Morbid - Episode 525: The Death of Joan Robinson Hill- Part 1

Episode Date: January 1, 2024

On March 19, 1969, thirty-eight-year-old Houston socialite Joan Robinson Hill died at Sharpstown General Hospital from what doctors at the time believed was flu-related symptoms. Hill’s body was quickly taken to the mortuary and embalmed before an autopsy could be performed, violating Texas law and undermining any attempts determine the cause of Joan’s death. Nevertheless, Joan’s father, a wealthy oil tycoon, believed his daughter’s death to be a homicide, used his influence to have her remains exhumed and had not one, but two additional autopsies performed to determine the cause of death. Despite conflicting reports from the pathologists regarding a cause of death, Joan’s father was eventually successful in convincing the district attorney that her death was no accident, but was in fact murder committed by her husband, John Hill. After two unsuccessful attempts to convince a grand jury of John’s guilt, the district attorney finally convinced a third grand jury that John Hill had intentionally contributed to Joan’s death and he was charged with “murder by omission,” a first in the history of the Texas courts.John Hill was put on trial for the murder of his wife in the winter of 1971, but the jury would never get a chance to weigh in on his guilt or innocence. In September of 1972, after one mistrial and several delays leading up to a re-trial, John Hill was murdered by an intruder who’d broken into his home. Although investigators believed Hill’s murder to have been a robbery gone wrong, many in Houston suspected Joan’s father, believing his son-in-law had evaded justice, had paid to have John Hill killed, leaving the deaths of Joan and John Hill an enduring mystery.As always, thank you to the fantastic David White, of Bring Me the Axe Podcast, for research assistance ReferencesAssociated Press. 1971. "Doctor 'hated' first wife." Corpus Christi Times, February 26: 1.—. 1972. "Houston doctor slain at home." Corpus Christi Times, September 25: 13.—. 1969. "Meningitis said fatal to socialite ." Corpus Christi Times, October 11: 13.—. 1971. "Judge calls mistrial in Houston slaying." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 27: 12.—. 1970. "Panel indicts doctor in death of wife." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 23: 3.—. 1973. "District judge clamps lid on Houston doctor's murder." Odessa American, April 27: 3.—. 1971. "Testimony continues in trial of physician." Odessa American, February 23: 2.Gonzalez, J.R. 2009. 40 years later: Joan Robinson Hill. March 19. Accessed November 7, 2023. https://blog.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/2009/03/40-years-later-joan-robinson-hill/.New York Times. 1977. "Oilman is cleared in Houston murder of his son-in-law." New YorkTimes, October 22: 1.Thompson, Thomas. 1976. Blood and Money: A True Story of Murder, Passion, and Power. New York, NY: Doubleday.United Press International. 1980. "Heiress may have been toxic shock victim." United Press International, November 23.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast. Hey, Weirdo's I'm Ash and I'm Alina and this is Morbid. This is Morbid. For you. I'm good. I'm looking at snacking cheeses. Snacking cheeses. Yes. I recommend, I think they're like, oh fuck, are they, they're like the Bella Romano or something

like that. Yeah. Yeah. And they have the Merlot ones. Bell Geoso. Yes, not Bell Gio. Gio-Eo-Eo-so. Something like that, I apologize. I amlot ones. Bell Geoso. Yes, not Bell at all. Geo-yoso. Something like that, I apologize.

I am only 1.4% Italian. I'm not any percent Italian, so Merlot colleges for me. They have a Merlot one that's really good. Yeah. And a Spresso one, which sounds odd, but is good. And then they have a champagne one that I tried recently. And these are all cheeses, by the way, really good. Tana, I don't know if you recommend.

We love this. Sunda's cheese. Ponserous cheese. Oh, I love cheese. Yeah, I get the little, uh, little snacking ones for the gals. And there's an ASEAGO one that's just chef's kiss. Chef's kiss. Yeah.

If I'm going to do a snacking cheese at like a baby bell. Or I forget what the brand is. It starts with an S. It's called like, maybe it's like supreme bites or like super bites, but it's little mini-breed cheeses. Ooh, I could take a breath or leave breath. That's upsetting. I know. I would never leave breath in a million years.

I might leave it if it hurt my feelings. It could hurt my feelings, but I would still stay. I would still stay. I would still stay. This has been cheese with a vanilla. With vanilla. I love it. I like that we both put each other first. I was just kidding.

I like that was sweet of us. That was nice of us. I like that. I like that. All right, well, I have a case today. You're like, I don't know how to segue. I don't know how to segue, because this is a really sad one. And it's a really confusing one.

I'm gonna go ahead and tell you at the top of this that nobody's really ever convicted for one of the deaths that we're going to talk about. Oh. And it's very unclear whether it's simply a death or more complicatedly a murder. Wow. Yes, so we're going to be talking about

Joan Robinson Hill and John Hill. Okay. But we're going to start with Joan. So Joan, all of Robinson, she was said to be born on February 6, 1931. I say said to be because her birth certificate was like lost at some point, actually. Oh.

And there's no record of her birth that exists as far as anybody knows. Wow. But as far as people do know, she was born to anonymous parents and rural Eagle Lake, Texas. And a month after she was born, she was given up for adoption to Edna Gleenehome in Fort Worth, Texas, where she was actually quickly adopted, which like yay.

Oh, and she was adopted by Davis Ash Robinson. Hey, he was known as Ash and his wife, Raya. Now Ash Robinson, he was a classic Texas oil man. I feel like oil men are like a running theme in my case. Yeah. I'm loving an oil tycoon. You love an oil tycoon or like maybe not, but maybe not, but you are interested in their stories. It's because rich. And I love oil tycoon.

Rich oil story. You love a Dallas kind of story. Oh, yes. Yes. Very like, whoa. Very woe. Very flashy. Very, very shocking. Very that. So those are them. So Ash Robinson, he was a classic Texas oilman. He wore a wide-brimmed cowboy hat all the time. He drove a Lincoln Continental. Yeah. And he was deeply suspicious of liberals, we'll say. Okay. Yep. As a child of the old south, he had views that were increasingly out of step with the world around him that were interesting. Yeah, but despite his heart exterior, he absolutely adored his wife and his new daughter. Well, that's good. Yeah, that's how we can ask.

He loved his family. I don't know if I really want to know anything else about his personal views, but he loved his family. Honestly, the most important part, you love your family, you take care of them, that's good. Yeah, treat them nice. Exactly. And this was kind of during a time where most dads Honestly, the most important part. You love your family, you take care of them, that's good. Yeah, treat them nice. Exactly.

And this was kind of during a time where most dads were pretty hands off and loved the baby's needs mostly to the mother or the woman in their life, but Ash was not about that life. He insisted on tending to the new baby's needs, repairing her formula, changing diapers. When she was old enough to take on trips, he would bring little Joan around with him

to check on his oil wells at the time. Oh, man. Which was like a very rare sight. That's really cute. Yeah. And as she grew, there was nothing Ash would not do or give to his daughter. Do for her, give to his daughter.

Author Thomas Thompson wrote, should a minor scratch appear on her arm, Ash would summon a specialist. And if necessary, a medical staff. Oh, like he loved his daughter. Yeah, she was just like precious cargo. Very much so. When Joan was four years old,

her father hired a chauffeur, quote, chiefly because he enjoyed going on rides with his daughter and did not want to divide his attention between her and the road. Wow, that's really precious. That's some dad shit right there. That's some oil tycoon. That's a shit. I was gonna say that's not just a's really precious. That's some dad shit right there. That's some oil tycoon. No shit, right there.

That's just like typical dad shit. Yeah, that's cool. That's really rich dad shit, but like very adorable. Yeah, it's kind of like hot girl shit adjacent. Yeah, there you go. Now, it was on one of those drives that Joan got her first glimpse of the animal that would play a very, very important role in her future.

Ash would later recall, I remember well exactly what happened. As the car passed a field full of horses, Joni commenced a hollering that she wanted to ride those ponies. That was the beginning, everything dates from that afternoon. Oh, wow. She fell in love with horses and horseback riding. She came across school. She came across school.

I just four years old where, you know, that's an age where like a lot of kids would be pretty intimidated by a giant fucking horse. For sure. And, you know, just's an age where like a lot of kids would be pretty intimidated by a giant fucking horse. For sure. And, you know, just like straight up scared, not jome. She became completely obsessed. Within a few weeks, Ash had purchased her an older horse that she learned to ride on, and of course, learned the responsibilities of owning an animal in general.

Yeah. Within a year. So when she was five years old, she was writing in competitions and winning ribbons alongside riders that were twice her age. Or old. Like for her. She was an incredible, incredible horse that loved it. And she entered high school. That love of horses was continually rivaled only by the love of her father. And when she graduated and enrolled at Stevens College in Boone County, Ash and Rea Robinson actually leased a suite of rooms at a hotel

across the street from the campus, so that they wouldn't have to be apart from their daughter. Wow. But you know, I think that it's lovely that they loved their daughter so much. Well, it was out of love, obviously. It was out of love, but I definitely think it was a little overboard.

Yeah, I mean, you do need to, I mean, I can't imagine, because my kids are so young that I'm like, I can't fathom being apart from them for any length of time. Like, yeah, I'll let them spread their ways. But I know at some point you got to let them, like, be a little independent, but that's tough. Yeah.

And at least you know it was out of love. And I think it's a different to, like, I think there's the added level that she was adopted. And like, they wanted to have a baby so badly. And like did whatever they could to have. So maybe it was just like yeah, it was just saddening an abundance of love and protective nature. Definitely. You know. Now at college Joan was instantly popular with her peers and her instructors. And she also maintained her passion for writing. And she spent most of her free time when she

wasn't at classes or anything at the stables. But at the same time, she also was keeping up with her grade. She was doing really well in school, trying to satisfy her parents. And while she may have loved her mother and father, she definitely did. Their constant presence eventually did become stifling. Yeah. And of course, you can imagine she's at college, like she has to branch out a little bit. One of her friends later said most of us felt sorry for her. She was completely under her parents' thumb. She couldn't even accept a date without checking with them first.

With all that attention, she was hungry for love from somebody other than Ma'an Pa. Oh, I know, that's the thing, it can backfire. That's exactly. But it's never intentional, you know what I mean? Like it's always, you can understand it. No, and I really don't think it came from anywhere other than a place of just Love really loving that child real real raw love. Yeah

No, when she was younger, you know in her childhood years the love and attention that she got from her parents specifically her father Helped Joan grow into like a confident empowered young woman But as an adult that same adoration had become a little more oppressive and smothering at this point. Yeah. While she was still in college, she appeared in a drama department production, which sparked an interest in acting that actually led her all the way to Hollywood to take a screen test.

