In what could indicate a change in defense strategy, Angela Hill charged with the attempted murder of a Wendover business woman a year ago changed her plea from ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ to ‘not guilty’ last week in Elko.
Hill along Logan MacFarland of San Pete, Utah are accused of a multi state crime spree a year ago that claimed the lives of an elderly Utah couple, critically injured Rattana Keomanivong in Wendover and a bevy of other crimes a year ago this week.
While found competent to stand trial last summer, Hill entered her “not guilty by reason of insanity” plea in September. She changed it last week to a simply “not guilty”.
“It could show her attorney has given up on a battered woman’s syndrome defense,” said an attorney not connected with the case. “Or that they are going with her as an unwilling hostage to MacFarland.”
In interviews with various media outlets shortly after her arrest, Hill and some of her family members, asserted the she too was a victim in the week long rampage that ended January 3, 2012 when the couple surrendered to Nevada lawmen after two days hiding in the Pequop mountains.
Those claims were almost immediately dismissed by the District Attorney’s office as well as neighbors of Hill’s family who knew the woman growing up
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“That is exactly how she acted when she got caught stealing, smoking or skipping school,” said one resident. “Most of the time it worked. She is a good looking girl who looks and acts so remorseful. So you give her a second chance.”
Despite her claims of being forced to go with MacFarland it was Hill who took Keomanivong in her car while MacFarland followed closely behind in the couples stolen vehicle.
According to police reports it was also Hill who held Keomanivong at bay while Hill drove with a gun pointed at the Wendover woman’s head. And it was also Hill who shot Keomanivong after Keomanivong counterattacked biting, scratching pummeling and kicking Hill out of the car.
Hill’s already tenuous claims of being a victim were further weakened when new charges were leveled against her from Sanpete County after her arrest in Nevada.
Sanpete County prosecutors charged Hill with two counts of second-degree felony burglary and one count of third-degree felony burglary.
According to an arrest warrant the burglary happened December. 28, 2011 at a Mount Pleasant home.
The homeowner told police that two women, later identified as Hill and Allison Boudreaux, came to the house to talk about buying a trailer, the document states.
Boudreaux allegedly spoke with the woman and kept her occupied while Hill and MacFarland went through the home and stole a purse, a laptop, two guns and two saddles, according to the warrant.
That incident occurred on the same day but earlier than another burglary that ended in the murder of an elderly couple Woody and Ann Fullwood.
While Sanpete police at first emphasized that Hill was not connected to the Fullwoods’ killing, her participation in the previous burglary could indicate a change of thinking.
MacFarland also has not been charged yet in the Sanpete murders but is identified as a person of interest.
A year ago, Keomanivong was being hailed as a hero who by fighting back and thwarting an attempted car jacking played a key role in ending a murderous cross country crime spree by a modern day Bonnie and Clyde.
Keomanivong had no idea that the young couple who initially stopped her as she left the Red Garter early Saturday morning had allegedly committed two murders hours before.
In fact no one knew that the Fullwoods were even dead in their Mt. Pleasant home.
All Rattana knew was the two guns pointing in her face were real and that the man and woman behind them looked ready to use them.
For their part, the killers must have thought their luck was holding when they first saw Keomanivong, Asian and standing less than 5’1” tall and tipping the scales at barely 115 lbs., the Wendover woman probably appeared to be the perfect victim, a submissive sheep ready for slaughter.
The couple felt so confident that their newest victim would not put up a fight that it was the woman Hill who accompanied Ranatta in her car while MacFarland followed behind in the couples’ stolen car.
They were wrong.
What they soon discovered that on that slight frame were steel bands of pure muscle and far from being a sheep, Keomanivong had the heart of a tigress. The owner of the local gym Animal House, Keomanivong won the Wendover Strongest woman contest this summer.
As soon as the odds evened with only Hill and Keomanivong in the car, Keomanivong attacked her car jacker by “biting her ear, neck and forcing her from the vehicle,”. Hill fired a shot at the woman as she drove away, according to the police report.
Keomanivong was struck in the back of the head, but she was able to drive herself to the police station and give police a description of the two before she was airlifted to Salt Lake for emergency surgery. She is doing well after surgery and should be home within the week.
Thwarted in their attempt to steal Keomanivong’s vehicle the couple sped off west bound on I-80. Their stolen Saturn was found abandoned in Wells.
If Keomanivong had not fought back and won, police speculate it could have been hours if not days before the two slipped up again.
“They had already established a pattern of attacking helpless people, robbing them, stealing their vehicles and killing them before anyone knew what was happening” said one detective. “If not for Mrs. Keomanivong they could have been well on their way to Reno or San Francisco with a trail of dead bodies behind them.”
Despite the accolades, Keomanivong must now live with injuries for the rest of her life. Early hope that she would completely recover have faded. A recent brain scan suggests that some of the damage may be permanent or take a very long time to heal. With medical bills piling up she still must go for weekly check ups.
In a related development MacFarland will be in court January 9th for is own competency hearing.