- 4 hours ago
A Plan to Kill - Season 2 - Episode 04: Payment Plan
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00:19I arrived and all I could see was a male with his back to us and a female facing us.
00:24There was blood spatter, there's bullets, it's absolute chaos.
00:27I didn't know who the victims were and who the suspects were.
00:32They found a backpack, strategically placed to go grab.
00:36You could definitely call it a murder kit, a hostage kit.
00:40We opened the door to the shed and we can see a human foot.
00:45Our hearts dropped.
00:48When it comes to people getting divorced or child custody issues, people lose their mind.
00:54She actually called his work and said he issued threats and they wouldn't let him in the building.
01:02There was one note that I recall that said crime equals desire, ability and opportunity.
01:07The callousness behind this plan was something that I've never seen in my now 30 year career.
01:33The city of Dublin sits about 20 miles from the city of Oakland.
01:39There's a growing community that has incorporated a lot of Silicon Valley types of folks.
01:44We didn't have a whole lot of murders that take place.
01:48I'm guessing we probably had maybe one every other year at the time.
01:55How many words in sync?
01:57I've got a problem with a neighbor as we hear a screaming from next door.
02:00Okay, what are they screaming?
02:01What are you doing?
02:03What are you doing?
02:03What are you doing?
02:04What are you doing?
02:04It sounded like a shot.
02:05I didn't know if it was a gunshot or what but it sounded like there's somebody in the house.
02:09I had a script by 148-9.
02:10about 5 50 p.m. a call for service came out through dispatch gunshots were fired at a
02:17residence on the west end of town I arrive and I see my partner who happened to get there before
02:24I did and he was out front talking with some of the neighbors what we learned was that Sally who
02:30lived at the residence had a boyfriend Lester she's 91 years old Les is also in his 90s and
02:38he calls her every day at 4 o'clock and Lester had repeatedly tried to get a hold of Sally
02:45that day
02:46and she wasn't answering and he became concerned so he asked his son Jeff to respond to the house
02:55when the son got to the residence the son heard what he thought was a gunshot at that point the
03:02son went to the neighbor's house and we received a 911 call so my partner and I entered I could
03:10hear a huge commotion yelling screaming you can kind of hear thumping we can tell it was upstairs we get
03:19to the top of the stairs all I could see was a male facing away from us laying in the
03:23hallway with his
03:24back to us and a female standing in the hallway facing us the females covered in blood there's an
03:31expandable baton on the ground that's bent looks like it's been used to hit either the female or the
03:37male we don't know there was blood spattered there's a stun gun there's bullets on the floor
03:47absolute chaos we started giving commands as we normally would you know show us your hands
03:54after telling everyone to stop the male made a kind of this abrupt move and although we didn't know
04:02who the suspect was the male tends to be the aggressor in domestic violence and given the fact
04:08that he's maybe trying to flee try to get out of there my partner deployed his taser to subdue him
04:15and I can hear the male yelling out about his child asking where is my daughter type of verbiage and
04:25the female who's standing in front of me points towards a bathroom it's kind of eerie because there
04:31is a full-length mirror on that bathroom door in the reflection what I saw was another woman dressed
04:40in all black who appeared to be hiding in in the bedroom now I've got an additional person and at
04:48that point I had the rest of that hallway to search I still had a child to locate maybe more
04:56victims maybe
04:57more suspects I ordered her out of the bedroom that same moment I can hear other officers coming in
05:04and coming up the stairs to assist the male was handcuffed and escorted out of the house they
05:11escort him to patrol car and they do a pat search of him he didn't have any weapons the women
05:19are escorted
05:20out of the house as well one female she appears calm the other woman she's got some visible injuries
05:30to her the male who has injuries he's got redness all over his face his head he's swollen or starting
05:38to swell he's been in a fight of some sort my partner I continued to search of the upstairs and
05:48in the
05:49bathroom we located the daughter a two-year-old girl she was handed over to one of the other
05:55responding officers who escorted her took her outside away from the residence we didn't find
06:01anyone else in the house we're trying to sort out who everybody is on scene so in talking to the
06:10two
06:10females on the curb line we learned that one of them was Rosa Hill the other female we identified as
06:17May Lee Rosa's mom we found out that Rosa was married to Eric Hill who was the individual handcuffed
06:27in the police car they were estranged at that point but they were married and we found out that they
06:32did
06:32have at the time a two-year-old child in common Eric lives here with his daughter the two-year
