Walter Hill

Serial Killer

Walter Hill: A Violent Criminal Career Spanning Twenty-Five Years

Walter Hill was an American serial killer whose known murders occurred between 1952 and 1977. Born on February 7, 1935, in Midway, Alabama, Hill spent much of his adult life in state and federal prisons. He was convicted of killing five people: one man during his teenage years, a fellow prisoner while serving a federal sentence, and three members of an Alabama family in 1977. The exact death dates of two victims are not available in surviving public records, so only verified years are given for those cases.

The Murder of Sam Atmore

Hill committed his first known murder in 1952, when he was approximately seventeen years old. In Adamsville, Alabama, he attacked a man named Sam Atmore and beat him to death with a wooden board. The precise day of Atmore's death is not clearly established in accessible records, but the killing and Hill's prosecution occurred in 1952. Hill pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a ten-year prison sentence. He was sent to the Atmore State Prison Farm. Before his transfer was completed, he escaped from custody, although authorities quickly recaptured him. In 1954, Hill participated in another escape when approximately twenty prisoners cut through a fence during a prison baseball game. Hill and most of the other escapees were captured within a day.

Kidnapping and a Second Killing

After his release from state prison, Hill continued committing serious crimes. In 1962, he and another man abducted Arthur Phillips at gunpoint. They forced Phillips into a vehicle, transported him across state lines into Alabama, and eventually ordered him out before taking the vehicle. Phillips survived the incident. Hill was convicted in federal court of kidnapping and transporting a stolen vehicle across state lines. He received a twenty-five-year sentence and was imprisoned at the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. While serving that sentence, Hill fatally stabbed another prisoner. Publicly accessible court accounts identify the victim only as a fellow inmate and do not provide his name or an exact date of death. Hill was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for the killing and received an additional five years of imprisonment. He was eventually paroled in 1975. ...

Confirmed Victims: (5)

Sam Atmore , Date of Death: 1952

Walter Hill (serial killer) - Wikipedia