Water Bottle DNA Leads to Arrest in 1985 Cold Case

[#~image_alt_1~#] More than 41 years after a young woman was found dead on a Newport, Rhode Island, sidewalk, a man has been charged with her murder, thanks to a water bottle he left behind at a concert.

William "Billy" Morton, 61, was arrested Tuesday, Oct. 6, and charged with first-degree murder in the 1985 killing of Hillary Hellewell, 22, of Jamestown. He was ordered held without bail. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha announced the arrest along with the Newport Police Department.

Two brothers walking to work found Hellewell's body on an Anthony Street sidewalk around 4:15 a.m. on May 19, 1985. Medical examiners ruled her death a homicide by "asphyxiation due to strangulation" and found evidence of sexual assault. She had spent the previous night at a gathering with friends, and investigators say she left with a heavily intoxicated man she knew and had offered to walk home. DNA collected at the time was compared against men at the gathering and others close to her, but none matched, and the case went cold.

That DNA evidence was preserved. After the attorney general's office formed a Cold Case Unit in 2023, investigators sent it to a private lab, which traced it to a family line and eventually, through Morton's half-brothers, to Morton. Prosecutors say Morton was convicted in 1987 of a violent sexual assault in Newport that happened 45 days after Hellewell's death.

To confirm the link, a senior cold case investigator followed Morton and his fiancée in late August to a Heart tribute band concert at a theater in Woonsocket. He watched Morton buy popcorn and two bottled waters. When the couple left early without picking up their trash, the investigator collected the bottle. A state health department lab later found that DNA from the bottle matched the profile developed from evidence on Hellewell's clothing.

Morton, of Smithfield, is accused, not convicted. Neronha said the case will go to a grand jury, and a status conference is scheduled for Oct. 20. Hellewell's family has asked for privacy.

Water Bottle DNA Leads to Arrest in 1985 Cold Case

More than 41 years after a young woman was found dead on a Newport, Rhode Island, sidewalk, a man has been charged with her murder, thanks to a water bottle he left behind at a concert.

William "Billy" Morton, 61, was arrested Tuesday, Oct. 6, and charged with first-degree murder in the 1985 killing of Hillary Hellewell, 22, of Jamestown. He was ordered held without bail. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha announced the arrest along with the Newport Police Department.

Two brothers walking to work found Hellewell's body on an Anthony Street sidewalk around 4:15 a.m. on May 19, 1985. Medical examiners ruled her death a homicide by "asphyxiation due to strangulation" and found evidence of sexual assault. She had spent the previous night at a gathering with friends, and investigators say she left with a heavily intoxicated man she knew and had offered to walk home. DNA collected at the time was compared against men at the gathering and others close to her, but none matched, and the case went cold.

That DNA evidence was preserved. After the attorney general's office formed a Cold Case Unit in 2023, investigators sent it to a private lab, which traced it to a family line and eventually, through Morton's half-brothers, to Morton. Prosecutors say Morton was convicted in 1987 of a violent sexual assault in Newport that happened 45 days after Hellewell's death.

To confirm the link, a senior cold case investigator followed Morton and his fiancée in late August to a Heart tribute band concert at a theater in Woonsocket. He watched Morton buy popcorn and two bottled waters. When the couple left early without picking up their trash, the investigator collected the bottle. A state health department lab later found that DNA from the bottle matched the profile developed from evidence on Hellewell's clothing.

Morton, of Smithfield, is accused, not convicted. Neronha said the case will go to a grand jury, and a status conference is scheduled for Oct. 20. Hellewell's family has asked for privacy.

Rotten Mango: The Mom Who Hunted Cartel Killers

Morbid: H.H. Holmes Part 1, the Original American Monster

Don't F**k with Cats: Sleuths vs. a Killer

Casefile: Three Beaumont Children Vanish From a Beach

My Favorite Murder: Christa Worthington and Typhoid Mary