06:39-old
06:39ultimately went into their care of child protective services for that night it appeared to me that we
06:48potentially have one or two female victims of domestic violence and this male suspect who has
06:57gotten into some sort of physical altercation with his wife but we got to figure out what the facts
07:03are and in talking to Eric while he's in the back of a patrol vehicle he is frantic he was
07:11concerned
07:12about it his grandmother Sally and where she was she's 91 years old this was Sally's house and she
07:20wasn't in the house you can hear him talk about how she doesn't go anywhere she doesn't drive she's
07:28pretty much homebound so she has to be somewhere in the residence so our group of folks searched through
07:35the residence again try to find Sally but we didn't find her very quickly we looked in the backyard but
07:42once
07:42again we did not see her and we're starting to get concerned about where she might be at that point
07:50we basically seal the house off and make sure that there is no entry into that location when walking
07:57through the hallway upstairs there was blood strewn throughout the walls there was a stun gun up there
08:04there was bullets on the ground it looked like two different calibers of bullets that were on the ground
08:09why is there all these weapons this isn't just a domestic regular domestic violence incident that
08:15occurred there's something else that went down and now add in the fact that Sally is missing the hair
08:23on the back of my neck starting to stand up when the officers conduct a search of the backyard they
08:31found a backpack and this backpack looked almost as if it was strategically placed underneath a wheelbarrow
08:37as like as to hide it or to set it up to go grab when needed in that backpack were
08:45a set of handcuffs
08:46a three-blade throwing star a pocket saw goggles duct tape rope arrows for a crossbow gun
08:57why are these things here and how do they fit into the puzzle of this investigation how
09:01were they either used in this crime already or how were they potentially staged at this location to
09:09be used at a later time we asked Eric if the backpack belonged to him we asked Rosa and May
09:17about the
09:18backpack and nobody involved in this is gonna claim that that backpack belongs to them and at that point in
09:25time they do a pat search of Rosa and May and when they encounter Rosa she happens to have a
09:33firearm in
09:34her pant pocket Rosa said during the altercation that Eric produced a gun and threatened her I said during
09:41the struggle that that Eric dropped the gun and that she had picked it up she said that she came
09:48to see her
09:49two-year-old baby and to talk about custody issues with Eric when Rosa got there the front door was
09:59left ajar
10:00she goes in the house saw that nobody was home and waits for Eric her mother met her there because
10:11she
10:11was afraid of Eric he had rage and she said that Eric attacks her and her mother and she was
10:18able to
10:19acquire the firearm because he pointed at her also Rosa and May never encountered Sally while in the house
10:29but Eric was blaming both May and Rosa that they had come and they were attacking him we know that
10:35Eric has
10:36injuries we know that May has injuries Rosa really didn't have any injuries at all but all three
10:43individuals were taken and assessed medically and then we're gonna be on route to the station
10:52we really started wondering what was going on here and we knew we needed to keep digging deeper
10:59we're getting two different stories and trying to navigate who our real suspect is but at the same
11:05time finding Sally is extremely important and we need to determine if she is related to the assault
11:13investigation that's going on at this house this case was crazy like nothing that I'd ever seen in my
11:18law enforcement career we want to know if there's previous violence involved with Eric and Rosa we all
11:27went to a lawyer to see about getting some visitation rights I tell mom no matter what no matter what
11:35don't open the door there was a Google search of how to murder this was not as per the moment
11:42crime this was really planned out at this point in the investigation multiple things are happening
12:01there are several people doing several different things we're searching that residence to try to find
12:06in Sally that the property is rather large I think it's about a half an acre and I assigned officers
12:12to do a canvas of the area as well at the same time Rosa Hill May Lee and Eric Hill
12:20they're being taken
12:21to the hospital to be treated for the injuries while Rosa May and Eric were assessed medically we want to
12:28know if there's previous violence involved with Eric and Rosa and if there's anything that recently
12:34occurred that might have triggered this type of response Eric's father Greg who was the son of
12:42Sally lived out of state at the time we called and we had a conversation with Greg Hill and in
12:49talking
12:49to him we found out that he already knew what was going on I live out of state and earlier
12:56that day
12:57I got a call from less mom's boyfriend of many years and he was just frantic they always spoke on
