IN- Man who killed two, himself was ex-con

Posted in Related Deaths

10-23-2008 Indiana:

PORTAGE | The man who police say came to Portage early Tuesday morning and killed his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend, then got in a car crash that killed himself and his 2-year-old son had a prior criminal record.

Lawrence K. Hill, 40, was a registered sex offender whose most recent address was 301 E. 12th St., Apt. 7, Mendota, Ill.

Hill was required to register as a sex offender after being convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault in Cook County, Ill. According to the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, the crime occurred 15 years ago.

Hill registered as a sex offender in Mendota on Sept. 5, and during the six and a half weeks between the time he registered and his death, he had no run-ins with police in Mendota.

Mendota police Lt. Lonnie Kent said the only contact police had with Hill was when Hill's home was vandalized. Kent described the area where Hill was living as a combination of apartments and mobile homes.

Portage police said they had not received any prior complaints involving Hill and his ex-girlfriend, Sonya Kerr, who lived at Park Place Apartments in Portage.

But at 12:50 a.m. Tuesday, police said Hill came to visit his ex-girlfriend after having some heated phone conversations with her.

Police said Hill climbed onto his ex-girlfriend's third-floor balcony, entered through her sliding glass door and began arguing with her about their 2-year-old son, who was in the apartment sleeping. Hill then tried to abduct his ex-girlfriend at knifepoint.

The woman's new boyfriend, Dennis R. Williams, 29, of Gary, who had been living with her at her Portage apartment, intervened but was stabbed to death by Hill, police said.

Hill fled in his Buick Regal and, without his ex-girlfriend's knowledge, grabbed their son, Keahn, from the apartment.

Police put out a bulletin asking police agencies to look for Hill and the child.

Beverly Shores police located Hill eastbound on U.S. 12, near Ind. 520, about 1:30 a.m.

Beverly Shores police, soon joined by units from several other departments, followed Hill onto Ind. 520 and then westbound on U.S. 20. Neither Hill nor the officers were going fast, police said.

Indiana State Police set up tire-deflating stop sticks at U.S. 12 and Mineral Springs Road in Porter. One of Hill's tires hit a stop stick. Hill continued eastbound, seeing a Porter County police car and seeing Officer Ryan Fenters getting ready to deploy more stop sticks at U.S. 12 and Beam Street in Porter. Hill accelerated and crashed head-on into the unoccupied police car, killing himself and his son, who was on his lap.

Toxicology tests are being conducted to determine if Hill had drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death, but Indiana State Police Sgt. Ann Wojas said there was no immediate indication that either were a factor. ..News Source.. by KEN KOSKY

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CASE UPDATE: Ex-Ottawa sex offender kills 2, self in Indiana

11-11-2008 Indiana:

A sex offender, formerly of Ottawa, recently killed two people and himself in Northwest Indiana.

Lawrence K. Hill stabbed to death his former girlfriend's male friend in late October at an apartment in Portage, then took the 2-year-old boy he and his 21-year-old former girlfriend had together and left in a car, police said. Police were trying to stop Hill's car when Hill, with the boy on his lap, accelerated and slammed his car into a stopped, unoccupied police car. The boy and Hill were killed.

The 40-year-old Hill lived in Ottawa until moving to Mendota in late August. That move led to Hill's arrest Aug. 26 by Ottawa police because, as a registered sex offender, he failed to tell police he moved and changed jobs. He was released from the La Salle County Jail in early September on $1,500 bond. Trial had been set for next Monday, with the public defender's office representing Hill. As a result of Hill's death, the bond money, minus $150 in administrative fees, was returned Thursday to the former girlfriend.

Hill was a registered sex offender because he was convicted of aggravated sexual assault against a 35-year-old victim in the mid-1990s in Cook County. Indiana State Police reported they believed Hill had been last living in Chicago. In recent years, he also lived in Mississippi. The former girlfriend told the Merrillville, Ind.-based Post-Tribune she moved to the Midwest from Mississippi following 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

Another former girlfriend, an Ottawa woman, obtained an emergency order of protection against Hill Aug. 26, saying Hill threatened her and her two children. However, at a Sept. 15 hearing about extending the order, Associate Judge James Brusatte — who issued the order — dismissed further proceedings because Hill showed but the woman did not. ..News Source.. by Dan Churney