Dale Wayne Hill, long the prime suspect in the murder of Stephanie Condon, was acquitted of the crime early this month. I just found out.
Stephanie disappeared in 1998, while babysitting at someone’s house. She was fourteen years old. Her body wasn’t found for over a decade. Then Hill was arrested a short time later. But the evidence just wasn’t there.
I really admire Stephanie’s parents for their remarkably sane and sensible reaction to the verdict. They don’t blame the jury for acquitting Hill; they don’t blame the police or the prosecutor; they’re angry but they don’t want to seek vengeance:
“I want to be perfectly clear: I do not want anything to happen to Hill. Absolutely do not,” Marty Condon said. “I don’t want people to build their frustrations, you know, I don’t want nothing to happen. I want him to live with this for the rest of his life. And I want to help him. I want to help him have a miserable life.”
Condon said that, while they disagree with the verdict, they weren’t surprised.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed in that verdict. I don’t blame the jury, they had a tough job,” Marty said. “They didn’t make the leap in their thought process, but I don’t blame them. Under the rules, I probably would have voted not guilty myself.”
“I have a very strong dislike for the tactics that the defense attorney’s used,” said Condon. “Maybe [they’re] borderline legal, but tasteless.”
Condon said he’s not happy with the outcome, but doesn’t believe there was anything else the prosecution could have done to get a different verdict.
“There wasn’t a single person involved with this investigation that didn’t do their best,” Condon said. “Their hearts were always in the right place. Christine and I were painfully aware of all the legal limitations, as the detectives were very concerned with Hill’s rights, and they wanted to do it right. We just came up short.”
The Condons are ruminating the possibility of a civil suit against Hill. Now that the murder trial is over, they can have Stephanie’s body back and bury her with dignity. It’s been a long time.
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Im so sad for her parents. Im also sad that Stephanie will never have justice now. There no words for this.
I’m amazed that Mr and Mrs Condon were able to keep their composure considering that they were across the ways from the man who was suspected of killing their 14 year old daughter and leaving her body to decay for an entire decade. 😦
I admire them, too. I suspect they will cope with their daughter’s death better than those who remain obsessed with revenge.
I don’t think that I would be able to keep my composure if someone killed my daughter. 😦 I know that revenge wouldn’t solve anything. My mother has always said that what good would it do if someone killed him out of revenge?
We must remember that the Condons have had a long time to work through their grief and anger. I doubt they were as stoic during the first months after Stephanie’s disappearance, or after her body was found.
What a remarkable couple! It really is true – what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Dale Hill was found innocent by a jury of his peers, because he is. The evidence wasn’t there, because he didn’t do it. In todays world, if there was so much as a incriminating dandruff flake, he would have been found guilty. But there was nothing linking him to anyone’s murder, so leave the guy alone. At some point someone should be willing to admit they got the wrong man and move on to solve the case , for real. Because when a DA has the right person that did it, there’s no shortage of evidence with today’s technology .