13:05the phone on the days that they weren't together that day he was calling her and calling her and he
13:11couldn't get her and he called me to say you better come out here something's happened to Sally he wasn't
13:18sure what they couldn't find her so I had to fly to California and this had called his son to
13:27go over
13:27and check on my mom and he had come to the house and they couldn't tell what was happening and
13:34so they
13:34called the police and then Les had called and said that Eric had been handcuffed and put in a patrol
13:43car
13:44and I'm like what they couldn't tell by the way things were going down whether Eric was the aggressor
13:54or what was happening I was shocked but not really I mean by that time trouble was well afoot
14:09in 2002 Eric was working for the Alameda County Social Services that's where he met May and May
14:18introduced him ultimately to Rosa who was her daughter Rosa had worked in Silicon Valley as a
14:26information technician when Eric first mentioned meeting Rosa he talked about how much fun they had
14:34how smart Rosa was they seemed to like some of the same things Eric was very very happy when he
14:41met Rosa we
14:44learned that Eric Hill and Rosa Hill have been married since 2005 Eric did tell me that as soon as
14:54the wedding
14:55was over everything changed it was no longer the sweet woman that he'd fallen in love with but
15:04Eric was extremely happy one year later when he found out that they were gonna have a baby he just
15:12couldn't wait but when the baby was born that's when trouble really became evident Rosa was no longer
15:21working so he took on a second job working nights at Walgreens but it never seemed to be enough Rosa
15:29was never happy
15:33and then very soon after the baby was born Rosa kicked Eric out
15:40and he went out to Dublin and told my mother who was his grandmother and that was the beginning of
15:49his living with her
15:53so at that point Rosa wouldn't let him see the baby and we all went to a lawyer with Eric
16:00to see about getting some visitation rights anyway
16:07during the custody hearings there were many things that each of them had to do and part of it was
16:13to see a family mediator
16:14and I know she didn't follow through with that Rosa was told to get a job she didn't get a
16:22job she didn't do
16:23any of the things the judge told her over time Eric was given more and more time with Elizabeth that's
16:31when it got ugly
16:33Rosa started making up stories around Eric molesting the baby
16:42it was quite an ordeal for Eric to go through this but he was cleared of all those allegations
16:49and then Rosa called his work and said he issued threats and they wouldn't let him in the building
16:57they did have to put him on suspension but then they after they investigated everything he got his job back
17:05at that point Eric was given 85% physical custody and 100% legal custody
17:14I was concerned for both Eric and my mother because Rosa was intent on making Eric's life hell
17:21and I tell mom no matter what no matter what don't open the door to Rosa
17:28there's something wrong Rosa and Eric are estranged they have separated and Eric has received primary custody of their two
17:39-year-old
17:39why are these two females inside this house we know that Sally Hill lives in this house
17:46we know that there was an altercation upstairs but we don't know where Sally is and we don't know what
17:52happened to her
17:54we continued to look for Sally and kind of the last place that we hadn't searched yet
18:00was a shed that was on the side yard of the house and it had a padlock so it wasn't
18:08easily accessible
18:09we went and got a bolt cutter and as we cut the padlock and opened it our worst nightmares occurred
18:26we continued to look for Sally Eric's grandmother she's 91 years old lives in this house and we can't find
18:34her we opened the door to the shed in the backyard and we see a garbage can and we can
18:44see a human foot
18:46and we all know that Sally in the garbage can and our hearts dropped she was found with a plastic
18:58bag
18:58over her head wrapped in sheets wrapped in rope there had been no respect for her whatsoever
19:09the coroner's office was summoned and they came out and removed her body and we now know that we have
19:17a homicide investigation after finding Sally we know that there's no reason for for Eric to harm his
19:27grandmother so at this point he was considered to be a victim in this incident and Rosa and May had
19:34no
19:35reason to go in that house without anybody's permission we believe they are involved with
19:41Sally's murder but we're still trying to figure things out and at the same time when one of the
19:53officers was doing a canvas of the neighborhood he located a vehicle that was occupied by an Asian
19:58male he was about a block away from the crime scene he had moved his seat back and was slouched
20:06down in
20:06the vehicle almost like he didn't want to be seen he was identified as Ping Lee the husband of May
20:13Lee and the
20:14father of Rosa he tells us that his wife May had asked him to take her to the residence in
20:20Dublin I had asked him to drop her off about a block away