Hollywood? Hollywood? And that's kind of what her father said. He said, Hollywood. Hollywood. But a little different. Because when he found out about her intentions to make a name for herself and acting,

he was not pleased. Oh. He immediately refused to allow this. And he told her, I quote, too many good girls had been destroyed by show business. I mean, show business is not a scary place. It is. You can see the hesitance that you would have

to allow your child, your only child. 100%. To enter that, I get that. And especially during this time, and that's the other thing. This is a very different time. I mean, anytime really sucks. Anytime, but during show business is intense.

But this was like this. It was like frowned upon at this point in time. And it looked at very different at that time. So it's like, yeah. And, but it sucks for her because it's like, it's what she wants to do. No matter why you want your parents to like support your dreams, you know, or it's absolutely, it's a tough, it's a tough little double edge sword there. It is. I do get to a degree where, where Ash was coming from, but I also,

I get his worry. Yes. And I also understand my Joan would be worry. Yes, and I also understand my Joan would be disappointed. Yeah, you can see both sides there for sure. And I think as much of him, as much of him that wanted her to not become an actress, it also had a lot to do with the distance.

That would have been for the term. I think that's the thing. That was also a big part of it. That's it. This is why this is one of those things that it's like, you're not seeing these shitty parents who are just hardasses for the sake of being hardasses. You know what I mean? That just put all these crazy unnecessary expectations

on this child and I've driven her to, it just seems like you can kind of understand both sides of this coin here, which makes it so sad. It's a lot. Yeah, because you're like, I get it. I get both of you. I get, I get all of it. Yeah, you seem like you just all love each other

and want to make each other happy, and it's difficult for that to happen. Yeah. But over time, it would become clear that Ash Robinson's influence over his daughter's life extended well beyond professional and financial. While she was still in college, Joan Metton fell in love with a man named Spike. Shut up.

Spike Bench. I immediately thought of you. Shout out to the rewatchers. Is this William the Bloody? It's not. No, it's just Spike Bench. It's just Spike. It's just Spike.

He was a young man from a pretty prominent New Orleans family. Oh. Both of your, your, in my goodness. He, yeah, he's from a pretty prominent New Orleans family and he had recently graduated from the United States military Academy. Oh, wow. So this guy, they met, they fell in love.

Eventually the relationship, you know, turned serious because love, because love and spike approached Ash for his permission to marry Joan. He's like, I love your daughter. I really, I really want to marry her. That's adorable. Ash was like, no, oh, and no, not happening. That's not adorable.

He was like, you guys are too young. I really don't want Joan to marry you while you're an active member of the military. And I also think it's going to be way too expensive for you guys to keep up with the horses. So no. I mean, he just taxed that on. He's like, horses are expensive as well.

So he's like, sorry, she's a really good writer. You're in the military, so you're gonna move around a lot, which I'm not gonna let that happen. It must be so hard, it must be so hard. I dread this kind of stuff. Because it's like you have to let go. Yeah. And you have to relinquish a little bit of control

in your pants, because you've never done it. But you've spent their whole life doing nothing, but trying to keep them safe and secure them, the right directions and teach them things and like make sure they're okay. And it's like, and then you just have to release all of it and hope that whatever you did, all right. So it's like, I can't imagine how much,

but it's like the more you fight for control as they get over, I older, I just like, from what I've witnessed, it feels like it just backfires. And it must be such a hard like balanced strike, you know. Because that's the thing, you hope that like you just said, you hope that you gave them enough that they're gonna make good decisions. And you also hope that you know, like you loved them enough and created like a bond with them where if they're not doing okay, they'll come to you. And you have to have faith in that. Exactly.

And I think that is where letting go could become a little easier if you have that bond where you know that they'll still come to you. Exactly. And I don't know if Ash even really thought about that. I think he was just blinded by like, I can't let this happen. Yeah, I was just blind fear of like,

she's gonna leave. Exactly. And for that reason, literally any reason he could possibly think of for them not to get married, he named and used in his argument against this idea. But despite his refusal, Joan insisted that she wanted to marry Spike and eventually her father did relent

and he gave his blessing, but it took some time. It took a little bit. Yes. For all our morbid parents out there, this one's for you. If the time you're spending cooking these days, only for your kid to completely reject the meal feels absolutely criminal at this point, listen up. You're spending cooking these days only for your kid to completely reject the meal feels absolutely criminal at this point.

Listen up, because your new year is about to get a major upgrade. You need to try little spoon. Little spoon delivers fresh, healthy meals and snacks that your kid will love for every eating stage. Little spoon is a one-stop shop for healthy, easy, male time and snack time for your baby, toddler, and big kid delivered right to ya da. Little Spoon delivers baby blends, biteables, plates, smoothies, lunchures, and snacks. Let me highlight a couple for you because I'm just absolutely obsessed. The plates for toddlers and big kid meals are amazing. They're meals free of

junk and they taste so good. Even the pickiest eaters and I got some of those, they're gonna love them. Smoothies are also a big hit for us in this house. They're organic. They come in the form of a convenient pouch made with really good easy flavors that kids are gonna love. Like strawberry banana shake,

but there's also purple carrot, assaible, and you can just pretend that it's not purple carrot. We just got into lunchures here, too, and it's a fresh take on an old school classic, and they are my kids absolute favorite. Did I mention that it all comes right to my door? It's so flexible, so easy, and everything stores right in the fridge and the freezer.

I pick the menu, I change up what I order every time just to make it fun and exciting, and the price is right, the quality is unmatched, I just love it. And more importantly, my kids love it. Heck the grandparents love it. It's a huge win-win-win for my family and it can be for yours too. Simplify your kiddo's meal time with 30% off your first order. Go to littlespoon.com slash morbid and enter our code morbid30 at checkout to get 30% off your first little spoon order.

New Year, New Year, right? Wrong. Do not reinvent yourself for the New Year, just re-hydrate yourself with liquid IV. With three times the electrolytes of leading sport strengths, plus eight vitamins and nutrients for everyday wellness, Liquid IV hydrates two times faster than water alone, all in a single sugar-free stick. So you can feel like a hydrated new you, but you're still you and you're ready to take on 2024. I absolutely love liquid IV. It is delicious. All I do is I search my little stockpile that I have at this point because I love it so much that I have a genuine stockpile. I find my favorite flavor because I love it so much that I have a genuine stockpile I find my favorite flavor which at this point is the sugar-free white peach. I don't know what it is

It just hits baby. I break that open. I pour it into my cute little glass Put some ice in there and then I use my little milk frother to mix it all up because it really gets it good And then I just down that baby. It's delicious and then I feel it really gets it good. And then I just down that baby, it's delicious. And then I feel absolutely hydrated and gorgeous. I like I said, one stick and 16 ounces of water hydrates better than water alone. It's got three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink and no artificial sweeteners and zero sugar. Rehydrate yourself for the new year. Grab your liquid IV hydration multiplier sugarfree in bulk nationwide at Costco or get 20% off your first order when you go to liquidiv.com and use code morbidadcheckout. That's 20% off your

first order when you shop better hydration today using promo code morbid at liquidiv.com. Now after the wedding, Joan and Spike moved down to Florida, where Spike had been stationed, actually. And just as they had done when she left for college, Ash and Rea Robinson also found a reason to relocate to Florida. And they rented an apartment just a few miles away from the newlyweds. Guys, I love you. But you gotta give them a little space.

This is bringing helicopter parents to another level. Yeah, I see that you have pure intentions for your age. Right, right. But like, you gotta give her a little space. Because the thing was rather than being a source of support for the young couple, Ash became a constant presence in their lives, he started every single morning by going to have coffee at his daughter's house,

which is really precious. And so lovely. But like, if this got to be a little division. Yeah, like if my, you know, my grandpa came to my house every single day for coffee, like right now when I had just gotten married, I'd be like, I love you so much. And you can, you can totally do this,

but this is a lot. But like, we need a little separate. And that's the thing. If it was just coffee every morning, that was their thing. And they decided that was their thing, and that was it. And otherwise they had very like regular average time together.

You know, like that's one thing, but it's like because there's so much other, I'm sure it became a little stifling. Yeah, a little like domineering unintentionally. Now, it wasn't long before the stifling constancy of Ash Robinson became a point of contention for spike in Joan in the marriage. And unfortunately, within six months, the marriage completely fell apart. Oh, boy.

And Joan sent her back to Texas with her parents, all three of them relocated back to Texas. Luckily for Joan, it wasn't long before she fell in love again. This time with a New Orleans lawyer named Cecil Burgess. She's loving New Orleans here. She does, and she's also just like gorgeous, so you can see why. Yeah, she just doesn't have any trouble. Now Cecil and Joan there,

they both really shared a love of horses and riding the horses and they really bonded over that. And before long, the prospect of marriage was raised yet again. But this time Ash just flout out refused to allow his daughter to, quote, run from the ruins of one marriage and into another. Yeah, that's, that was neat right there. We're starting to overstep a little bit. In fact, he not only refused to give his blessing to this specific marriage, but he quote unquote forbid it. Oh, which like, okay.

Okay. And he's pushing Joan at this point. I forbidding your child to do something, especially when they are not a child. Not a child. It's really just a recipe for them doing it immediately. Ding, ding, ding, because regardless of her father's feelings, Joan and Cecil ended up aloping in 1949 and they just got married by a justice of the peace without putting anybody

there. Yeah, of course. But unfortunately, this marriage didn't really last long either and within six months, Joan actually just ended up leaving Cecil and filed her divorce shortly after. At the time, the Robinson's told friends and family that Cecil had been a good man, but that he had a gambling problem that it ultimately ruined the marriage.

But the truth was actually that Joan's parents had lied to her about Ash having a heart attack in order to lure her back to Texas. And once she was there, Ash had successfully convinced Joan to leave her husband by offering to buy her a new car, main coats, new horses, and telling her that he needed her more than Cecil did.

Big yikes to that. So he didn't see, I don't know if Cecil had a gambling problem and maybe that was just like a fragment of the truth or if he really didn't at all and it was just that, you know, they, no matter what they learned her back there by saying that Ash had a heart attack.

