Grandmother Killed as Part of 'Operation Custody,' Prosecutors Say
After a court awarded custody of Rosa Hill’s toddler to her estranged husband, she and her mother, Mei Li, devised a plan they dubbed “Operation Custody,” which resulted in the murder of Hill’s mother-in-law, prosecutors told an Alameda County, Calif., jury yesterday.
Hill and her husband, Eric Hill, were engaged in a bitter divorce, which included Rosa Hill accusing her husband of molesting and poisoning their 2-year-old child.
Prosecutors told the jury that the two women used the term for their “to-do list,” according to the San Jose Mercury News, and the list was one of many papers police found in investigating the death of Selma Hill. Hill, 91, was found strangled and stuffed in a trash can, after being shot with a Taser numerous times and beaten in the head.
The government also mentioned evidence taken from a computer found in Li’s home, showing searches for “how to get away with murder” and “how to make strychnine,” as well as directions to Selma Hill’s home.
Eric Hill was also shot with a Taser, but survived. Police answering a 911 call found him crawling on the floor, according to prosecutors, with Rosa Hill standing beside him, holding a gun. Li’s attorney maintains that her client was not at Selma Hill’s house when the violence occurred. Bonnie Narby, Rosa Hill’s attorney, says that her client never meant to kill anyone.
“She did not go with the intention of causing harm to anyone,” Narby said. “She went because she was desperate, she did not know what to do, she was encountering a system that was not protecting her child.”