20:26he knew that his son-in-in-law was living there and he also knew that May was going there
20:34to help out Rosa in
20:36some way he denied knowing anything else but we found it very strange that he would drop her off a
20:42block away
20:43not in front of the house and from where we find him we know that he was able to see
20:48everything that
20:49happened and still at no time does he exit his vehicle or come in contact to police to see what's
20:55going on he has now potentially brought the suspect to this crime and he's taken back to the station for
21:03for interviewing detectives returned to the station to start conducting interviews of everybody involved
21:14they had just gotten out of the hospital Rosa really didn't have any injuries at all and May suffered
21:21a small laceration on her head requiring a couple stitches or more Eric had laceration to his head
21:30multiple taser probes Eric had taser marks on the front of his body yes Eric had been tased by our
21:37deputies however he was tased in the back so it was definitely evident that he had also been tased by
21:45either Rosa or May he had an injury to his throat that was definitely some pressure that had been
21:53applied you could see that there was redness and some swelling there as well he basically was beaten
21:59all over the place but going into Eric's interview what I'm trying to find out is step by step how
22:07did
22:07this evolve to what it became I really didn't think Rosa and May would do something like that
22:16I thought things were finally getting normal until the very moment of the attack
22:22I told the police when I first met Rosa she was kind of shy but once we started talking I
22:30got to
22:30really see how smart she was I got to become fascinated by her but after we got married Rosa started
22:38picking
22:38fights over everything at a certain point Rosa basically told me never to come back and for about
22:47a year she did not let me see my daughter that was devastating and that's why I had to start
22:56court
22:57proceedings and I sued for 50 50 custody once I was granted some custody of my daughter Rosa started
23:07getting really mean and vindictive and when she made these accusations that I was abusing and molesting my
23:14daughter I was dumbstruck she did that not because they were true but because they would hurt me and it
23:24worked
23:27but by January of 2009 I had 85% fiscal custody and 100% legal custody we kind of developed
23:37a routine
23:38with the custody with the custody doing our handoffs and trades and may was always the one that did the
23:44talking
23:45Rosa just stood in the background I thought they came to accept what was going on and then the police
23:54let me know that
23:56that they had found that my grandmother was dead I did I broke down and cried I definitely feel lucky
24:07to be alive
24:17in talking to Eric he was very emotional and he'd just gotten out of the hospital he just got beat
24:25and he was very much upset about his grandmother she was always big on family and she loved being a
24:35grandmother I never dreamed that Rosa and May would do something like that you could see his physical
24:46reaction recalling the events in the morning like any other day I went to work I got off at five
25:01and I went down to the daycare center and picked up my daughter and drove straight home the way I
25:08normally
25:08did but when I got there Les's son Jeff and his wife Uta were up by the front door Les
25:20was the guy my
25:20grandmother was dating and he had called multiple times and she never answered the phone he was really
25:28worried about my grandmother's welfare Les also in his 90s sent his son Jeff to go and check on her
25:40they stayed by the front door I went upstairs and I was carrying my daughter with me by the time
25:47I got to
25:47my grandmother's room I didn't see her I heard a a noise behind me
25:57and I turned around and I saw May in the hallway and I was like why are you here and
26:07she said that my
26:08grandmother had called her because she needed help which made no sense because my grandmother would have
26:14called a bunch of other people first May said that my grandmother was down in the garage I asked May
26:22to watch my daughter I put her down but as I was running out of the room Rosa stepped out
26:30and hit me
26:31with a stun gun apparently it made a loud noise because it scared Jeff and Uta and they ran out
26:38and went over to
26:39the neighbor's house to call the police may started hitting me with the baton and Rosa was kicking me
26:51when I started seeing blood dripping down my face that's when I realized this is definitely a
26:59a live-or-die moment I started fighting back but then they knocked me over onto my back
27:08May was choking me with the baton and at this moment Rosa came out of the room with the gun
27:15and pointed it at
27:17my chest and told me to stop fighting at this point I gave up
27:34and
27:39you know they said will you give up custody and I said yes
27:45about this time is when I heard a siren outside
27:52they would have killed me definitely if the cops hadn't shown up
27:57in talking to Eric everything was consistent but it was very sad to have an individual recall these
28:05events of course Eric was no longer being considered a suspect so after his interview we allowed him to leave
