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Hi, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil. I'm Rasha Peccarero.
And I'm Evet Gentila and I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season. But now that we're back from our break, we have some updates to the show to share with you all. Yes, we sure do.
We wanted to get closer to that mission of sharing other people's stories and finding the healing through those stories, and to do that, we decided to start featuring guests on the show every week. So going forward, in each episode, we're going to talk with the guests that can shed light on the story and share their expert opinion or their own personal experiences.
Exactly, Rasha and It's going to be the core element of our show, and our producer Trevor will set up the context each week by walking us through the case details at the top of each episode before we dive in with our guests.
Yes, so we hope you enjoy this new, updated format and we are incredibly excited to share some powerful interviews and stories with you.
So today we're talking about a stocking case that led to a murder that I personally remember my sister telling me about when it happened, and it was such a shame because it seemed completely avoidable. Yeah, that's right.
Sadly, I knew about it when it was going on because it was very close to me. It was in Vancouver, Washington, just outside of Portland, Oregon, and I I have a dear friend who was very close to the victim, and that victim was Tiffany Hill, and we are going to talk about how she was murdered by her estranged husband.
You know, the light though in this darkness about Tiffany's story is that there was some redemption that happened after her death, because it led to the passage of a law that is aimed at stopping this from happening to anyone ever again.
And we'll get to talk about that law with someone who was good friends with Tiffany and who was absolutely instrumental in getting it.
Passed yes, and that good friend is one of my dearest friends, and I'm honored that she'll be with us today. But unfortunately that law that she helped pass hasn't fixed everything, and we're going to get into why that's the case as well. It's just a compelling story altogether. So now our producer is going to take us through today's case.
The pictures of Tiffany Hill may remind you. She was a marine, a mom to three kids.
And Tiffany was the victim of domestic violence that ultimately took her life.
This week, Tiffany Hill of Vancouver was laid to rest in her hometown of Brooklyn, New York. Her tragic death still surreal for her mother and three children.
If she'd been given in two or three minutes to think about it before he showed up or driven off, she was in her car, she could have driven off and maybe driven straight to the sheriff's office.
Tiffany Hill was a young mother of three who was killed by her estranged husband in twenty nineteen. Tiffany had met her husband, Keeland Hill, while in the Marines. She had received a number of high honors in the military and was largely regarded as a warm and compassionate person. Tiffany was honorably discharged in two thousand and eight and shortly thereafter mar kid and that's when the trouble began. Keeland was a regular abuser, prone to mental manipulation in
physical violence. In twenty sixteen, the family moved to Vancouver, Washington. There, neighbors were call seeing police cards in front of their house regularly. One neighbor said he had a bad feeling about Keeland. He told a reporter quote, he would just stare me down for some reason. He just had an eerie feeling to him end quote. In September twenty nineteen, an incident occurred where Keelan threw Tiffany to the ground.
One of the children had called a relative and Tiffany tried to use Alexa to call nine one one, but Keeland had unplugged the device so that she couldn't. After this incident, Keeland was arrested and charged with fourth degree assault,
and Tiffany finally decided to leave him. She then obtained a no contact order, which barred Keeland from going within two hundred and fifty feet of Tiffany or contacting her in person or over the phone, but then Keielan attempted to purchase a bolt action rifle from a Portland Walmart. He told the employee he wanted to quote take care of vermin on his property end quote. Over the next few weeks, Keeland would appear at restaurants where Tiffany was
taking her children. She called the police and they found a tracking device a fixed to her car. She told detectives quote, I know he's going to kill me if he's not held accountable for his actions. I'm so scared for my life and my kids' lives end quote. Keielan then went to jail, where a judge set bail at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Tiffany's lawyers asked to have the bail set to two million, but that request
was denied and Keeland was able to post bail. Four days later, when Tiffany was picking up her kids from school, Keeland approached the car and opened fire with a semi automatic pistol, killing Tiffany in injuring her mother. He sped off and was chased by police before hitting afternoon traffic. He then got out of the car and shot and killed himself Tiffany Hill had repeatedly worn the authorities of the danger she was in, and Kieland expressed to multiple people,
including police, his intent to do harm. Despite this, he was somehow able to stalk Tiffany and obtain a gun. And so who was Tiffany Hill, How was Keeland Hill able to stalk and kill Tiffany? And how has her case changed things, if at all, when it comes to intimate partner violence and stalking today.
For our discussion today, I am incredibly honored to welcome a very good friend of mine to the show. And she is someone who was incredibly involved in the aftermath of Tiffany's case, and that person is Reene Sunby.
Thank you very much. So.
