard. You had to probably like really like take her and put your back up of your chest up against her back to do it or did you just hold her? How'd you do?

I just told her. I just grabbed her and she like turned around and I had like in with my around her neck and she wasn't a heavy person, she wasn't that no big person.

Yeah. Was she fighting back?

She tried a little bit, but-

So when you're doing this, are you looking around to see if anybody's looking or are you just looking down at her?

I wasn't even caring about that. I wasn't even caring about that.

Did you say anything while you're doing this to her? Nope. Nothing at all. It was nighttime. It it probably about nine o'clock.

So let me ask you this. As soon as you said yes, you can have a ride, did you immediately think, I'm gonna go ahead and kill this girl?

I already knew it. Yep. Already knew it.

Does that feel exciting to you to think that this is gonna be the one I've got an opportunity now, or does it make you nervous?

You know what, I was already angry about something and I told them that as well, that I was already upset, angry about something. I can't remember what it was. I told her they had talked to me about that case, I told her that.

She couldn't tell that you were angry or she didn't care, or was your disposition angry in front of her?

No, she couldn't even tell. I think she's more interested in was I finna get her high or something.

How come it says you'd been drinking and doing drugs with her? It also says that it, you confessed to killing her for taking drugs off the nightstand.

No, that's something they put in there wasn't, there was no nightstand it was in the car. I don't know where they got. It's a lot of stuff they just add in. I dunno why they got that.

In the world of true crime, the line between fact and sensationalism can often be blurred, such as the case with Theodis Hill and victim Sierra Sullivan.

While news articles reported one version of events, our interview with Theodis provides a different perspective. According to news reports, Sierra Sullivan was set to have been strangled by Theodis after they engaged in drug use at a hotel. However, Theodis's account paints a much darker and disturbing picture.

He revealed that he purposefully picked her up in his car with the intention of taking her life. Fueled by an unexplained anger he coldly admitted that he knew from the moment she entered the vehicle that he would end her life. This stark contrast between Theodis' interview and the news reports reminds us of the sensationalism that often accompanies coverage of serial killers.

News outlets driven by the desire for attention in viewership can sometimes distort or sensationalize the details of these crimes, creating a narrative that captivates the public, but may not always align with the truth. This is one of the benefits of hearing Theodis's own words. Disturbing as they may be.

They become crucial to separate the facts from the embellishments. The other murder that Theodis confessed to in this letter was that of Katherine Dawson, and as we'll soon find out without Theodis own words, another man was wrongly convicted on his behalf. More after the break.

One thing that I heard I wanted to ask you about was that one of the murders that you wrote about and confessed to, and the authorities basically charged you with it, and then you were prosecuted for it. There was actually someone else charged with it. And then whenever you confess, they dropped that charge. Did you know about that?

Oh, which one you talking about?

They don't specify which one, but they say that another man was charged with the murder that they were actually able to link you to once you confessed.

What? What state was it?

I believe it was Arkansas, but it-

Oh yeah, that was one. I remember that one. Yeah. Yeah. That was the Dawson case.

So one of them actually says, and this is the victim. Katherine Dawson, which was on September 9th, 2009. She was 48. You supposedly went crazy on her. Is that true?

No, I didn't do that. I didn't go crazy.

Yeah. But you used a pillow to suffocate her?

Yeah. A pillow yep. I think they actually trying to push for the death penalty at the time, that's why they were saying that. Arkansas really wanted me bad. They was more interested into my crimes than Missouri was.

Arkansas was more interested into punishing me. Yeah, for my crimes than Missouri were. Missouri was more like trying to conceal why they hid it. Yeah.

So with Katherine, you did use a pillow? Yeah, I did.

Did you know her for a while? Or you just met her that day as well?

I met her at the, like a store. It's like a confectionary store. It's right off the highway in St francis County.

Yeah. And she approached you or you approached her?

I approached her.

Why'd you approach her?

I asked her, I asked about, I was kinda lost. I got turned around. I about getting in the car, but then she got comfortable when I asked her about did she know where to get some drugs at. And that's what lured her on me to kill her. We was at her house.

Is that where you killed her?

At her house? Yeah.

And how long after you had met at her house though, did you kill her?

I thought I was in there for oh a whole about an hour.

What was the discussion like before you killed her?

She was trying to explain to me about somebody she knew around here, had some better drugs or something like that. I wasn't from too familiar with Arkansas at the time, with a different. Wasn't there? Cause people I knew when I was growing up there had moved on other little towns and stuff.

What were you thinking about killing her as soon as she got there? Or did you just all of a sudden get crazy on her?

I didn't get crazy on her. I don't know where that coming from.

Do you ever discuss that you're gonna kill them before you kill 'em or you just attack 'em and they don't know?

No.

Do you sneak up from behind or are you just always grab 'em?

Uh, she wasn't prepared for it.

How did you put the pillow over Katherine? You threw her on the bed?

Yeah I threw her down there yep.

Did she fight back?

No, she tried.

Do you ever think about while you're doing this, that it's not right?

I have. I did think about it, thought about it a lot through the years. It really weighed on me.

What did you do with Katherine after you suffocated with the pillow?

I left the house, actually, I was locked in the house cause she had locked, she had bars on the door. A screen door for, and you push a little lock down and it locks. And I couldn't find, I was so intoxicated. I didn't remember what she had put in the key, so I had to climb out the bathroom window.

