On the night of June 8, 1987, a violent home invasion in Yuma, Arizona, ended in the tragic death of Sterleen Hill, a Black woman. The events of that evening unfolded as a terrifying ordeal for the Hill family, beginning when two men forced their way into their home. Sterleen and her husband, Ralph Hill, were forcibly taken to their bedroom, where their hands were bound, and they were made to lie face down on the floor.
The intruders, later identified as part of a group of three,
ransacked the room, demanding money and drugs. The invasion was motivated by a search for the Hills' daughter, who had recently left her common-law husband, Fred Robinson. Robinson, along with Theodore Washington and Jimmy Mathers, had driven from Banning, California, to Yuma with the intent of finding her. The situation escalated dramatically when one of the men shot Ralph Hill in the head with a shotgun. After reloading, the assailant then shot Sterleen Hill execution-style, inflicting a fatal wound. Miraculously, Ralph Hill survived the attack, though he sustained serious injuries.
Law enforcement was alerted to the unfolding horror by the Hills' teenage son, who managed to escape the home and call for help from a neighbor's house. The subsequent investigation led to the swift apprehension of the suspects. Fred Robinson was arrested shortly after the incident. Theodore Washington and Jimmy Mathers were also taken into custody soon after. The three men were charged with a litany of crimes, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, burglary, and armed robbery.
Following a joint trial, all three men were found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death. However, the legal journey of the convicted men continued for years. Jimmy Mathers' conviction was later overturned by the Arizona Supreme Court due to insufficient evidence. Both Fred Robinson and Theodore Washington remained on death row, but their sentences were also subject to further legal challenges and appeals over the ensuing decades, with Washington's death sentence being overturned by a federal appeals court in 2019, granting him a new sentencing hearing.