Reen was the president of the PTA of Sarah J. Anderson Elementary School in Vancouver, Washington, when her daughter was at Anderson Elementary and two of Tiffany's children were there, and she was instrumental in passing the Tiffany Hill Act in twenty twenty one, which we're going to talk about in a minute. So for now it Coomo may welcome to Facing Evilreen.
So honored to have you here and to you know, just listen to you share your story. We're very appreciative.
Thank you, Okay, Reen, you know, as you're such a beautiful friend of mine, you know how much Yvett and I always want to focus on the victim, right because before they were a victim, they were a bright shining light in all of our lives. And I know that Tiffany was for you. So can you tell our listeners how did you know Tiffany?
Tiffany was also on the PTA at Sarah J. Anderson I probably, I think I met her in twenty eighteen, towards the end of that school year where her oldest was going to a different school that year. She transferred her to Sarah J. Anderson in nineteen so she could spend her last year at Anderson, So she became a lot more involved and right out of the shoot. Sadly, that first PTA meeting we had in September is when she shared what was going on in her household with me.
She had actually suffered a concussion and had sent me a text message that she didn't think she'd be at our meeting because she had a concussion, And as naive as I was back then, my first response was, oh, my gosh, were you in a car accident, because for me, a concussion is either sports or car accident. You know, you have your your blinders on when your life is going well and healthy. So I had no idea that she.
Could have possibly meant someone else had given it to her, and that she came to the meeting, and that night is when her best friend Karina had told her, you need to tell her what's going on, and you need to tell her right now. So that was the night she shared with me what had happened, what was going on in her life, and how she was being abused.
Wow, can you tell us about Tiffany, you know, like what was her personality? What was her energy like? You know, when you know she was in a happy place, you know, or having a great day, Like what was that light like?
Uh? It was?
It literally was brighter than a star, brighter than a planet. She literally it was as bright as the sun. She worked so hard in everything she did. Her kids's education was top priority. Her kids would come in the pta room and one of her kiddos was in first grade and he would come in with a second or third grade workbook.
She was a giver from her very sincerest heart.
She would give everything she possibly could, and you know, we joke she was the trifecta. She was Puerto Rican, she was from Brooklyn, and she was in the Marines, so we would joke, nobody's messing with you, no one so. And it just that endearing family quality and family to her wasn't just blood. It was her community. Her community was very important to her. She loved doing all things for anyone at the school. She would bake constantly for the staff and everything was so good. I finally didn't
even think about it. After she passed, I found her on pinterested followed her because I wanted some of her recipes. It's just, you know, all the things. One of the moms at the school had later said, you know, Tiffany was what all of us wanted to be, and that was the hashtag mom goals. Like literally, she you wanted to be the mom that she was.
Hey, everyone, Trevor here, just a quick producer note for you. There was some background noise in Rene's original environment that we had her recording in, so we decided to ask her to move locations. So from this point moving forward, you will notice that there is a slight change in her audio. So just wanted to let you know. Okay, So now back to the discussion.
Did you ever yourself witness anything happen in front of you leading up to that horrific murder?
I did not. I feel like I'm a pretty empathetic, checking into feelings kind of person. I think I get a fairly good read on people when I first meet them. And I distinctly remember after everything happened and I was processing everything grief with the counselor that I had seen. I remember telling her. I can distinctly remember the first time I saw him in the PTA room and I physically took a step backwards when I walked in the room.
You could feel that energy.
Yeah, he was one of those people that you know, I look back on it now and I can see the gas lighting you know that he was doing. But it's this giant personality that's not real, so it comes off big, but you know that it's not genuine. And then before I knew what was happening in August, we'd
had a meeting at her house. And you know, when you're in someone's house, you know, you feel welcome, but then sometimes when you're in other people's houses, you think, I feel like this person like I'm a bother, like I shouldn't be here. And I remember we were all eating. She'd of course made a meal for all of us that I had asked the recip before. Right, it was so good, And I remember saying when he walked in, I really want to thank you for you know, having
us all in your home. I'm sure it's you know, can being inconvenience. And I don't know why I thought I should do that, but that was just my first reaction is we're we're not welcome here.
That's interesting because you get that feeling, right, you get that intuitive knowing, you know that we all have that something is just not right, absolutely, you know. And Russia and I were doing the story on Tiffany, there was something that really stood out, and it was that instant when the community came together and they made, you know, a human shield protecting her from her husband.
A strange husband. Yeah.
Were you there when he was?
Yeah? I was?
And what was that like?
