Woman Charged with Killing Teen, Dumping Body in Gary 8 Years Ago is from Joliet

The family of a woman jailed last week in Wisconsin for allegedly killing her teenage niece and dumping her body in Gary, IN, long harbored suspicions about her stability, a nephew said.

“She had this whole holier-than-thou attitude,” said Demetrius Hill of Joliet, the nephew of Taylin Hill, who also went by the names Minnie and Marie.

“We always knew there was something wrong with her,” Demetrius Hill said. “She was always just ‘Crazy Aunt Marie.’”

Taylin Hill, 50, allegedly killed her niece Erika Hill. Gary police found the 15-year-old dead in a garage in February 2007. Erika Hill’s body reportedly bore more than 170 healing injuries and scars.

In August, a relative of the slain teen reached out to a Gary detective.

“This female had firsthand knowledge of where the young woman had been discovered and also named a suspect,” police said in a press release.

“As her story progressed it was discovered the young female had not been murdered in Gary,” police said. She was slain in Fitchburg, WI, “but had been left in Gary in an attempt to cover up the crime.”

“Taylin Hill had been raising Erika Hill and also severely abusing her,” police said.

The informer knew so much due to her involvement in hiding the body, said Gary police Lt. Dawn Westerfield. Taylin Hill allegedly forced her to participate, and the unwilling accomplice was too frightened to refuse or — until August — come forward with her secret.

Demetrius Hill said he does not know much about Erika Hill. He said his father and Taylin Hill had the same father and he suspects Erika Hill may be from his aunt’s mother’s family. Demetrius Hill believes he may have met Erika Hill at the hospital shortly before his father died in July 2006.

“When I got there, my dad asked for them to leave,” he said. “She was upset that he asked her to leave.”

Demetrius Hill said he has “been in touch with (Taylin Hill) sporadically” since then but had not seen her.

“Last I heard she was going to California for a church convention” but ended up in Wisconsin instead.

Taylin Hill also had a daughter, Tierra Hill, who hanged herself in the Dane County jail in May 2004. Tierra Hill had been picked up on a theft charge. She was 19 when she died.

While Demetrius Hill does not know who Erika Hill’s parents are, or much else about the teen whose body was found in a Gary garage eight years ago, he was troubled that she ended up with his “crazy” aunt and that no one seemed to know she was missing for so long.

“How did she get custody of the girl anyway?” he asked. “How come no one looked for her?”