Robert Hill / Photo from Chicago Police
BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
Chicago Police officers looking to tell a 56-year-old Montclare woman that her stolen car had been located instead found her 33-year-old boyfriend trying to dispose of her body in a garbage can after he suffocated her the night before, prosecutors said.
Assistant State’s Attorney Akash Vyas said Robert Hill put his hand over Sandra Fellows’ nose and mouth to prevent her from breathing Tuesday night.
Hill then poured water on Fellows face, forcefully took out her dentures to stop her from biting and smothered her to death at her home in the 6600 block of West Beldin Avenue, Vyas said.
After killing his girlfriend, Hill stole her car and drove to his mother’s house, where he left the car parked on the street with the engine running and the radio on, prosecutors said.
The next day, Hill went back to Fellows’ apartment building with a large garbage can he was going to use to dispose of her body, Vyas said.
But when Hill got into the elevator he encountered police officers who came to tell Fellows that her car, which had previously been reported stolen, had been found, Vyas said.
When Hill and the officers arrived at Fellows’ apartment, the officers told him they would like to inform her that they found her stolen vehicle, Vyas said.
Hill told the officers that Fellows died the night before and he was there to dispose of her body, prosecutors said.
He took the officers to her body, which was lying face up with blood on her face from her dentures being pulled out, Vyas said.
The officers arrested Hill, who admitted that he was upset Fellows received money from a life insurance policy and had not told him so he suffocated her, Vyas said.
An autopsy confirmed Fellows died of asphyxiation and her death was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Hill, of the 1400 block of South Hamlin Avenue was charged with first-degree murder and Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil ordered him held on $3 million bond Friday.
Hill has previously been sentenced to 180 months in prison for a federal cocaine conspiracy charge, prosecutors said.
He was sentenced to four years in prison in 2004 for manufacturing and delivery of a controlled substance. He received probation for the same charge in both 1999 and 2003, according to court records.
Hill earned his G.E.D. and works for a temp agency, according to his lawyer, who noted that none of his previous convictions were for violent offenses.
Hill will be back in court April 29.