Posted on 06/13/2024 6:58:39 AM PDT by Red Badger
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids Police closed a 45-year-old cold case Monday. It was all thanks to one woman.
Tommie Lee Hill was convicted of a string of sex crimes in Michigan and Indiana, and detectives spoke with other victims in Pennsylvania. Officials said his crimes include raping his young stepdaughters, assault with intent to murder, burglary, firearms and counterfeiting. He was on the run for 37 years.
Joe Garrett, a Grand Rapids Police officer and U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force member, first began investigating Hill's case in 2017. The FBI had handled it previously.
In the 1960s, Hill began raping children, Garrett said. He was sent from Terre Haute, Indiana jails to Grand Rapids to be sentenced for another criminal sexual conduct involving a 12-year-old girl named Erma Shaw.
During his sentencing, he told authorities he was thirsty. He entered the women's bathroom, escaped through a window to a getaway car, and was never seen by Grand Rapids authorities again.
Hill was eventually picked up by police in Mississippi and resentenced in Terre Haute.
There, Hill would once again escape authorities. This time, a clerical error at the jail allowed Hill to walk free.
Authorities said he never saw the inside of a jail after that day, instead committing even more sex crimes in Pennsylvania.
The case went cold. A reward of $7,000 was offered for information through Silent Observer, an anonymous tip site, but years went by with no takers.
That all changed in 2017 through a single anonymous tip. A woman called, saying she saw Hill with his car broken down on the side of the highway in Pittsburgh in the 1970s. It was enough information to restart the investigation and hand the case off to Garrett.
Garrett called what happened next a "boots on the ground, blue-collar investigation." He worked closely with one of Hill's survivors: Erma Major Shaw, now 57, who wanted the justice her 12-year-old self never saw.
Major Shaw was molested and impregnated by Hill back in the 1970s. She was not his only victim.
"I have a child that was buried in a cemetery because of him," Major Shaw said at the Monday press conference.
Now old enough to speak up for something she should never have to, Major Shaw has worked alongside Garrett for seven years to finish this case.
Through genealogical evidence left with his victims, Garrett and Major Shaw were able to knock on the doors of six contacts Hill had in Pittsburgh. All of them had their own stories of Hill molesting or raping family members.
Through these contacts, Garrett discovered Hill had changed his name during his time in Pittsburgh. This brought them to Pittsburgh authorities, where they met a 78-year-old detective who had studied the case for years. He showed them photos of a man named Abdula Muhammad.
Major Shaw confirmed this was her rapist.
Garrett and Major Shaw also confirmed another detail about Hill. He was killed on December 4, 1983.
Hill was shot in the back of the head by a man named Vernon Phipps after Hill apparently molested his sister.
"He got his own level of street justice it seems," Garrett said.
Major Shaw will never see her rapist behind bars. But she will see life beyond this case, and she says she's grateful for the opportunity to finally move on.
In 2018, she wrote a book to encourage other survivors to step forward and keep eyes on Hill's case. She hopes to someday create a non-profit to allocate more funds to solving cold cases.
"If he were still alive, he would still be victimizing children," said Major Shaw. "As long as I had breath in my body, I would stay at it."
I hope “Vernon Phipps” isn’t in any trouble.
Our authorities need to do their jobs.
Give Vernon Phipps a medal.
Needs to happen a lot more often but also a lot sooner. The “justice” system is more flawed now than it was 45 years ago when it let this maggot escape. A bullet in the back of the head or anywhere else that will be instantly fatal is the best solution.
Must be his son. He doesn’t look old enough to have killed a man in 1983..................
The Facebook Phipps graduated high school in 1972, so he would have been 29 in ‘83.
I wonder how may other cold cases are “cold” because the perp is also stone cold dead ...
Died in 1983 but spotted by eye witness in 2017.
Sounds like a dem voter.
Many.
Cold case Youtube videos are one of my guilty pleasures and with advances in DNA and genetic technology over the past decade, cops have been able to close many of these cases. And, yes, often the perps are long dead.
Must be an old pic...................
Tommie Lee Hill was convicted in 1979, escaped, and was shot dead in 1983, making his time on the run 4 years. (although he didn't appear to be running from the law at all)
37 years is the time frame that law enforcement didn't do their job.
Key point. The child rapist Tommie Lee Hill’s real name was Abdula Muhammad
What happened to Vernon? None of the articles tell us. Hope he didn’t do any time for this good deed.
He seems to alive and well in Pittsburg..............
Doesn’t surprise me. Perps gonna perpetrate.
Until someone puts a permanent end to it.
Not enough.
A surprising number turn to have been suicides that happened long ago, especially when the cold cases are crimes against children.
I guess even though they got away with it, they just couldn’t live with themselves.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.