Have you ever been accused of doing anything s**ually to these women?

No, I never did. Never did. It wasn't my desire.

So where did you make it to when the authorities finally got to you?

Once I caught the Lowe murder, and I came back to St Louis. I fled from justice down there cause they questioned me about it, but they was coming back to lock me up. They towed my car, kept my car for 24 hours. So I was stuck in town. You hear me? Yeah. Saint Francis County Police Department towed my car and the next day I called and they said, yeah, you can have your car back. Come get it. And they found no evidence in my car. So I went back down there, I walked back to the police station, they gave me my car back. They took some items out of it, stuff like that. The club steering wheel thing and. And they gave me my keys and they told me, don't leave town. That's what they told me. But I drove and went to Marianna, Arkansas. Cause I had family in Marianna, Arkansas, which is about, I guess about 30 miles away. And by the time I got to Marianna, somebody had called down there and told one of my relatives down there that they had kicked the door into the house. They was looking for me. So I left the back route. I didn't go back down to Forrest City to hit the highway to go back to St Louis. I went another route through Mariana and not Highway take to St Louis as well, like a back road. One of my relatives showed me how to get to the highway through the back roads, and I took the back roads that I got to St Louis. And once I was in St Louis, I was there for a couple months. I had a warrant in Arkansas

For murder?

And for the murder. It's capital murder.

Where were you hiding out?

I wasn't hiding anywhere. I was at St Louis. I made it back to St Louis. I drove back from Arkansas to St Louis and I was staying in Jennings, yeah, I was staying in Jennings at a friend of mine.

Jennings, Missouri?

A lady. Yeah, Jennings, Missouri with a lady friend of mine. But by the time they found out that I was in Jennings, I had moved from that house to another house. I was on Wilborn, and then once I left on Wilborn, I moved a few blocks over to Helen and they didn't know it, but they came on Wilborn looking for me and somebody told we moved on Helen and that's when the Marshall service came and got me from Helen, that was on December 16th, 2009, when the Marshall service called.

Wrongful convictions are a haunting reality that casts a long shadow over the criminal justice system. The fact that another individual was wrongly convicted in Arkansas on behalf of Theodis. Is a chilling reminder of the devastating consequences that can arise when justice goes astray. Lives can be irreparably shattered, and the true perpetrators may continue to roam free, leaving a trail of pain and destruction in their wake.

While there is not that much information out there on the Web regarding this case of wrongful conviction. We can surmise that perhaps this played an influence in Theodis's desire to confess via letter. The result of this letter led to Theodis being charged with the murder of Katherine Dawson in 2014.

And the murder of Sierra Sullivan and a murder, which unfortunately we did not cover in this interview. That was of Janice Mayhew, who was found strangled in her apartment in St Louis in September of 2008. Theodis ultimately pled guilty to all of these charges and the Marissa Lowe murder. He was prosecuted on a total of five murders, one capital murder, one second degree murder and three first degree murders. Ultimately, Theodis's own confession bore the responsibility of these charges. Now, listener, you may be thinking that this is the end of his terrible and tragic rap sheet, but as we ended our call, he reminded us that there was something else that we needed to talk about.

Tune in next time to hear the Never Before Heard audio of Theodis Hill's confession to more unsolved murders here on Voices of a Killer.

Yeah, I there's a couple that I wanna tell you about that I tried to confess to and they never would let me.

I'm gonna let, we're gonna get there. We don't have to rush it. We got plenty of time to talk, so we'll get through it all. Okay?

Yes they they didn't wanna know about them for some reason I don't know why I can't understand. I had to talk with, my attorney, Marissa Holman my public defender. Yeah. And she bought a lady service attorney's office down to, and they never walked me to talk about, I think they actually convicted them, one of those murders.

Oh. And they was in prison.

That would make sense because they actually, someone else was, Actually charged with one of yours until you confessed and they switched. Thank you for using Securus, Goodbye.

On the next episode of Voices of a Killer.

How come you didn't write anybody in Chicago about this one?

They never was interested in that. They just wanted to be interested in the ones that I talked about.

That's one of the murders that they never prosecuted you on? Yeah. They never prosecuted me on.

So how long have you been in prison now? How many years?

Since '09.

There's got to be more mental health awareness, man. These doctors at these mental health clinics gotta take people seriously what they're saying. Cause all they do is write down some stuff on the paper or pad and they throw it to the side, write you some prescription, and then they kick you right back out into society. Eventually it's gonna weigh on them, their consciousness is gonna kick in they're gonna say man that was wrong. If there's any humanity in their life.

 That's a wrap on this episode of Voices of a Killer. I want to thank our guest, Theodis, for sharing his story with us today. I know it couldn't have been easy for him to relive those painful memories, but his willingness to be open and honest is what makes this podcast so special. A big shout out to Sonic Futures who handle the production audio editing, music, licensing, and promotion of this podcast.

If you want to hear more episodes like this one, make sure to visit our website at www.voicesofakiller.com. There you can find previous episodes, transcripts, and additional information about the podcast. Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a review on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Your feedback helps us improve and reach new listeners. Thank you for your support and we can't wait to share more stories with you in the future. Thank you for tuning in. I'm your host, Toby, and we'll see you next time on Voices of a Killer.