How to Catch A Criminal: Marie, Party of Three

Every officer with a decent amount of time on the job knows the unexpected turns an investigation can take. Seeing a major case through to completion often involves giving up on a theory and taking your investigation in a different direction as new information becomes available. In How to Catch A Criminal, we look at the many ways not-so-perfect crimes are solved. This month, a well-to-do mother lives not one, but two secret lives.

No matter how put together people look on the surface, there is no telling what is going on behind the scenes. Even the people who seemingly have everything going for them may simply be adept at hiding their struggles. The hard work a person puts into building the perfect life may not be readily apparent, even though the fruits of their labor are. Unfortunately for the kindhearted, hardworking people out there, manipulative, deceitful people will always look to take advantage and live on “easy street” without paving their own way. Some people become so desperate to achieve a lavish lifestyle, they will go to incredible lengths rather than simply put in the effort.

In 1980, John Homan, a resident of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, met the woman of his dreams, Lindsay Robbi Hannon, or just Robbi to her friends. John and Robbi hit it off in no time, as they were both new to the area and looking for companionship while they found their way in the community. John had just come from New Hampshire and Robbi from Texas. He was looking for love, and she was a small-town woman with big-city dreams, with no time to lose. Robbi was a widow, who was also the heiress to a considerable estate, soon to be all hers, but with one little snafu. Robbi Hannon had brain cancer which could majorly shorten her lifespan. John and Robbi dated for a year before getting married in 1981. They moved to New Hampshire, where John could proudly introduce his family and friends to his new wife. Robbi found work as a secretary, and the pair lived in bliss for just over a year when her condition worsened. She informed John that the cancer was progressing and she needed to return to Texas to see her doctor, as well as handle some financial affairs related to the estate she would soon inherit. Robbi bid John farewell and took a flight home. John would never see Robbi again, but this was not the last time he would see her face.

A short time later, John Homan received a phone call with devastating news. His beloved Robbi had died. Her sister, Teri Martin, broke the news to him. Robbi’s cancer was too advanced, leading to her untimely passing. Per Robbi’s wishes, her body was donated to the Medical Research Institute of Texas for scientific research. For this reason, there would be no funeral, and no reason for John to come to Texas. Teri and John stayed in touch and eventually decided to meet. In November of 1982, Teri arrived at John’s home in Keene, New Hampshire. To John’s surprise, Teri was Robbi’s identical twin. Aside from having blond hair rather than brown, Teri was every bit the likeness of his dearly departed wife. John and Teri hit it off just as he and Robbi had, and in no time, Teri moved in. Teri even took a secretarial job at the same office Robbi had worked at. Perhaps wanting to believe he had found a second chance at love with the woman of his dreams, John accepted this incredible coincidence as a blessing. Those close to him, however, recognized the absurdity of the situation and started asking questions.

When Robbi’s obituary was printed, it mentioned that a memorial was held for her at a church in Texas, but John’s friends learned that church didn’t exist. They also found that the Medical Research Institute of Texas didn’t exist either, meaning Robbi’s body was either unaccounted for or was parading around town, alive, under the name Teri. New Hampshire State Police were informed that John Hannon was possibly falling victim to an elaborate scam, and they soon launched an investigation. No evidence of a scam was uncovered, but something was still off about Teri Martin, and it didn’t take a genius to realize Teri and Robbi were one in the same. The state police dug for any records that proved either Teri Martin or Robbi Hannon ever existed but found nothing. Obviously, this woman was someone else, and she was lying for a reason. The FBI was asked to look into her as well, and agents determined this mysterious woman was a perfect match for the age and description of a terrorist named Carol Manning, who had been on the run for over a year. Under this assumption, “Teri” was brought in for questioning. If she wanted to avoid being mistaken for a most wanted fugitive, she would have to fess up her real identity.

The unknown woman confirmed that neither Teri nor Robbi were real people. Her real name was Audrey Marie Hilley, and she was wanted in Anniston, Alabama, for writing bogus checks. To flee your past life to avoid minor check fraud charges seemed a bit extreme, so naturally this confession was investigated. As it turns out, Marie, as she was known back home, was telling the truth, but not the whole truth.

Marie Frazier was born in Alliston, Alabama, in 1933 and grew up in a modest home, always longing for the high life. She married her high school boyfriend, Frank Hilley, in 1951 and started a family. She worked as a secretary, which supplemented Frank’s successful career, making providing for their children, Mike and Carol, no problem. However, Marie’s champagne taste proved to be a strain on the marriage and their finances. She wanted to be part of the upper crust of the community and made it a point to socialize with the biggest of bigwigs in town. She was respected and admired for her class and grace and excelled in her work, but it was never enough. Marie always wanted more out of life, and that meant she needed money. Marie would carry out affairs with her bosses in exchange for raises and promotions while maintaining her loving wife persona. Marie made the decision to get life insurance policies for the family, and 18-year-old Mike soon began suffering from an inexplicable stomach illness. When Mike moved out of the house, he rapidly recovered, but Frank started showing the same mysterious symptoms.

Frank walked in on Marie in bed with her boss when he came home sick one afternoon in May 1975. He was dead set on a divorce, which certainly would have gotten Marie’s high-society friends talking. On May 25, Frank died after being hospitalized for severe nausea, officially caused by infectious hepatitis. Marie grieved in public but wasted no time spending the life insurance money she collected from her husband’s death. The new clothes, furniture, and car helped her get over the loss, but the money was gone before long, and the checks were starting to bounce. In 1979, Marie’s daughter, Carol, began exhibiting the same stomach issues as her brother and late father, as well as partial paralysis. Doctors began to suspect poisoning was the cause, and around that same time, Marie was arrested for check fraud. While Marie sat in jail, tests showed Carol’s arsenic levels were 100 times the normal amount. A vial of arsenic was found in Marie’s purse, which led to her being slapped with an attempted murder charge. Marie’s bail was posted by her friends, but her troubles were just beginning. Frank’s body was being exhumed to be tested for arsenic poisoning. Marie Hilley felt the walls closing in and skipped town, vanishing until Robbi Hannon arrived in Fort Lauderdale.

Her lies finally caught up with her, and the officially identified Marie Hilley was extradited back to Alabama, where she stood trial for the murder of her husband and attempted murder of her daughter. Upon conviction in 1983, she received life plus twenty years. At the end of the trial, she was still the deceitful, charming woman she always was and even talked her way into a few prison furloughs while serving her sentence. Despite her heinous crimes, she was granted a three-day pass to leave prison in February 1987. She had arranged to spend the weekend with John Homan, who had chosen to stand by the woman who had deceived him. John visited her hometown of Anniston, Alabama, to get to know the real woman he had twice fallen for. Rather than return to prison, Marie Hilley absconded, apparently aiming for another stint as a fugitive. An act of God put an end to that dream in a matter of days. Unusually cold temperatures struck Marie Hilley with hypothermia as she skulked through the wilderness to evade capture. She was found on the back porch of a home outside of Anniston, covered in mud, freezing to death. She was transported to a local hospital but died before arrival, finally as cold on the outside as she had been on the inside her whole life.