That's fucked up and he did not. I'm just gonna be honest with you, that's fucked up. Yeah, see the thing is, we crossed a very large boundary. The boundary is so big. This is dysfunctional. This is so this is toxic. This is not okay. Nothing I've been trying. Trying to be like, you know, parents love their kids. It's hard, you know, shit. Wow, okay, you just love being near her. But your coffee's nice every morning. But no, we crossed over. No, I gave a big, wide, wide boundary.

And they just galloped right over it. Like a horse? Like a horse? Yeah. By 1951, when she was just 20 years old, Joan had graduated from college and was twice married and twice divorced. So she was still living at home with her parents at this point.

She was really completely free of responsibility, but she was ambitious and eager to leave some kind of mark on the world. So she started competing in horse riding tournaments again around Texas and the southern part of the country. And over the next 20 years, she would actually go on to, when, quote, over 500 trophies and two of her horses won several top awards in the 50s and 60s. Damn. So she was really talented.

Really? Yeah. She really wanted to have... She wanted to make some kind of name for herself, like in some professional endeavor, and she sat back with her self and succeeded. She very much succeeded. And she couldn't have picked a better time to be unattached and unencumbered because by the late 1950s and early 60s, the oil boom in and around Texas made countless men into millionaires. Oh, just millionaires. Millionaires.

Coming up in the woodwork. Dallas. Dallas millionaires. And this whole movement really transformed the city into kind of like a playground for the elite and the newly wealthy. It's Dallas. It's telling you. And as a member of the old guard, Joan Robinson was at the center of Houston's high society. She was old money. She was old money. She was beautiful. She could have

whoever the hell she wanted. She was like a Joan dining at the finest restaurant. She was being photographed everywhere because she's pretty much a socialite, I would say. She was getting photographed at the opera, nightclubs, freaking cafes even. And according to Thompson, quote, the author, there were weeks when Jones' name and photograph appeared six or eight times in the papers. Always she seemed to be flying off to a horse show

or winging in from Hollywood where people allgalt her at the, I think it's the Mo the MoCambo MoCam. It's a nightclub. I looked out for how to pronounce it. MoCambo. A place. But then it's also like a nightclub.

I think it's the MoCambo. I like it. I don't know. I've never been there. I haven't either. It doesn't exist anymore. Her life sounds pretty fun. Yeah.

I love it. I love it. I like the shit you read about in like good books. Yeah. It's like, you know what? Sounds great for her. Love it. Now despite all the trouble her father's overbearing presence had caused,

Joan always made a point to share her life with her parents. No matter what turmoil and tension there had been, she did love her parents, and she loved her dad. Years later, after her Joan's death, her mother, Reya, would tell her reporter, I often felt the only real love in my life was Joan. Every time I went out with my daughter, I had a wonderful time.

She made me feel loved, she made me feel wanted. Which that really breaks my heart. That like, like Ash wasn't like a real love for her, you know? Yeah, and it's like, damn. And I wonder if because they didn't necessarily have that with each other in their marriage, that they loved Joan to kind of make up for that. They have so much extra love to shower with.

Not in like a marital way, anything like that. But just, it was like a different kind of love that they really devoted their lives to. Well, that's a thing. It's like, I mean, as twisted as that love got at the end with like the lying about a heart attack and all that, like that fucked up. But like, but you know even that was done out of,

I think, desperation and like, because of a love that is a little different than the Tom's comprehend. Yeah. But yeah, it's like that's, this just feels like, I don't know. They needed family therapy. They did. But this was like the 50th. They would have benefited from it. Yeah, it wasn't gonna happen, this just feels like, I don't know. They needed family therapy. They did.

But this was like the 50. They would have benefited from it. Yeah, I wasn't gonna happen then. It was not gonna happen. But now I'd be like, just, you know, sit down with some people. Yeah, back then they were like, do cocaine about it. Yeah, just, you know, that's fine. It'll intensify everything.

Yeah, everything will be great. No, they, they were not doing cocaine. I'm not saying that. I'm just like, lollying. It's just in the 50s. But meanwhile, Ash continued to be a dominant presence in Jones life. He was finding ways to drive off any potential suitors

before any real relationship could begin. One former boyfriend, Traverse Fell, recalled meeting Ash for the first time and he said, I could see the hate in his eyes. That old bastard leaned on me every way he could. I got the impression that Joan wanted to get away from her father, but she both loved him and feared him. Eek.

Yeah. Now, as exciting as Houston Nightlife was, by 1957, Joan had grown really tired of the casual dates that were not really going anywhere. And a future of jet setting and horse shows just wasn't as exciting as it once had been. It was great, but it wasn't everything she wanted. Yeah. Now, one afternoon in the spring while attending a horse show, she ran into a man named Dr. Riley Foster.

He was a family friend, and actually one of the city's most well-respected surgeons. And he was in the company of a young man that he introduced as Dr. John Hill. John was immediately drawn to this Dr. John Hill. Dr. John? He was a very good-looking guy in Joan's eyes. He had an earnest personality.

So later that afternoon, Joan called Riley Foster's wife Maggie and insisted that they set her up with John Hill as soon as they could. She's really into it. Look at her. Now, a little after what you want. She is.

That's, that Joan is a go-getter. She is. She is. Now, let's talk a little bit about John Hill.. She is. That's, that Joan is a go-getter. She is. She is. Now, let's talk a little bit about John Hill. Let's go. Let's do it. He was born in 1931, and he'd been raised in the Rio Grande Valley, which is a section of Texas wedged

between Mexico and the Gulf. His parents, Raymond and Myra Hill, had what one person described as a, quote, business-like marriage. Huh. Yeah. Based more on sustainability and practicality than on love or romance.

Not what I'm personally looking for. Yeah. John was right in the middle of the three kids. And he said to be the most dominant and energetic of the hill children. He was known mostly for his curiosity and penchant for taking things apart to see how they work, how everything functioned.

Okay. Growing up, he and his brother, Julian, were they had a really, really close bond. They were almost inseparable. And that actually surprised some people because of their polar opposite personalities, which immediately reminded me of us. Yes, absolutely.

Because all the time people are like, you guys are really close, but like, you have completely different people. It's like it works. It just works. And they developed a deep love for music that they bonded over between the two of them. And that would really kind of,

they would maintain that love for the rest of their lives. And it was a huge part of their relationship. I love that. Now that passion that they shared came handy at church where Myro was a strict follower of the doctrine and raised her children to do likewise. She was a very defiantly religious woman. Okay.

Now it was actually her idea for John to become a doctor. She constantly reminded him, quote, there are 10 doctors in my family and I'd be so proud if my two sons became the 11th and 12th. Well, lots of pressure. I was just gonna say no pressure though. Yeah. Even despite a pronounced defiance

streaking his personality though, John did make his mother's dream come true when he came home for Christmas break during his sophomore year in college and he announced that he did want to attend medical school. Look at John. I know he was like, Hey, mom. I got news. I'm about to be number 10. Number 10. Number 10. By the time he moved to Houston for his medical residency, John had decided that there were too many heart surgeons in the area. A common problem. Yeah, fuck that. And he was like, let me pursue plastic surgery because there's a lack of plastic surgeons in this region.

And I could also become hella rich. I was just going to say it definitely doesn't hurt the paycheck. He was like, let's do it. Now, while some of John's friends and family remember him as a quiet, unassuming young doctor, there was also definitely a streak of arrogance and recklessness about him that people remember that occasionally caused problems. In one incident early on in his medical career, he performed surgery on an older person who was suffering alcoholism.

And this surgery was basically, he was performing it in order to drain excess fluid from the man's stomach. I guess the procedure is a relatively common simple one, but there is a risk of puncturing the bowel, which can cause a obviously massive infection. You don't want to do that. And that is precisely what happens. Whether he realized that he had hit the poop pipe for lack of a better term, whether he realized he did that or not is unknown. But when he finished the surgery, John simply soared up the patient and walked away.

And days later, the man developed parotonesis. Yeah, parotonitis. Sorry, parotonitis, and ended up dying. Eee. Now, when John was called before the senior surgeon at the hospital, he flatly denied having perforated the bowel, but said if it did happen, it was so minor that it didn't need a repair when it did happen. Honey, you can't perforate the bowel.

You just can't. Like, even minorly. You can't do that. Yeah, the surgeon that he had to talk to later said, that guy had a million defenses, but he was so charming and so eager that I didn't want to wreck his career over one mistake. One mistake? It caused somebody's life. Yeah, I don't know if I would call that a mistake.

Eek. Yeah. But anyway, all right, to friends, Joan and John, when they did get together, because they did, they made a bit of an unlikely pair. To Maggie Foster, the woman who had set them up at Jones request. The relationship actually seemed doomed to fail in her opinion. Okay. She was like, I didn't really want to set them up. I guess that amused. But set them up to knock them down. She was like, I didn't have any plans to do that until Jones called me and asked me to. Maggie said, she knows horses and nightclubs and where Paul

keeps his checkbook. John Hill knows how to play the trombone and make sutures. He's a mama's boy who wins his every time. Jones says Goddamn, which is awful. Maggie, which is awful. Serving the tea. She's like, oh, look, Jones has Goddamn a lot. She's like, Jones has Goddamn a lot. John doesn't like, he's a mama's boy.

Fuck a both. And she's like a daddy's girl. He's a mama's boy. It's like, Joe says God damn a lot. John doesn't like it. He's a momma's boy. Fuck a both. And she's like a daddy's girl. He's a momma's boy. It's like, yes. It's not great. But Joan and John, they did hit it off, like I said. She was taken by his charm and welcomed the opportunity to share her luxurious world with somebody

who's still found Houston's society exciting, which I think in turn made it exciting for her. Yeah, because she's been here the whole time. She's just been living this life. Yeah, and it was kind of getting dull because I think in turn made it exciting for her. Yeah, because she's been here the whole time. She's just been living this life. Yeah, and it was kind of getting dull because I think she was lonely. But now, through someone else's eyes, it's like, oh, this is pretty luxurious. Right, exactly.

Now, more importantly, though, for one reason or another, Ash Robinson didn't lose his mind at the idea of Joan and John dating. This was the first time this had happened. In fact, when Joan brought John to meet her father and ask for his permission to get married, Ash was more than hospitable and even took an interest in John and his career. Maybe he saw his daughter with a doctor. Maybe he just looked at this as a respectable career, the most respectable. I definitely think so. And he's going to make a lot of money. And he is setting himself up for a life in Texas.

