It is Gill’s third chance for release.
The 64-year-old was first up for parole in February 2004. It was denied and next set for a hearing in December 2013. After Gill’s second hearing, parole was denied and set for new hearing this month, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
According to court records, on March 24, 1984, Kerri and other children in the Sharon Park neighborhood were playing “pretend school" with Kerri serving as the principal.
Gill was seen whispering to Kerri, and a short time later he entered his garage, followed by the girl. Gill emerged from the garage, and Kerri had disappeared.
It was Gill who suggested search parties, and he was with one of the groups searching when Kerri’s body was found stuffed in a workbench in Gill’s garage. Her body was lying on a piece of carpeting concealed by a plastic pipe and a concrete block, according to court documents.
The girl suffered three stab wounds, including one to the heart, and her throat had been cut.
In June 1984, Gill pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and told a three-judge panel that the stabbing in the chest was an accident. He said the other wounds were made in a panic.
“Gill noticed what he did, laid Keri on a rug, and then in what he described as a sudden release of a combination of panic, fear and anger, cut Kerri’s throat and stabbed her in the stomach,” then-Butler County Common Pleas Judge John Moser wrote in opinion.
In Gill’s statement, he said touched the girl’s vaginal area.
The three-judge panel gave Gill the minimum sentence. In the opinion, Moser noted Gill’s guilty plea, his lack of any previous criminal history, that he suffered from some personality disorders and his service to the community and church before the killing.
“Gill’s offense was not one involving premeditation, planning or deliberation. I was an impulsive, spontaneous act on his part which amounted to a momentary aberration of behavior, which was otherwise exemplary,” Moser wrote.
“The panel unanimously agreed that the defendant’s total character and background belied the events of March, 24, 1984. Unfortunately a five minute aberration of behavior took the life of Kerri Hintermesiter and and destroyed the life of her family and the life to the Gill family."
About the Author