We walked out of a restaurant and I glanced to my left and my instant was is that Keeland? And then I thought, no, that's silly, he wouldn't be here. And then I looked again and he kind of smiled at me, and then I heard her say, oh my god, and I knew instantly it was him. So she ran to the van with the kids, and the other four of us just stood all in a line, and I just kept saying, he's not supposed to be here, he
can't be here. And then one of the other members, who actually worked for the Clark County Sheriff's Department, immediately called nine one one. She had seen him when she got in her car. So it You know, we were pretty fast acting, but it takes you by surprises.
There's only so much you can do.
Yeah, it's not what you're expecting for sure.
Oh yeah, I you know, remember you telling me that story? If you could read, I know that we we just passed the anniversary of Tiffany's murder. It was November twenty sixth of twenty nineteen, which I'm sure for you feels like it was five minutes ago and five years ago at the same time.
Absolutely, But we would.
Like to know from your point of view, what was November twenty six, twenty nineteen, What was that day like leading up to the murder from your point of view, Like what I would like to know what you went through and what you were feeling that day.
It was it was almost it wasn't real. Unfortunately, I had the flu and Karina had called me and said, there's a shooting at the school. Have you heard from Tiffany? And I said no, And she said I can't get her on her phone. And I said, let me, you know, let me find out. And I literally threw the phone down on my bed and I looked at my wife and I said, it's her. She's gone. I already know she's gone, Like without even knowing. I just knew because
she'd said. I can't tell you how many times she had said, he's going to kill me, right, I can't. I will never escape him. He will find me and he will kill me.
I know this is a this is a question, a tough question. But do you do you believe in your heart that this could have been avoided? I mean, if you know the police could have done more, I mean, what is your take on that.
I think that the judicial system is where all of the blame lies. For me, The Clark County Sheriff and the Vancouver Police Department really honestly went above and beyond to help her and to try to protect her. They did absolutely everything they were supposed to do. She got a threat assessment done. When she went to interview, she had again showed them all of the messages that he was continuing to send her on a daily basis, which
means he was breaking the no contact. So when he was still in jail waiting for his court date, thankfully the day he was we thought he was going to get out, I had put her and the kids in a hotel. I had paid for a hotel for them, so he would not know where they were at all. And the prosecuting attorney had taken all of those no contacts and added them in at his bail hearings. So he ended up in jail for another week or so. Oh So, they did everything they possibly could.
Do to keep him away, and they.
Asked for no bail. They asked for a million dollars worth of bail, and apparently, it's my understanding in the state of Washington, the only way to get no bail is if you murder someone first. Yeah, you have to commit a capital offense first. So when they asked for a million, the judge said, now two hundred and fifty thousand, which twenty five thousand is a lot of money to
a lot of us. But he had at least fifteen in the bank account and access to a four oh one k so for him, making bail was not a problem. It's my understanding, and I did not see it. I was only told by Karina that his coworkers, someone at his work, started to gofund me.
Are you kidding no?
Because he had gaslighted them. Right, He's an amazing guy. He wouldn't do this, and so GoFundMe was started for him.
Wow, I had no idea.
Yep, Yeah, that's so awful to hear. But despite all of the darkness that is in this story, what I love about Tiffany's case and about her story is the light, right, and I think part of that light is how you and your friends and Senator Linda Wilson banded together to change the narrative. Can you tell us the story of what you did and what changes you made.
Right after Tiffany had passed, Karina had contacted me and said, I gave your phone number to a senator. She's trying to pass a bill on domestic violence. And so then we had gotten a hold of Senator Wilson, who is amazing. She worked so hard on this bill for so many years and just couldn't get it passed. And she had asked us to come in and testify in front of the different committees to pass this bill through each committee.
I think she finally had got it dialed in. You know, you see bills come to legislature that you think, oh, I can't believe this isn't passing. But there's always little pieces that have to be fine tuned. And part of that is the cost. Who's going to cover the cost of this ankle monitor that she wanted to place on perpetrators. So Senator Wilson had contacted us. There was five of us that said, yep, absolutely, we'll testify. We'll tell her story.
We tried to tell it through different eyes. So Krita's husband, Isaiah, through his eyes of having to be friends with Keeland, realizing once you know, everything was out, now he has to keep that secret. He can't tell anyone what Kielan is telling him. He can't tell Keilan he knows because then Tiffany gets abused for that. So it's from his point of view. And then Melissa Nelson was actually her middle child's teacher. So that was from her point of
view from a teacher at the school. And then we'd used my point of view with everything that I went through trying to hide her and my wife and I had gone to her house and changed locks. Isaiah and Krena put up security cameras so that she would feel more comfortable. Little did we know that that actually made it worse. She was not sleepy because she was watching the camera all the time.