Not somewhere else. Yeah, so they're staying here. He's got a lot of money. They're part of the social circle. Part of high society. He's a doctor. Right, yeah. I get it.

And years later, Thompson speculated, it must have occurred to Ash Robinson that the alliance was on balance, one that he could live with. Joan was 26 years old, and if she had to marry somebody, then John Hill was not the worst of choices. That's the thing.

It doesn't seem like, you know, he's like a bad guy, so no. I don't know anything about this case, so I'm just spearspew. I don't know that he is, but maybe I'll regret saying that, but right now I get why Ash was like, yeah, this looks fine. I will tell you really on that, I think you're gonna go on the same roller coaster that I did. I hate roller coasters, so.

It's John. Let's go. I still don't know how I feel about John one way or the other. And it sounds so weird, because we're talking about John. I know, I think John's great. You're like, take your earrings out, let's fight. Well, yeah, we're not getting on a roller coaster. John will get burned to go, okay.

So, John Hill, I should say. Yeah. So Ash didn't say no. So John and John married in September of 1957 and they had a ceremony held in her parents' huge backyard. It was gorgeous. Sure, it was gorgeous. The next day, the society pages and all the local papers

described the wedding in storybook terms, like one outlet that reported the bridge of glow in an elegant white light, or the bridge of the bride. I was like, I was a bride. I think it's a bride. The bride of glow in an elegant white lace gown. Ooh.

After the honeymoon, the couple accepted Ash's invitation to live with them at his estate. Damn. Noting that it would help them financially. Well, neglecting to mention that it would also give Ash the opportunity to keep a close eye on his daughter in New South Island. I was gonna say, I mean, that was definitely the reason. He was like, wow, you could just live in my house.

And he'll save you so much money. For John, though, who had just begun his residency, living with Ash and Raya Robinson was a godsend. Yeah. At the time, surgical residents were only paid $165 a month. Damn. Crazy. Well, like breaking their backs, go through a recipe.

Exactly. It was barely anything considering the work week that could range anywhere from 60 to 80 hours. Yeah. Damn. And so the arrangement made it so that the couple not only saved on rent, but also benefited from meals and food and, you know, electricity and all the things that you have to pay for. Coming to the rescue.

Exactly. And in addition to all of that, as members of Houston Society, most social events and other entertainment were paid for by Jones parents. So they got to live this lifestyle and not have to have paid for it. Rubbed two pennies together. Right. Without the crushing financial stress that most medical students experience,

John and Joan were able to enjoy the early days of their marriage. But John's frequent appearances in the society pages was a constant irritant to the ethics committee at the hospital. Oh. And they believed having a surgical resident among all that nightlife was ethically questionable.

And they actually insisted that he sees his celebrity nightlife appearances if he was gonna continue his residency. I can see that. Yeah, I don't wanna know that my doctor's out all night on a nightclub like. I don't wanna know anything about my doctor. Yeah, just that like, he's nice to me when I live here.

I like my doctor. Say I love my doctor. He does a good job. Yeah. That's all I want to know about him I don't want to open up a tabloid and see him like you know hanging out with Whoever at some like club down in crystal. Yeah, I don't want to see that. I'm good. Like do it all by all means I don't give a shit where you're doing doctor, but like dodge the photos. Yeah

Dr. Jeffrey, it's fine. Like just do you think? Yeah, exactly. Don't tell me about it. So I get it. So like we don't need you showing everybody what you're doing almost times. Exactly. And the ethics committee, they weren't the only thing that put distance between John and Joan Hill

because they did since John had to ease up of these appearances. Joan's schedule was usually really, really busy and required her to travel most days out of the week. And John really hardly ever went with her, even when he could, he didn't really. They were making an effort. No, the result of these circumstances was that they pretty much began living separate social lives. John focused on his career and his music, because remember he's really passionate about music.

And Joan on her horses and competitions. But neither at this point seemed resentful or jealous of the other. All right, so they just have their own things and whenever it's for a bit. Yeah. In June of 1960, Joan actually ended up giving birth to a boy

that the couple named Robert Ashden Hill. And they nicknamed him, or excuse me, I should say Ash, his grandfather, nicknamed him Boot. Boot? Yeah, that's hilarious. I'm not sure what that was about. Little boot, little boot. That's adorable.

Little boot, little boot, little boot. I think it's adorable, I love it. It makes me laugh because it's so cute. I don't know if it was like a Texas thing. Like you wore little boots. I'm sure. Look at this little boot. A little cowboy boot.

But the pregnancy and the birth had been actually difficult for Joan. And for John, the baby was the first sign of major changes in his life that he had been enjoying. Oh, you mean she created a whole human in her body and now things have to be a little different? Yeah. And you know, like she is dealing with the after effects of creating and delivering human life. Yes, yes.

It's a little tough. The big thing. For one thing, as we all know, children are expensive. Which are our time consuming. Very much so. And John being in his final year of residency meant that they would need to continue relying heavily on Ash and Raya, Jones parents, for financial

and practical support. Practical support? Practical support. For Ash Robinson Robinson though, the birth of his grandson could not have been a more celebratory event. He fucking loved that boy. That was just like, I'm like, he just wants to like, I don't know. He loves his family.

He loves his family. I know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, Blake's feelings. I know, it's fun. It's what he really does love his family. He does. He said, well, he loves most of his family. He said of his son-in-law's apprehension about becoming a father. I don't care if he's ready or not. We're very happy. He's like, I don't give a fuck about him. I don't fuck about that.

I'm happy. Yeah, he's like, I'm psyched. I'm a grandpa. I got a little boot now. I'm grandpa fucking ass. And this is my little boot. I'm like, shut up. That grandpa fucking Ash. And this is my little boot. I think it's shut up.

That's so cute. That's hilarious. But of course, just as he had done with his own daughter, Ash adored boot and wasted no time lavishing him with gifts and attention. And it's really sweet. They were really close for a long time. And John and Joan, they managed

to survive the distance between them caused by their different interest and their social lives. They kept up appearances for their neighbors and the society pages. But I think becoming parents and, you know, for John specifically, the baby and more specifically, Ash's adoration of the baby brought about new opportunities for criticism in the Robinson Hill household that was going to test the strength of their marriage. Yeah. By 1963, Ash had become more vocally dismissive of John, telling friends that John contributed

nothing to the household seemed to have no trouble spending his own money on a piano or other musical interests, but like not providing at all for his kid. Once at a party, Ash was overheard telling another guest, here comes the famous plastic surgeon, John Hill, who never even bought his son a jar of baby food. Ooh. Ooh. Can you imagine being a party goer,

like having that conversation and you're just like, and like John is like, right, John Hill is right over there. And you're in between that like the tension within that moment. And that's like, John is like, right, John Hill is right over there. And you're in between that, like, the tension within that moment. And that's like, oh, that's like a mic drop boom. Oh, yeah. That's like, he's not even buying his kid baby food. That's right, yikes.

That's not a good look. My friend, that is not a good look. Yeah. And the thing was, in the world of Houston's elite, John was checking all the right boxes as he was climbing up the social ladder. But as long as he lived in his father in La-law's house, he was never going to be considered to be truly successful. In fact, when his colleague, Dr. Nathan Roth, offered him a position

at his private practice, it came with the stipulation that John moved himself and his family out of the Robinson's house and into his own home. John was obviously very happy to accept this offer because tensions had gone past a point of being manageable, being kind of manageable. Yeah. And the $5,000 personal loan Roth was giving him was a nice asset. Yeah, that helps.

So while the opportunity to establish himself in private practice was incredibly exciting, there was still the matter of Ash Robinson, or more specifically, how John was going to tell Ash Robinson that not only would he no longer need his financial support, but that he would be moving away with the two most important people in the man's life. Oh, boy. Yeah. Not surprisingly, Ash responded poorly to the news.

Not shocked. John insisted that it was for the best and that the house that they found for their little family was only a few miles away. So it wasn't like they wouldn't be able to soste each other every day. Regardless, John had made up his mind. And in 1963, the family moved to their own home about 10 minutes away from the Rawlonsons.

So not bad. Yeah. At the same time, John eagerly joined Roth's surgical practice as a junior partner, anticipating a really bright future. Unfortunately, though, the hills would have, or would not have much time to celebrate the positive developments in their lives.

Because just a few weeks after the move, this is really sad. John's brother Julian was found dead in the attic of a family friend's home. He, there was an empty bottle of barbituets beside him. Oh jeez. Now nobody really knew why he had ended his life, but there was a predominant theory that Julian had struggled with anxiety and depression for a long time, and that he may have been

living his life as a closeted gay man. Oh, that's so sad. So he had like a lot on him. Yeah. And the bleak future that he envisioned for himself because he lives in Texas in the 60s at this point, in the early 60s, that had just become too much for him to bear with. But because this happened right as they were starting

to kind of get out on their own, they set them back big time. Because they were best friends, John and Julian, that's sad. Yeah, and it was the first tragedy that they really went through as a couple. Yeah. But unfortunately, it was just the beginning of a downward spiral.

It'll test, yeah. Yeah, and they would experience a lot more tragedy. And the years that followed Julian's death and the start of John's professional career, John and John continued to drift slowly, but steadily apart. After joining the practice, John, he really threw himself fully into building a name for himself at the practice and, among the social circles. He acquired or achieved pretty much all the hallmarks of a successful surgeon. And when he wasn't occupied with work, John enthusiastically pursued his musical interest, which left little time for his wife or his son.

John, Joan often was pretty upset and lamented that John hardly knew their son and never really made any attempt to engage in the typical father son activity as like camping or sports or literally anything at all. That's shitty. It is. And to not make an effort.

And that's the thing. Her complaints about this lack of a relationship were not baseless. Because it's like, I get that you're trying to like move up in the lot. Like you're trying to, you know, make a better life for the work and whatnot. But to not make it, to not make any time for your child,

that's on you, man. And it's like, it would be one thing if you were pouring everything into work that would still be something that I would want to talk about. Yeah. But it was like you're pouring a lot into work and your social status and your personal hobbies. Yeah. And leaving nothing for our soul. Not impressed by that. Because since moving into their home, John had spent thousands and thousands of dollars renovating the place to accommodate his interests and his tastes. And despite a substantial increase in his salary, actually within just one year of private practice, he was making 168,000 dollars annually, which would be like making 1.5 million dollars

today. But the family was struggling with finances, even at that level. Because he was going so hard. Because he was going so hard on his own shit, not even like pouring it into a little booth there. Yeah. But the most important thing to John and his own eyes was to build a music room in the house where he could retreat.

