Inside the case of Joan Robinson Hill Case, Texas Socialite who died in mysterious way

Ash Robinson always protected his only daughter, Joan.

The mighty Texas Oilman adopted Joan when she was a few months old and then supported her for an early horse career that started at the age of 3. Later he rented out an apartment building from her at her college campus to look at her. When she wanted to get married, Ash had the last word, even though Joan’s first two marriage ended in divorce.

But when Joan suddenly died in March 1969 in the middle of an marital dispute with his third husband, John Hill, Ash believed that the criminal system had let his daughter down by not sufficiently investigate if Hill had poisoned her. So Ash took the matter in his own hands.

Here’s what happened.

A “match made in heaven”

A famous rider who competed in front of thousands at a young age, according to Brownsville HeraldJoan was not a stranger to win medals in first place in his riding competitions. She was even profiled by by Sports illustrated 1959 when her famous horse, Belinda – bought from her father – retired. After attending college, Joan married twice before meeting Hill, one of Texas’s most prominent plastic surgeons. The couple married in 1957 but continued to live in a largely separate life, according to one Crime magazine Profile about Joan’s – and later Hill’s – Death.

“It looked like a match in heaven,” said Dick Deguerin, a lawyer in Texas who later worked on the case, ABC 13 In 2023. “This beautiful high community horsepower, the only daughter of a rich oil and John Hill, handsome, dashing plastic surgeon at the top of his profession.”

But at the end of the 1960s, the idyllic social couple became even more distant, and Hill began a deal with a woman he would later marry in 1969, months after Joan’s death.

Joan’s death

In March 1969, Joan suddenly became ill shortly after Hill began divorce procedures against her. For several days, Hill seemed reluctant to take his sick wife to the hospital and instead chose to treat herself, according to New York Times.

Joan died just 15 hours after Hill finally brought her to the hospital when her condition worsened, according to Abilene reporter-News. Several pathologists would not agree with what led to her death – even if Ash thought he knew whose fault it was, according to United Press International.

A father’s revenge

For several years after Joan died, her father Ash refused to believe that his daughter’s death was just a tragic accident. According to ABC 13, ASH hired private investigators to dig into his suspicions that Hill had poisoned his wife and killed her.

“He had an influence on the court,” the long Houston reporter Tom Kennedy, who covered the Hill case, told ABC 13. “He had incredible influence with the big jury.” Three Grand Juries examined Hill as a result of Ash’s pressure, which led to his charges in 1970, according to Associated Press.

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But Hill was never accused United Press International. Subsequently, prosecutor Ash decided to take justice in his own hands. Hill was shot outside his home by a masked Pistolman in 1972, three years after marrying Ann Kurth, the woman he had a deal during his marriage to Joan.

In 1977, Ash was indicted to orchestrate a murder-by-rent-plot related to his former son-in-law, according to Victoria Advocate. But Ash was not found guilty after lawyers said there was not enough evidence that they would judge the 79-year-old grief, who continued to invoke their innocence. ” I didn’t want him dead, ” said Ash at the trial, according to Times. ” The murder did not solve his problem or mine. ”