Serene, can you tell us exactly the Tiffany Hill? You know, Bill? What is it?
It is a act that Senator Wilson had passed through the Washington State legislature that if a domestic abusers come to court, the judge can decide I'm sure, based on certain acts or you know, in Tiffany's case, it would have been her lethality report that sadly decides how high the lethal chance is for you. She was a thirty one out of forty.
Which is quite high.
Dream extreme danger, not just danger, but extreme danger. It allows the judge to put an ankle monitor on the abuser. Then the survivor downloads an app on their phone and they are notified if the abuser comes within a certain range of them. So it would send them a live text message. So it's not based in one area. Say you lived three blocks from the school, It's not just based in that three block radius. It's based on wherever
you are traveling. You would get notification that your abuser was near Beautiful, allowing you to contact the police if there was no contact order. I know that it was. I don't know. I recall it being used in I believe it was Chicago, and then possibly in Australia. So I don't know that there were statistics of in certain amount of cases where someone's wearing the ankle monitor, were there any deaths or how quickly were they then put
back into the system. Because it also sends a notification to the sheriff or the city police department, I'm not sure which one, letting them know that it not only will it tell the survivor, it will ping them. It actually pings that you were near the survivor.
Do you think, though, that since the Tiffany Hill Act was passed, do you think that's helped more people?
I hope so. I had recently read an article that the monitor actually wasn't being used as much as it could be, So I feel like perhaps it's not as known as it could be in the state of Washington. I understand King County is using it.
Oh in Seattle, Okay.
Yeah, but I don't know that a lot of the other counties are outside of Clark or King just because maybe they don't know as much about it or who might pay for it.
Like how is this not a nationwide That's what I don't understand.
Yep.
I agree, Like who do we need to talk to?
Absolutely? And I've actually had emailed last year Senator Wilson, you know, do you have any senators state senators you know in Oregon that we could start working with to get this past an organ and then move down to California and start moving state by state until we can get a big enough voice to where it can get all the way to DC and it just becomes federal.
Right, Well, let's do it. Yeah, I will start here in San Francisco. Yes, yeah, you know. It's like we have to do it because there's too many. There's too many. The percentage is too high.
Absolutely.
I remember hearing Senator Linda Wilson speak, I believe in that TV show that you were all on together meet Mary Murder, And I remember her saying that it you know, if Tiffany had just been alerted maybe a few minutes by that ping to her cell phone from that ankle bracelet that he should have been wearing if this act had been in enacted when she was alive, Yeah, that she'd still be here today, right And and not just her, but you know, like when you go to pick up
your child, if someone else comes to pick up your child, they have to be on the list. So like if you were, you know, on the list, you know for that you know, vibration monitor or you know the other friends like to alert you know, the community, Like you guys would have been there in a heartbeat.
Absolutely. I would love everyone to know who's going through this in their life. Keep telling someone, someone will listen. I guarantee you there will be someone in your life who you connect with that will move the sun and earth to help you and to get you out of the situation you're in. Just keep believing and just keep believing in yourself because you are a survivor. What you're
going through is well. But you've survived every day, every hour, every minute, every second, and you truly don't realize how strong you are. But the rest of us do so. Just keep believing in yourself, because eventually we all will.
I am honored to know you and to love you, and I am so thankful that you're in this world for the Tiffanys of the world and for all of us.
Thank you very much to both of you.
Thank you, Ring.
I mean this opportunity to be to continue to be Tiffany's voice. I just my heart is so big.
We see that, We see that, and our listeners will hear that. We are so honored to have you on facing evil.
Thank you.
In this week's Message of Hope and Healing, we want to honor the parents at Sarah J. Anderson Elementary School who became Tiffany's friends, and then after her death, they tirelessly advocated for the passage of the Senate bill five to one four nine.
This, of course, was a situation that none of them ever imagined themselves being in, but when their friend lost her life, they stepped up and they fought in her memory and her honor until the bill passed.
That's right, and it was an exhausting fight. But Tiffany's friends were motivated to prevent this from ever happening again, and they demonstrated what we can do when we come together to make a difference.
To the parents of Anderson Elementary Onward and upward.
Emua emua. Well, that's our show for today.
We'd love to hear what you thought about today's discussion and if there's a case you'd like for us to.
Cover, find us on social media or email us at facingeblpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
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Until next time.
Aloha, Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV. The show is hosted by Russia Pacuerero in a Vetchintila, Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf of iHeartRadio, with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk, Donald albright In Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Carolyn Talmage.
Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on social media or email us at facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or tenderfoot TV, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.