It's like, what are you fucking retreating from? Retreating from what, man, you don't see your kid, you don't see your kid ever. He just wanted to retreat to play or listen to music and after Contracting with Houston-based engineer Louis or Louis Earth John told the man since I was a little boy. It has been my dream to build such a room. Money's no object. The only goal is perfection Okay, it's like money is an object. You have a fucking family Yeah, I'm fine. You're spending all of this money. So not a man. Now years later, uh, Louis recalled his initial conversation with John,

noting that the man was not just insistent, but he said he actually seemed possessed. Whoa. Like he was like, he was so obsessed about this room. Really intense about this. Not only did the music room dig the Hills deeper into debt, but it also gave John one more place where he could escape his family, which he did not need. Yeah. By the summer of 1968, after years of frustration, Joan demanded that he take a few days off and drive with her to pick up boot from summer camp, where he'd been for four weeks. He went to like a little program. Yeah. John agreed to take the trip, but neither of them knew that it would be a trip

that only further complicated things in their marriage. So here, Joan is being like, can you actually show up for once? Yeah. And then the one time this motherfucker does show up, it changes everything. Oh, what happened? In a bad way.

It was at Camp Rio Vista, that John first met a woman named Anne Curth. Don't even. She was a woman who would change his life dramatic. Don't even. Like John and Joan Anne had visited the camp that weekend to pick up her children. One afternoon, as John was sitting with the other families in the mess hall for lunch, he just leaned over and introduced himself to Miss Anne there and her son, who were seated right by him. And over the course of the weekend, John and Anne just kept bumping into one another at the camp.

While Joan was off somewhere, you know, taking care of their fucking child. Oh, come on. And when they returned to Houston a few days later, John called in, he was like, hey. Oh, he just had her number? Yeah, he got another over the course of that bonding time where he was supposed to be showing up for his son. Oh, I tell you. He called in and he said, Oh, I had, I filmed a develop, like took a bunch of pictures

while we were away this weekend. Do you want to see some of the pictures? Huh, I would love to meet up and show you some of the pictures. And that's it. Just look at pictures. Yeah, totally. This is fine. Everything's totally fine the pictures. And that's it. Just look at pictures. Yeah, totally. Not fuck off. Not fuck off. Everything's totally fine. Yeah. And knew that John was married to a society woman, no less. But she figured she would entertain the little fantasy for a little while longer before

ultimately shutting it down for the sake of decency and decorum. And Tramon. Yeah. What the fuck? Both of you. What the fuck? But the problem was she liked the attention. Oh fuck off. And more than that, she really liked John Hill. Well, he's married. So uh-huh. Masterclass has really got me feeling some type of way. And it's a good type of way.

Let me tell you, because I am taking a writing class. It's a writing for younger audiences class on the Masterclass app with the legendary RL Stein as my instructor. And it has really changed the way that I approach writing. It's RL Stein's world, and I'm just happy to be living in it. I've found all the classes I've taken to be super detailed, really easy to follow, and honestly, you keep wanting to listen to them. Even if you have to go somewhere, you just want to keep doing it.

Masterclass makes a meaningful gift this season for you and anyone on your list, because both of you can learn from the best to become your best, from leadership to effective communication to writing novels or for television. And honestly, how much would it cost to take a one-on-one class from the world's best? Easily hundreds to thousands of dollars. With a masterclass annual membership, it's ten bucks a month. Whether you're watching masterclass on TV, listening in audio mode, in the app, or on their site, the quality speaks for itself.

There are over 180 classes to pick from, with new classes added every month. Mikey actually is taking a class on storytelling and humor with David Sideris. He's been raving about this class. He's been raving about how much he's learning in the class, and since it's his favorite author of all time, it's even more special. It just feels like you got to get this holiday season, give one annual membership and get one free at masterclass.com slash morbid. Right now, you can get two memberships for the price of one at masterclass.com slash morbid. Masterclass.com slash morbid. Masterclass.com slash morbid offer terms apply.

Listeners, we have a new show that we think you're gonna freaking love from one dream hosted by Laura Beale, the critically acclaimed Dr. Death is back with a new season. Dr. Death, Bad Magic, a story of miraculous curers, magic and murder. When a charismatic hot shot doctor announced revolutionary treatments for cancer and HIV, it seemed like the world had been given a miracle cure.

Medical experts rushed to praise Dr. Serhaut Gammruku, a genius who is the co-founder of a cutting-edge biotech company. But when a team of private researchers dive in a Serhaut's background, they begin to suspect the brilliant doctor is hiding a shocking secret. And when a man is found dead in the snow with his wrist shackled and bullet casing spreading the snowbank, Sir Hot would no longer be known for world-changing treatments.

He'd be known as a fraud and a key suspect in a grisly murder. Follow Dr. Death Bad Magic on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Dr. Death Bad Magic early and add free right now by joining Wondery Plus. The afternoon photo sharing was soon followed by a lunch, then another lunch, and before long, and then John were engaged in exactly the kind of relationship that Anne said she had planned to avoid from the start. Please, Anne. Yeah. Bitch, please. After a few weeks of clandestine meetings, I love the word clandestine. Yeah, it makes it sound so much nicer than it actually is. I know secret asshole meetings. Fucked out. Bullshit. Betrayal. Gross meetings. A clandestine too.

We go, you have time for that. Ah, not your fucking kid though. So after a few weeks of those secret meetings, John was up front with Ann about his intentions. She later recalled, he informed me that from this moment on, I was to consider my time fully taken up by Dr. John Hill. I'm sorry, what? He was like, your mind, I want you marked territory. This is really gross.

Agreed. This is really gross. Yeah. Well, Anand was like, okay, what about your wife? John said, oh, now you're asking about his wife? Yeah. I love that. Did you hear about your wife?

What about your wife? Oh, what? Oh, it's like, oh, shit about her. Yeah, let's ask about her now that it's not sounding so great to you. Exactly. Yeah. So when she asked about Joan, John said, you know, their relationship had been over for quite some time. And he was, quote, trapped in a marriage he had to get out of.

Oh, shut up. It's like then get out of it and give me a call once that's done. Exactly. Over the years, he said they drifted apart. They were living two separate lives. They had very different interests, different goals. You know, she wanted to raise their kid. He didn't. And by the end of summer, though, John and Anne had become lovers. And now he had to

figure out how he was going to get out of his marriage. The fact that this man met this woman and this woman met this man at a summer camp picking up their children. Yeah. They should be ashamed of themselves. 105 really in person. Now one fall True, really, in person. Now, one fall day, Joanne returned home from a horse show to find a note. I repeat, a note. They've been married, like, I want to say, like, probably 10 years at this point. Say, you did not burger from sex to the city of the show.

Fuck you, I wrote that in my notes. Did you? I literally, I will show it to you. Oh my god. I literally wrote that in my notes. The note that I literally, I will show it to you. Oh my God. I literally wrote that in my notes. The note that he wrote, her said, things have not been good between us. I've gone away for a few days to find myself.

I'm sorry, I can't. Don't hate me. This is what I wrote. Obviously infuriated at the equivalent of burgers. I'm sorry, I can't know. I can't. I'm sorry, I can't. Don't hate me.

I do hate you. I'll post it. Oh my God, I can't. It was same level. I'm sorry. I can't. Don't hate me. I do hate you. A post. Oh my god, I can't. It was same level. That's fucked up. Same level. That is. So obviously fucking enraged.

Joan called the surgical practice over and over and over and over again, but her husband never returned. Her husband and the father of her child. Correct. Never returned to her. Yeah. So that night she went to her parents, which I would be like, child. Correct. Never returned to her face. Yeah. So that night she went to her parents, which I would be like, Daddy!

Right. You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that?

You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that?

You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that? You like that? This man's a fasha. His instinct was to hire a private detective to find all the information he possibly could to destroy his summer law and you know what Life is go. I mean just parent things, you know, I'm sorry if you you are my kid. It's gloves off You're my kid and you leave your fucking my grandson your son boot I'm sorry. Loves off. You heard Joan and boot ashes and letting this go. I would never know.

And neither would I. She's gonna get the coast guard on it. Like he's like on this legit. So Joan managed to, you know, deescalate her dad. But then I mean, it's fun to talk about. It's fun to talk about. Oh, so she did, she deescalated him in the moment. But the next day, when she had gotten over the initial

shock of abandonment, she also felt pretty vindictive. And in the two weeks that followed, she told everybody about what her husband had done, how he simply walked out on her and boot, and she was like, I hope I fucking tarnished his entire reputation. Yeah, I mean, I'm Tom Petty too. Like, that would be... Which I have Tom Petty tattooed on my body.

Yeah, like fuck that. You're gone. Literally done. You walk out on your wife and your child. And then, what do you expect? The worst part of this, and I feel like you'll agree. The worst part of this to me is finally, after the word had spread all around Houston, John called Joan finally, and asked if they could meet.

Oh, wouldn't answer any calls before that. But now that he's getting it, all around Houston, John called Joan finally, and asked if they could meet. What an answer, any calls before that. But now that he's getting it, now that people are talking, then you wanna talk to me. Oh, okay, I'd be like, I'm busy, I'm gonna get in here. Now, this is just Hawke, girl, shit. With her best friend, waiting just around the corner,

Joan and John met at a down top restaurant. She had a BFM right there. And they met to discuss their marriage in the future. It did not take more than a few minutes for this conversation to turn into a shouting match. And John just got up and left. Can't take the heat. Can't. So when Joan returned to where her friend was waiting, the two women jumped in their car and followed John, and the woman that they could now see was in his vehicle with him. This is so gross. He brought his mistress to a meeting to discuss his marriage. She was like, wait in the car while I figure this out. This is so icky. I know. It's giving if you're watching Real Housewives of Miami right now,

that's what it's giving my baby Lisa. This is just really gross. It's horrible. Like I feel for Joan so hard. I do too. Like this is just really gross. You will feel for Joan for the rest of every. Yeah. I really do. So after a slow motion car chase back to Joan's office,

Joan confronted Joan and Anne, the woman who was in the car, demanding to know whether they were having an affair. Now this is where Sheikat's wildest book to her absolute astonishment. John Lied and told his wife, quote, he was having an affair with this woman's husband and that he was being blackmailed.

What? Wait, what? He said he was having an affair with her husband? Yeah, which was not true. Why didn't he just say I'm having an affair with this woman? I couldn't tell you. That is the strangest lie I have ever heard. I don't know if it was because Anne was right there.

