Billy Joe Hill had been on the Kansas Most Wanted list more than two months when law enforcement officers cornered him in January 1999 in a farmhouse seven miles northeast of Holton in Jackson County.
Hill remained barricaded for 49 hours in a house where the heat and electricity had been turned off as dozens of armed SWAT team members ringed the area while enduring sub-zero temperatures.
Then Hill surrendered.
He received a "Hard 25" life prison sentence the following year, meaning he would need to spend at least 25 years in prison for the murder of Calvin Neu, committed in October 1998 at Burlingame in Osage County.
Today, he's a free man.
Hill, 77, was recently granted parole on his first chance for eligibility.
He was paroled June 3 and lives in Wabaunsee County, said the website of the Kansas Department of Corrections.
What did Billy Joe Hill do?
Court records say that Neu, 38, was found fatally shot at his home Oct. 9, 1998, after he agreed to cooperate with authorities who were investigating a meth lab operation maintained by Hill and Hill's girlfriend, Rosan Robison.
Prosecutors filed federal drug charges later that month against Hill and Robison, who were placed Oct. 30, 1998, on the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's Kansas Most Wanted list.
Topeka Capital-Journal archives say law enforcement officers tracked them to a farm northeast of Holton, where they set up a perimeter around the farmhouse, telephoned the house and spoke to Hill about 9 a.m. Jan. 8, 1999.
Robison came out and surrendered about 9:30 a.m. the following day.
Hill then surrendered about 10 a.m. Jan. 10, 1999.
Hill in February 2000 pleaded no contest in Osage County District Court to nine crimes, including intentional and premeditated first-degree murder.
Court records show that plea came as part of an agreement through which prosecutors recommended Hill serve his sentences at the same time on all counts; prosecutors agreed all related charges against Hill's daughter would be dismissed, which was done; the state recommend federal charges against Hill be dismissed, which was done; and the state agreed to not pursue any further charges against Hill.
Hill in March 2000 received prison sentences that were consistent with, or less than, those outlined in his plea agreement, including a life sentence that required him to serve at least 25 years for the murder.
He received shorter sentences to run at the same time for all other convictions, court records show.
Also convicted of crimes linked to Neu's death were Robison, now 69, and co-defendant David W. "Hoss" Morris, 66, who each went to prison for drug crimes and conspiracy to commit murder, court records show.
Where did Hill serve his prison time?
Robison was paroled in December 2012 and discharged from parole supervision in September 2013, Kansas Department of Corrections records show.
They say Morris was paroled in November 2013 and discharged from parole supervision in November 2015.
After spending his first 29 days in state custody in 2000 at the Kansas Reception and Diagnostic Center in Topeka, Hill served time in prisons at Lansing, Hutchinson, El Dorado and Ellsworth, state prison records show.
Hill sought several timesduring his years in prison to withdraw his plea or otherwise appeal his case.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
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