28:15my phone rings and it's Eric telling me they had found Sally's body
28:21I could hardly take it in that this could actually happen it was just a nightmare a traumatic nightmare
28:30and I had to take him over to the division of family services so he could get the baby it
28:36was a huge
28:37relief to finally see her again and be able to pick her up and hold her
28:47at this point Rosa and May are our prime suspects in this crime now what we want to know is
28:54why did
28:55they do this why did they have to kill Sally did she just get in the way was it on
29:01purpose we need to
29:02continue to dig and find more evidence to tell what was really going on this point in the investigation
29:08multiple things are happening detectives are interviewing Rosa may and ping investigators are at the house
29:16conducting further analysis of the scene and while doing another canvas of the area around
29:23Sally's residence looking for anything or any evidence that may help in our case we found acura
29:30integra a block and a half away from our crime scene
29:34a registration check of that vehicle came back to may lee and the keys to that acura were found in
29:42Rosa's possession that was definitely a vehicle of interest that we wanted to search further
29:51inside acura integra we found a hacksaw we found a samurai sword we found a crossbow we found handcuffs
30:00we found 22 caliber bullets finding all these just crazy pieces of evidence in vehicles and backpacks at
30:08the scene this was not a spur of the moment crime this was really planned out also the coroner's office
30:15did an autopsy of sally her cause of death was found to be strangulation she was also found to have
30:23lacerations to the head and to the hand consistent with being struck with a metal object we
30:29believed metal police baton as well as puncture wounds which were able to associate to a taser
30:39when we interview may she immediately invokes her right to an attorney so we we don't question her
30:45any further ping just basically says that he had driven may to the scene and was waiting for may to
30:53resurface rosa still claimed that she was there with her mother may to confront him about child custody
31:02have a conversation eric attacks her and her mother and she is just merely trying to defend herself
31:09but we share with rosa that we're taking her into custody that we're going to be taking her clothing
31:15we're going to be taking her dna and no emotional response may was also arrested for murder and ping lee
31:25is arrested for accessory to murder based on the evidence that we have found throughout our investigation
31:32this wasn't just a crime that just popped up and happened this crime was planned out but now we
31:41need to put all the pieces of the puzzle together to prove this case and tell the story of why
31:46it
31:46happened we identify that rosa lived at a residence in fremont and that may and ping lived at a residence
31:55in antioch so we authored search warrants for all of the residents that they were associated with
32:04but nothing significant is located at either location the residence in antioch it was weird because it
32:12didn't look like anybody had lived in there so we're a little puzzled by that so i'm like i'm gonna
32:17check
32:17one of our databases to see if they have any previous residences that they might be
32:21staying at still so i learned that there was a brentwood address that we had no prior knowledge of
32:28and i reached out to the u.s postal inspector and all three of them rosa may and ping were
32:34receiving
32:34mail at the brentwood location get a search warrant for the brentwood house and that's where we just
32:40discover just a plethora of evidence it was like a gold mine
32:58we served the search warrant at the brentwood residence and as soon as we breached that door
33:04it was a gold mine full of evidence
33:08we found the boxes from the tasers there were receipts to items that were found at the crime scene
33:17there was a computer and the computer was collected and taken to a forensic lab to see what kind of
33:24searches were done we found writings that were directly linked to eric and to sally
33:32some were were up in the master bedroom some were down in common areas like the kitchen
33:37there was a list of troublemakers where sally's name was listed along with eric's
33:45there was one note a revenge for rosa which to me meant the revenge was going to be against eric
33:54the
33:54one that was taking custody away from rosa another note that we found said crime equals desire ability
34:04and opportunity we found notes where they were stalking eric what time he got home
34:11what time he left when he went somewhere so they knew that they would encounter sally so they had to
34:20have a plan on how that was going to occur before they took out eric
34:26so after we conclude collecting all the evidence at the brentwood address we wanted more evidence to help
34:33bolster our case we want to know where these weapons were obtained who made those purchases and when they
34:40were purchased tasers they have serial numbers so in contacting taser about the one that was left at
