In the winter of 1997, a chilling discovery added to the growing fear that gripped the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C. On the first of December, the body of 34-year-old Dana Hill, a Black woman who had grown up on the once-quiet Princeton Place, was found. Her life had been taken by strangulation, and she was left in a vacant building in the 300 block of Florida Avenue NE, another victim in a string of slayings that had been terrorizing the community.
The Petworth area, once a
stable middle-class Black neighborhood, had seen the devastating effects of the crack cocaine epidemic. The series of unsolved deaths of women, many of whom, like Dana, had struggled with drug addiction, had left residents feeling both terrified and neglected. There was a growing sentiment that a serial killer was preying on vulnerable women in their community. Dana's death, along with the killing of another woman, Jacqueline Teresa Birch, whose body was found just weeks earlier, intensified the pressure on law enforcement to find the person responsible for the mounting number of victims.
A significant breakthrough in the investigation came in January 1998 with the arrest of Darryl Donnell Turner, a 34-year-old resident of Princeton Place. Turner, who was described by some neighbors as a quiet man, was charged with the murders of both Dana Hill and Jacqueline Birch. The investigation revealed a much darker story; Turner was a serial killer who targeted women in the area. Evidence, including DNA, linked him to the crime scenes.
In October 2001, Darryl Donnell Turner was convicted of the rape and murder of Dana Hill and Jacqueline Birch. He received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. In a later agreement with prosecutors, Turner dropped his rights to appeal in exchange for not facing trial for other murders he was suspected of committing. While the conviction brought a measure of justice and closure to the community and the families of the victims, it did little to erase the tragic loss of life and the period of fear that had plagued the Petworth neighborhood.
