When the body of teenager Hannah Hill of Akron, Ohio was found naked from the waist down, stuffed in the trunk of her car, the obvious immediate suspect was her boyfriend, who - although not in this documentary - would later admit to physically abusing her. Police interest in Brad O'Born soon faded, apparently because he passed a polygraph. The second suspect was far stronger, and when the police raided his home, they found a lot of evidence. Perhaps too much evidence.
We hear from three jurors herein, and one of them raises the plausible claim that a package containing unmentionable material was dumped outside in his garden by a police officer. Perish the thought.
Leaving that aside, Denny Ross was indicted for capital murder because he'd had sex with the victim too, and it was claimed she was raped. This appears doubtful in view of developments after this documentary was screened. Ross did not take the stand, something that is far from unusual in America courtrooms, although an innocent man should surely always take the stand barring exceptional circumstances. What was unusual though was that the defense elected not to call a single witness. The jury cleared Ross of capital murder, obviously convinced the sex was consensual, but while it was still deliberating, Judge Bond called a halt for technical reasons. Curiously, she had earlier directed the jury could find Ross guilty of manslaughter.
This is where "Who Killed Hannah Hill?" ends in 2003 with the pronouncement that Ross will be forever a free man because to retry him would constitute double jeopardy. What happened next was unthinkable. In 2004, he raped a woman and nearly beat her to death. This earned him a 25 year sentence while the prosecution appealed Judge Bond's decision in the murder trial all the way to the Supreme Court of Ohio. As a result, Ross was tried again in connection with the death of Hannah Hill: murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse.
At this trial, a former girlfriend testified that Ross liked to choke her unconscious in bed, which is almost certainly what happened to Hannah Hill; either he choked her and killed her accidentally during consensual sex or murdered her first then did the unthinkable. The former seems much more likely.
After rejecting a plea deal, Ross was retried in 2012. The jury took a long time to deliberate, but they returned guilty verdicts on all counts on the 73rd birthday of Hannah Hill's father.