34:48the crime scene they informed us where the tasers were purchased and we did some follow-up there with
34:54the individual who sold the taser he described selling the two particular tasers to an older asian female
35:05the purchase occurred about two weeks or so before sally's murder and the violent attack on eric
35:16and then in follow-up we were able to determine that anybody who purchases a taser has to
35:22pay like an activation fee so in looking up the associated serial numbers to the two tasers that
35:29were purchased the credit card that was used belonged to may lee this solidifies that may was involved with
35:38this murder plan from the beginning
35:43next these firearms where did they come from looking at the serial numbers we were able to determine that
35:50one of the firearms was purchased at a gun show in nevada we were able to make contact with the
35:56individual that sold it and in talking to him we found out that he remembered quite clearly the
36:03individuals that he sold his firearm to and it was to two asian females who he described as lucky if
36:11they were 100 pounds wet rosa may went to the gun show in october way before the crime actually occurred
36:20and as we continue to investigate we learned that rosa went to reno before that we were able to identify
36:29a co-worker of hers that took a trip with her to reno a couple months prior to the homicide
36:36and she made
36:37some odd purchases at a sporting goods store two samurai swords and a bow and arrow set
36:46it and we ended up finding those inside rosa's car that was left on scene
36:57and then we get the results from the forensic lab on the computer and the first thing that just
37:04jumps off the paper is a google search of how to murder
37:15there were several other things that were found on that computer confusion in elderly medications
37:21that are used for the elderly things that would really relate or show maybe what was planned
37:29to happen to sally rose had developed a hatred of my grandmother because as i was starting to win
37:38in the courts she assumed that my grandmother was paying for the attorney which was not true
37:45it was clear that they had put all the blame on eric and sally for the custody issues
37:54and the contents of the backpack definitely they spoke to what their mindset was you could definitely
38:01call it a murder kit a hostage kit they brought that there with full intent to use on sally and
38:11eric
38:23so when looking at the evidence recovered from the brentwood residence
38:28it is clear that this murder was premeditated
38:33there was a letter found which was titled operation custody a plan to basically murder sally and eric
38:43to gain full custody of rosa and eric's daughter
38:51the plan began in fall of 2008 when rosa becomes obsessed with gaining full custody of her daughter
38:58and will do anything to make it happen she and her mother may named their plot operation custody over
39:05the following months they look at ways to commit and get away with murder first they researched
39:11deadly substances including arsenic cyanide strychnine mustard gas and ammonia after deciding against
39:19poisons or toxins the pair began amassing an alarming cache of weapons from guns and tasers to a
39:26samurai sword and crossbow they then assemble their kill kit and decide to execute their plan
39:34on the day of the murder they drive to my house planning to murder sally and me
39:39once inside the residence rosa may beat and strangle sally to death stuff her body into a garbage can
39:46and lie in wait for eric to come home when eric arrived at home they ambush him and begin using
39:53the
39:53baton and tasers and after all that they planned to kill eric which they thought would result in rosa
40:02being granted full custody
40:08this plan was so intricate and it all fell apart because lester really cared about my grandmother
40:15if he wouldn't have called jeff annuda and if they hadn't shown up and called the cops
40:21may and rosa would have gotten away with it i definitely feel like i've been blessed on that front
40:31two years later in 2011 may and rosa stood trial for the murder of sally hill and attempted murder of
40:42eric hill they were convicted an antioch woman and her mother were convicted today in the killing of a
40:5091 year old great grandmother selma hill's body was found stuffed into a garbage can
41:05the callousness behind this plan was something that i've never seen in my now 30 year career
41:14when it comes to people getting divorced or child custody issues people lose their mind but for a
41:24family to be involved in the actual execution of a murder plan is unique
41:44i have to say that as bad as this experience was my daughter's done well great kid who who's been
41:53my
41:54best friend she's been able to have a better relationship with my side of the family which i
42:00don't know if she ever would have had this not happened i just try to focus on on the good
42:18i have great memories of my mom wonderful memories i love my mom's smile i love my mom's
42:26heart she was always empathizing with me and everybody else pull it all together she was amazing
42:37i was lucky i was lucky i was lucky very lucky
42:42you
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