Like, no, there's a litter. Like, you can try to find a little string of logic there. There's no string of logic. Either what you're having in a fair. Why are you lying about the person you're having in a fair with? I don't know. I, the only, I'm just like, what?

I think because back then, like being gay was so frowned upon that people thought it was something you could be cured of. So maybe he thought he was being like, oh, like there's something wrong with me and like, she'll forgive me for this. I don't know about that logic. That logic is ridiculous, but that's the only thing that I can see as to why he would have done that. That's a, I'd be like, what? Why? Yeah, exactly.

Why? So Joan was stunned by this news. Yeah. And also found it very hard to believe. And then she became even more suspicious when just a few weeks later, anonymous notes started arriving in the mail telling her her husband was having an affair,

but with Anne. Yeah. And that Anne was only one of several women that he could cheat in. Oh, God. This guy seems to have all the time. Yeah. Suddenly all his time is just open.

Yeah. He's got lots of time. I got Anne, he's a plastic surgeon. This really is real housewives of Miami. This is just, I love these. Like, yeah, I don't have time to hang out with my child or no, my child at all. But I do have some homostruses.

But I have a, like have a handful of mysteries. Like a straight up roster. Okay. Yeah. So by then he was more or less living in Ann's house and had cut off all communication with Joan. I take back my original, John. I know. I was leading you, I was leading you a bit of strength.

I didn't know any of this. I was on purpose. I was telling you, John. Yeah. And when I say my opinion of John is like, I'm not sure about him. I'm sure about the fact that he's an asshole. Like, I'm sure about this. Yeah. I'm just not sure about a later part.

And we'll get there. But so by then, he's living in Anshouse. He cuts off all communication with Joan. And in response, Joan was like, I'm going to do my dad's idea. I'm going to hire a private investigator. So she hired a private detective to follow her husband, which is how she learned for real,

like 100% solid proof that he and we're having an affair and that he was living with Anne. She didn't even know where he was living because he just left. Damn. And then she finds out that he's living there. Are so shameful. How shameful for both of them.

And if I was Anne, I'd be like, why the fuck did you say that you were sleeping with my husband? That's why I'm like, and by. Qua? Now throughout the fall of 1968, the Hills Marriage had devolved into a strange dance of jealous stalking John's attempts to get incriminating information on her husband. That is just a horse.

Just a whole bunch of nasty. Just a horse. Pretend you don't know each other. I'm pretty sure this guy doesn't want to know his child anyways, so just let them go off together. And you know, it's fine. That sucks. It's something.

But instead of just getting divorced, they drove around Ann Kurtz neighborhood, started shopping where Ann shopped, followed John regularly, and the hopes that she would catch him in the midst of the affair. By the end of the year, private detectives had confirmed that John had taken his own bachelor apartment, which signaled to John that their separation was definitely permanent. At just 37 years old, she was about to become a divorcee for the third time. And that shamed to her. I was gonna say, I personally don't think there's any shame in it.

No. But I can't imagine having to go through that at this point. In this time period, in this place, and dirt and like in high society. All three of those things, loying on her. When I didn't take that into account when I first was like, just get divorced. What the fuck? I totally forgot that she's been divorced two other times.

Right. And that place and in that time and in that whole society that that would be looked at. One divorce alone would be looked at. But three, I can understand why she was a little scared. Exactly. And so she was just going through it at this point. I think this is when she hit like breakdown.

Yeah, it sounds awful. Yeah. So she could, I think before she was feeling like vindictive and she wanted to get some kind of proof of this and she didn't know what she was going to get when she got there but then all of this just came to a screeching halt and hit her all at once. Well, that's the thing.

When you get, you can get so many little bits and pieces of like quote unquote proof. Right. But when you get that one, that's a thing. When you get, you can get so many little bits and pieces of, like, quote unquote, proof. Right. But when you get that one, that just hits and it really shows you that it's happening, it's a different feeling. It's a different hit. It's a different hit. Yeah.

Because you can know it without knowing it. Right. And then when you know it, it's like, oh, the way that hits differently is like, eat. And like, you can't, for lack of a better way to say it, you can't lie to yourself anymore. No, you can't, because once you see it right in front of your face, it's like, over. Because you, I should say you can't convince yourself

that it's not true anymore, not lie to yourself. Because that's exactly when my, my ex from like a million years ago, the same hit that asshole. That's, it was this, you remember, everybody remembers, there were little bits and pieces I would find that I was like, very clearly, he's cheating on me Like very clearly, but when I got the one when I when I was able to to call that number and and got that voice Some other answer who was not a not a man. Yeah, that he was under Jim man's name

I think it was it was Jim. Yeah She this person was labeled Jim in his phone and I just thought Jim spoke a little strange through text message to him. Yeah. And so when I called that number and it was not Jim. It was not Jim. I'll call her on the other line, said,

my name is not Jim. My name is not Jim. And she said, who are you? And I said, oh girl, I mean, her became friends. So I know I kind of love that. You did the other woman not to be fit. Hell girl, I love you. And the mean her became friends. So I know I kind of love that. You did the you did the other woman that will be. Hell yeah. I love it.

Now, Joan wasn't quite there yet. I know, no, this is a very different situation. Yeah, we did not have children together. Yeah, that's all right. And you weren't divorced ever at that point. No, I was not. I mean, you still aren't that screened. No, it's great.

It's awesome. I love it. Me too. But Joan, unfortunately had gone through It's awesome. I love it. Me too. But, Joan, unfortunately, had gone through it. She'd gone through it. So, she called John and she pleaded for him to return, saying that she wanted to work through

their differences. Like, she wanted to give this, of a fighting chance, you know. Yeah. But he explained that he was too wrapped up with Anne and he couldn't see how he could just walk away. That is from Anne devastating. And to be told, but you can walk away from the mother of your child. And your child, like to be told, wow, I can't just walk away from this woman after this man has walked out on you and your baby. That's really disgusting. That's honestly despicable. It is.

really disgusting. That's honestly despicable. It is. Now, Jones doorbell rang one day in November, and she answered it to find a lawyer standing before her with a divorce citation. She was being served papers. The document alleged that despite John's attempt at civility, his wife's behavior had led to irreconcilable differences and that he was seeking to end the marriage. Joan was stunned and enraged and she showed the citation to her father who swore he would take care of everything. Now, this is wild. So Ash was like, nope, I'm gonna take care of this.

Like this is not happening. And a few days later, Joan gets a letter from John asking that quote, she become reconciled with him and forgive his transgressions. The letter also noted specific details about his intention to pay back all the money that he had borrowed from Jones' parents and explicitly stated, it is distinctly understood that this is not my idea or intention to influence any judicial action now pending. Did Ash have something to do with this?

I cannot confirm nor deny. Correct, I cannot. I can neither confirm nor deny. Many people believe that Ash did have something to do with it. I, but no one knows if she could prove it. But people thought so. Which leads me to my next paragraph. Despite being on Jon's letterhead and bearing his signature,

the tone heavily suggested that Ash had used whatever influence he had to force John to reconsider ending his relationship with Joan. He was like, allegedly, you're not going to leave my job. Allegedly. Yeah. Either way, though, Joan was happy to have avoided this great embarrassment that she thought a third divorce would be. Yeah.

And what everybody would have shamed her for. And everything that happened not with standing, she was pleased that John was going to end his relationship with Anne and finally come home. I regret to inform you that her happiness would not last long. No. She's breaking my heart. Yeah, this is a tragic case. No one knows what 100% did. Lee John Hill to sign this letter, so obviously allegedly prepared by his father. A lot jiggly. But in doing so, he put himself

in an unexpectedly difficult position. He had agreed to return home to Joan, but he had yet to end his relationship with Anne. Oh my God, John, get it, fucking together. Please. Like, get it together. And now Anne is starting to get the feeling, or was starting to get the feeling

that he was pulling away. And you get it together too. Like Jesus Christ, everybody got it together. The writing is on the wall. Okay. No, in response, Anne pushed hard on John and those working in his surgical practice for information about his finances and his whereabouts.

So now he's just doing the same thing to Am that he did to John? Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And because she's like, you know, trying to track him down all the time, the implication was either that she intended to sue him or she was hoping to get him out of his marriage. Yeah. And to make matters worse, Ash Robinson intended to make sure that his son and law lived up to his end of whatever bargain the two men had allegedly struck allegedly.

And while John attempted to manage, I say, quote unquote, two perilous relationships, he was constantly followed, intimidated, and threatened by anonymous men who were allegedly hired by Ash. Allegedly. Allegedly. So there's nothing to confirm nor deny that those men allegedly hired by Ash. Allegedly. So there's nothing to confirm, nor deny, that those men were hired by Ash. Not at this point. Not just somebody saying that they think

that might be what happens. It's Texas high society, you would say. I can say, feels Texas high society. And it's also like from the 60s. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and made the decision to move back home with Joan at the end of the year. I hate this, it's a lot. So in the first months of 1969, Joan tried to make several changes and what she saw as self-improvements

aimed at keeping John happy. Like she was just trying to do anything she possibly could to save her marriage. Yeah, that's enough of them like getting cheated on. Yeah. He meanwhile ran himself ragged, splitting his time between life at home, work, and of course more clandestineine, Elena doesn't like that word,

secret gross feelings for him. Oh, yeah. After everything that had happened, Ann was growing tiresome of the affair, and started demanding that John decide between his wife or her. It's like Christ on a cracker. You know what, John, God damn.

And that's what I said. Add insult to injury. At the same time, John's music room was finally completed with a final price tag of just over $100,000. This music room cost more than their entire house. This one room inside of their home was more expensive than their entire home.

And it's like what? And it's just for him. So he's just getting a fun present. Yeah. It's a fun reward after everything. Yes. Okay. And the room was exactly as he envisioned it.

Oh, good. And it gave him reason to stay home with Joan, but didn't solve the problem. Because now he's just shutting himself in that room. Yeah. He's a reason to stay home with Joan, but didn't solve the problem. Because now he's just shutting himself in that room. Yeah. He's home, but is he really there? Now, despite the letter he presented to his wife and whatever attempts at self-improvement Joan was making, there was just too much resentment.

Yeah, like what? Between the two of them. No way. Should that marriage to have her survive? Within the first three months of the year, John and Joan spent most of the time shouting at each other or harboring suspicions, especially like harboring suspicions on Joan's end. It's likely that they would have ended up divorced, had Joan not come down with what appeared to be a serious case of the flu in early March.

