In the summer of 1986, Gregory Wildman Hill, a man in his late 20s from Dead Man’s Holler in Whitley County, Kentucky, was found shot once in the temple on Upper Mulberry Cemetery Road by a relative. Hill, who was involved in the marijuana trade and had been serving as a police informant, was preparing to testify in court against a local criminal group when he was killed.

Investigators later learned Hill’s death was a paid hit. James Gregory Marlow and Cynthia Lynn Coffman were accused of luring Hill to the secluded road — Coffman allegedly feigning car trouble to draw him in while Marlow ambushed him, disarmed him, and used Hill’s own pistol to shoot him. Marlow later admitted that local criminals paid about $5,000 to have Hill killed before he could testify.

Marlow and Coffman were linked to further violent crimes in California and were indicted in Whitley City for Hill’s murder. Does anyone have information about Hill’s life in Whitley County or remember his activities in 1986?