Around the 15th of March, her friends became rather concerned about her health. She'd been sleeping a lot more than usual. She didn't really seem to have any energy for even the most basic social functions. According to Joan, she and Joan got in a fight over dinner the previous evening. And after struggling to fall asleep, he gave her a tranquilizer, which made her exceedingly tired.

Joan's two friends became more alarmed the next day when they stopped by to check on her and learned that she had spent all day vomiting and they became even more alarmed in the days that followed as her illness had progressed considerably. Now by March 17th, two days later, Jones was constantly exhausted,

experiencing regular bouts of vomiting and unfortunately diaries as well. That afternoon when the maid went to check on her after John had left for work. He's like leaving while his wife is in this condition and they're trying to figure out their marriage. Jesus. The maid found Joan lying on the bedroom floor covered in vomit and feces. And that's putting it lightly. Oh my gosh. There were signs around the room

that she had tried to make it to the bathroom, but was too weak to even get that. Oh my God, that breaks my heart. It's horrific. The next day, Raya Robinson, Jones' mother, stopped by to visit her daughter. And that's when she learned the condition that Jones was and she had no idea.

That also breaks my heart because like, when you're married, and like that's, you're that sick. You're supposed to be married to someone who will take care of you. And she can't count. And she can't count. And she can't count doctor. Yeah, and it's like she can't even count on him for that.

Like that's really sad. Like the loneliness. She must have felt in that moment. Because I can't imagine. I think that all the time when I get sick, about like single parents. Yeah. And like, what do you do?

I'm like, my gosh. Like, it just like tears my soul apart to think about it. It's too deep all alone in that state. Yeah, but to actually have a partner, a quote-unquote partner, and to still be left alone. It can't even count on them to take care of you. Fucked. Like, that's such a bummer.

Absolutely fucked. So, Reya was horrified. Yeah. Absolutely horrified at the state that she found her daughter in and demanded to know why John hadn't called an ambulance. Cause like you said, he's a doctor. He should know. He should know.

Yeah, like plastic surgeon, like he went through all your doctor. You're a doctor. And she was told by John that he was quote, making arrangements for Joan to go to Sharpstown Hospital, where she would have intensive care and be treated like a queen. I mean, I don't think it's that hard to make arrangements.

No, call an ambulance. Now, at the time, because obviously she was so distracted by the state that her daughter was in, it didn't occur to Raya that Sharpstown Hospital was twice as far away as the Texas Medical Center. Like she should have just been brought there. And at the time, it also didn't strike her as strange that under the obviously dire circumstances, John was prioritizing Joan being treated like a queen, but not treating her like one himself.

Yeah. Doesn't make any sense. And it's like, no, she doesn't need to be treated like a queen. She needs to be treated. She needs to be treated. Medicated. Like she just needs to be treated. Yeah.

So after some brief argument between Ash and John, the three, Rea, John and Ash managed to get Joan into the car. And John drove to Sharpsville while Rea attended to Joan in the back seat. Right. This is wild. And it was a much further away hospital than the one that they could have gone to. Joan was admitted to Sharpstown Hospital on March 18, 1969,

for what doctors immediately assumed was a severe case of the flu. But that would be debated upon four years to come. At first, John's tone and that of the doctor he had asked to provide care for his wife was casual and it hardly fit the situation at hand. It was only when one of the nurses checked John's blood pressure that they realized the grave danger she was in. In addition to the vomiting and diarrhea, John's blood pressure was perilously low, indicating that again she was in

real danger. Dr. Walter Berttonot, I believe it is, were called, I dropped everything and went over. I canceled out my whole schedule. Holy shit. Her blood pressure, I don't know a lot about it. I know you will. It was a 60 over 40. Damn.

Yeah. Like, she was, she was... He should have seen that. Oh, 100%. As a doctor, he should have seen that something was dire. A miss here. Yeah. Blood pressure 60 over 40.

She actually should have been in shock and basically on the verge of death. Oh, shit. But the doctor found her sitting up in bed. What the fuck? Based on the symptoms she and John had reported, the doctor assumed that she had contracted some kind of food poisoning or maybe a bacterial infection,

which could possibly explain the wide range of symptoms she had contracted some kind of food poisoning or maybe a bacterial infection, which could possibly explain the wide range of symptoms she had described. The attending doctors attempted to get Jones blood pressure up while they waited on lab results from blood and fecal samples, but within just six hours after being admitted, Jones kidneys started to fail. Oh no.

Now, by 8 p.m. that night, doctors diagnosed her with kidney failure and actually considered moving her to a nearby hospital where she could be put on a dialysis machine. Oh, shit. Because he's saying that he made all these arrangements for her to be treated there, but they don't even have a dialysis machine.

I was just gonna say it doesn't look like everybody's ready for her. And at that point, Joan was far too fragile to be moved. So instead, they wanted to attempt a peritoneal dialysis, inserting a tube into the stomach and forcing a blood purifying solution through her until she could be stabilized. But the problem was that the physicians wanted John's approval before beginning the procedure and he was nowhere to be found.

What? John Hill didn't resurface until nearly 11 p.m. and by that point, the surgeons had gone home, hoping that they could still perform the life-saving procedure in the morning. So he sat by his wife's bedside throughout the night as Joan slipped in and out of consciousness. Oh, this is awful.

Sometime in the middle of the night, she yelled out her husband's name, and he woke up just in time to see, and this is very graphic. A torrent of blood raced up from her innards and splash out of her mouth. Oh! The hemorrhage had been very, very severe,

and despite their best efforts to stabilize her, Joan Robinson Hill died in the early morning hours of March 19th, 1969. Holy shit. And they were just about to do a life-saving procedure. What a horrifying death. Beyond. Oh, I feel so awful. Beyond. Immediately following her death, John's reaction seemed quote-unquote normal. We talk about this a lot, but it seemed quote-unquote normal for a man who had just lost his wife. He wailed. He sobbed loudly, screaming no over and over and over.

But his hospital staff tried to comfort him. Several did find it odd that rather than call Jones parents, John's first reaction was to call his own mother and a friend of his, Dr. Jim Oats, who lived just a few miles away. When Dr. Jim and Dottie Oats arrived at the hospital, they were both shocked to find that nobody had even washed the body yet, and that Joan was still covered in blood. So, God, Dottie began washing Joan as carefully as she could, while John walked in and out of the room frequently interrupting her. Now, according to Texas Law,

anybody who dies in a hospital must be autopsied by the coroner within 24 hours of their death to determine the cause of death before the body is released. Wow. I know. I thought that was great. Yeah. When Dr. Bertinot informed John that the coroner must be called, he acknowledged what the man was saying, but immediately instructed Dr. Oates to call a funeral home and have them come claim Jones' body to prepare for her burial as soon as possible. Um, no. Yeah.

I would be like, you better find out what happened to my wife. Like that wouldn't that be your friend? You'd be like, what the hell happened? You would think he thought it was the flu. I'm sorry. That's not what you think that's the flu. I'd be. That's not the flu. You think that's the flu? I'd be like, even if it started as the flu,

what the fuck happened? Or a bacterial infection. And it's like, well, but why wouldn't you want to be absolutely sure? Why wouldn't you? Exactly. And if it's law, then let it happen. And why would you ever step in between that?

And your doctor, you know that. That's the thing. You know the law. And it's like, why step in between it if it's only gonna give you more information? I don't know. Huh.

So the doctor managed to reach the coroner sometime between four and six a.m. But by then, the body had already been illegally removed from the hospital and taken to the funeral home to be prepared. What? Later sometime after seven a.m., the coroner would make his way to the funeral home,

intending to do the autopsy there. Yeah. But by the time he arrived, the embalming process had already been completed. Are you shitting me? And the technician at that point was moving on to the cosmetic procedures. What? Now, despite the embalming process already having begun, the coroner stopped the procedure and began his autopsy. What? He took requisite tissue samples and other biological samples. I guess he's just trying at that point.

And one I think at that point, he's like, I don't need my fucking license script away for me for not doing an autopsy. Like, you're doing what you can do at this point. And I think that's what it was. He's trying to follow the law. Exactly. So he took requisite, excuse me, tissue samples

and other biological samples that could possibly help identify the cause of death. But as far as he could tell from his examination, there was nothing to indicate what caused Joan to decline so quickly. That's the thing. It felt like it was so fast. It was a matter of days.

Yeah. He thought it could have been a cause of acute pancreatitis, which could have accounted for a lot of her symptoms, but there were still other symptoms that didn't quite fit. Now nevertheless, pancreatitis was listed as Jones' cause of death, and the funeral was scheduled for March 21, 1969. But in the days that followed, questions and rumors began circulating among Joan and John's social circles. The top two questions on everybody's lips were, how could John a doctor not have recognized the signs of pain-grey atitis?

That's what's fucking me up. And two, why hadn't he taken her to the hospital soon? Exactly. Ash Robinson had his own questions and suspicions, but positive of that. Rather than direct them at John, he instead went to the District Attorney's office the day of his daughter's funeral. News of John's death had been in all the papers and all of the papers were citing pancreatitis as the case, but Ash explained to the Assistant District Attorney, I.D. McMaster, that he had reason to believe John was responsible for his daughter's death.

And he cited the following as evidence. He said, I said number one, John had been perfectly healthy up to that point. Yeah. Number two, she only became ill after eating food and taking medication that was given to her by John. Number three, she was obviously very, very sick in the days leading up to her death, and John didn't take her to a hospital or allow anyone in the house to come see her. That's weird. According to him, number four, he promised to take her to Sharpstown hospital because

she was going to receive the best care possible there. But when they arrived, the hospital had no ICU available for her, like no, no bed available in the ICU. And there, but when they arrived, the hospital had no ICU available for her, like no, no bed available in the ICU. And again, like I just noted earlier, they lacked several of the machines and services that Jonas. Well, that's the thing. It's like, he's saying, like, I made arrangements. You didn't make any arrangements. No, they didn't have a dialysis machine from there. That's insane. And now, number five, he said, despite having died within the window of time necessitating an autopsy, her body was whisked away from the hospital to the funeral home before the coroner even arrived.

That's wild. I don't even know how they managed to get away with that. I know. And finally, he said he consulted with several area physicians who claimed many of Joan's symptoms did not sound like symptoms of pancreatitis. I mean, I don't blame Ash for it leaves questioning this. I would also question this. Yeah.

You're not just going to take this as like, okay, well, I guess that's how she died moving on. Like, anyways, no. And it's like in the midst of this crazy thing. Cold things. Like, I'm not saying John did this one where the other, but if that was my child, I would have all of the circumstances surrounding this strange sudden death. Absolutely.

Well, and it is Texas law here that she was supposed to have an autopsy. And you broke that. And it's like, and you went out of your way to make sure she didn't. Strange. That would be weird to me, because I'd be like, no, my first thing

as her like parent would be, I want to know exactly what happened here. Yeah. Tell me everything. I want all the details, I wanna know exactly what happened here. Tell me everything, I want all the details, I wanna know what happened here. And as her husband, why would you know? And that's the thing, as her husband, you should also feel the exact same way and why don't you?

You don't because you're a strange. And that's question, my question, my question. That's strange to me. Right. Yeah. So McMaster, the district attorney there, listened patiently while Ash spoke and while he was speaking He assumed that the man was still lost in his grief and just needed to get these accusations out of his symptoms

but System and all of his systems. Oh, but with each point Ash's theory got maybe not stronger But certainly more plausible to the man. It's interesting at the very least. Yeah. And the assistant DA, there knew, sorry, I said the DA, he's the assistant DA. He knew that when someone as wealthy and powerful as Ash Robinson spoke, he was at the very least to be afforded the courtesy of being taken seriously. So he did.

Yeah. But by the end of the conversation, McMaster said, you know what, I'm gonna look into this. But that was not enough for Ash Robinson. He insisted that they needed to get somebody to the funeral home that day to stop his daughter's body from being put into the ground beyond reach.

He was like, I don't know, we're not looking into this, we're doing something about this. Yeah. Knowing this would likely be impossible, McMaster nonetheless said he would do his best. So he reached out to Dr. Joseph Yahimchik and doing my best with that pronunciation, I did look it up.

He was the well-respected coroner of Harris County and McMaster explained everything about the situation to him. At first Yahimchik couldn't believe what he was hearing. How was he supposed to stop a funeral right as it was beginning and demand to re-examine? That's a big ask. But he knew that McMaster wasn't going to ask this if he didn't think it was important. So, he made his way down to the funeral home where he started reviewing the evidence

and preparing to examine the body as mourners began arriving in the parlour upstairs. This is honestly one of the most wild things I've ever heard. Wilds. As far as he could tell, the entire process from the death to the embalming had been complete and utter chaos. This is just a lot. And although many of the tissue samples taken by the coroner were still available, the fluid samples had already been discarded.

Not that it would have mattered much because the samples were taken after the embalming process that we've done, which is likely why they were discarded. Probably. So after talking with the coroner and reviewing the documentation, he decided that there was no need to remove the body from the casket or disrupt the funeral. And he said, I think I can make a determination

from the notes and the samples that are still available. And like, you gotta go on with this funeral. People are upstairs. Yeah. Like, like he's just trying to talk about pressure. Yeah. Now, while the Harris County corner reviewed the case, Ash started gathering evidence he believed would prove John guilty of murder.

Most significant he believed were the reports from the maid and the butler, Effie and Archie Green, a married couple. Oh. Effie. And Effie and Archie. Effie and Archie, cuties. Effie Green explained how she had found Joan. Effie and Archie cuties.

Effie, green, explained how she had found Joan on the morning that she was taken to the hospital. Oh, that awful way she found her. Right. And how she had seen John give Joan pills. And she too suspected he was responsible for her death. For Joan's death. And she also gave Ash a bottle of pills that she claimed John had given her for her own headaches

and told the man that just after John had given her the bottle, Boot told her, Fee don't take those pills, you'll go to sleep like my mother did and never wake up. Oh my God. And Boot was little at that point. Oh Boot. I don't know if he really said that, but that's what Fee claims. Yes. Oh. That's true or not,'s what that lead claims. Yes. But heartbreaking.

That's the true or not. That's a heartbreaking sentence. Yes. The evidence was curious to say the least, but McMaster couldn't get around the fact that and this is just kind of like his opinion. He was like, if you guys are so frightened to buy John Hill and you think he's a murderer or why are you still employed by him? Because he's paying them because he's a rich doctor. That's, employed by him? Because he's paying them.

Because he's a rich doctor. That's, I'm like, what? They can't just quit. I think, I don't, that's kind of, that's a silly question. I've, like, you don't know the situation. I'm glad you know what that's about. Yeah, because it's like, okay. Like, come on.

And it's also like, because I'm fucking terrified of him. Well, that's the other thing. It's like, I don't, and okay, so I care about Joan and Boot. Right, I'm just gonna leave this house and be like, well, they're pretty scary, so bye. Oh, I see you. Good luck, kid. Right, exactly.

And it's also Texas. They weren't gonna get a job anywhere else. Yeah. If they left John's house, he's like a high society shit. Exactly, he had, and he's gonna take that into consideration when he did. But a week or so later, Dr. Yohimchik presented

his report to the District Attorney's Office, much to the disappointment of Ash Rockins. No. I know. After conducting his own tests on the tissue samples, the doctor concluded that Joan had not died from pancreatitis, but he said she died from acute focal hepatitis. According to the coroner, the blood test conducted upon Jones arrival at the hospital ruled out any bacterial infection. And the toxicology report showed no evidence of poison, but it had been taken after in bombing, so it was possible that it could have been corrupted. But to his best, you know, determination, determination, she died from acute focal hepatitis.

Okay. This will change. The results of the second autopsy were just as crushing for Ash Robinson, who still believed that John was responsible for his daughter's death. So he was not done yet. He is a dad. He assembled a panel of doctors to review the findings, including Grady Holman, one of John Hill's closest friends, which I was like, interesting that you would put him on the panel. Yeah. The panel is...

But maybe that's like, maybe it's to show like that this is somebody who could be biased. Right. But we'll see if he can just look at the information, you know, from an unbiased lens as a doctor. Maybe it was pointed. Yeah, maybe it was. So the panel was immediately skeptical of the findings.

With one of the physicians saying, I will stake my reputation, but she did not have hepatitis. Whoa. In addition to the fact that Joan had none of the telltale signs of hepatitis like jaundice, they all noted that hepatitis is almost never fatal within the first few days of symptoms.

Yeah. So they were like, I don't think so. They were like, this is pretty well. Now, encouraged by the opinion of his assembled panel, Ash was hellbent on seeing that John was brought to justice one way or another. And to aid in this pursuit, he hired former district attorney Frank Briscoe, a man known for meticulous research and an impressive number of wins under his belt. That spring, Briscoe went to Dr. Yehimchik to pose some hypothetical questions. He wondered, was it possible for somebody to inject another person with hepatitis? Or could someone

inject another person with a bacteria that could cause hepatitis? Well, Yehimchik acknowledged that when it came to such things, pretty much anything was possible, but those scenarios were highly improbable. Yeah. And instead, yeah, him chick believed that Joan likely contracted the hepatitis from eating shellfish on a recent trip to Mexico city, which is possible. Yeah. But then a whole panel of doctors disagreed with that. No. So it's just, honestly, at this point, it's just a bunch of doctors disagree. Disagreeing, yeah. Whatever information Briscoe was after, Yehim Chiklur, we wasn't gonna change his opinion on the cause of death. He said, she died of hepatitis.

Yeah, like I believe it. Yeah, I'm not saying I believe it. He's saying he's saying that. In late May, another surprising piece of news came the Robinson's way though. Just under three months after his wife's death, John married Anne. John Hill and Anne Curth were married.

You've gotta be shitting me. Now, it gets worse. Are you fucking kidding me? The news reached ash by way of a gossip columnist. That's how he found out. And he went straight to Briscoe, who assured ash that this turn of events actually could be valuable, should the case make its way to a grandeur?

That doesn't look good. Done look good. So Briscoe was like, honestly, I'm so sorry that like you're going through this, this is terrible, but like this could be good for our case. Because it's like even if you didn't do anything, dude, three, what the fuck do you think that's going to look like two months? Under three months. Like come on you two, what is this? What is this? What the fuck do you think that's gonna look like two months? Under three months.

Like, come on you two, what are you doing? What is this? Now, in fact, less than a year earlier, John had provided Joan with a document swearing he would give up his mistress and commit to working on the marriage. So the news of this marriage, this new one, not only meant that John had not given up his relationship with Anne, but it also implied that he never had any intention

of wrecking silence, Joan. I know. And potentially could have been seeking another way out of the marriage, which like I said, is helpful to a potential case. Of course. So with Brisco's help, Ash took the new information to ID McMaster, hoping that the Assistant District Attorney

would reconsider taking the case to a grand jury. And as luck would have it, something about the story had been nagging at McMaster since he was first approached by Ash a few months earlier. And actually McMaster was suspicious of Dr. Yehimchik's conclusion. So he consulted an expert on hepatitis, Veterans Administration Hospital, who informed him that, well, it would have been possible to inject somebody with hepatitis. It's still one that killed Joan.

That's what it is. So wild. And this person said that if Joan had died from hepatitis, someone would have noticed the signs of the illness far sooner and treatment would have been possible. Yeah. And this expert who had said all of this was clear that not having examined the body himself,

he couldn't make any determination about the cause of death. But based on what McMaster had told him, it did not sound like Joan died from hepatitis. Yeah. So for McMaster, who had big political ambitions and sensed a big opportunity in the case, the news of John's marriage to Anne and this conversation that he had with this expert strengthened the case against Hill. The assistant district attorney started building his case

against John Hill for the murder of his wife. Holy shit. And that is where we are going to break. Oh my gosh. For part one because I feel like I just threw so much information at you. Oh poor Joan. This is the like Joan just breaks my heart like cause it's like fuck. And it's like that what a horrible, horrible death and to have it turn into such chaos afterwards when she was already going through chaos in her life and like poor boot and it's like poor ash,

poor all of these people. Just so many people involved for me. Like you were. It's a poor ash, poor all of these people. Just so many people involved for me. It's a tragic case. And in part two, it only gets crazier. Part two, I think is actually longer than part one. So you know, I'm not going to tell you what to expect at all from part two because this story is about to take a fucking turn. Okay.

So with that being said, we hope that you keep listening, and we hope you keep it weird. But I'm so weird that you do mean things to your wife. Yeah, don't cheat on people. Don't cheat on people, don't let them be sick and not do anything. Great kind of, just be a good person. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music.

Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.