A Montana man accused of killing a 15-year-old girl in 1996 died by suicide last month, a day after police questioned him about the teen’s cold case, the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday.
Paul Hutchinson, 55, was questioned by authorities July 23, after DNA evidence collected in Danielle “Danni” Houchins’ death made him a suspect.
Houchins was last seen leaving her home on Sept. 21, 1996, at around 11 a.m. and was reported missing by her family after failing to return. Her mother found the teen’s truck later that night at the Cameron Bridge Fishing Access Site on the Gallatin River.
Danielle “Danni” Houchins, who died under suspicious circumstances in 1996, is shown in a photo, via the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office.
Two brothers who lived nearby searched the area, and one of them eventually spotted Houchins’ body, the Montana Free Press reported .
“She had been raped, suffocated and left alone face down in shallow water,” Sheriff Dan Springer told reporters Thursday .
Houchins’ case went cold after years of investigation, which involved interviews with a number of suspects and collection of DNA evidence. The sheriff’s office revisited the case in 2019 and hired a private detective in 2021.
Springer told reporters that modern forensic technology was able to point to Hutchinson last month as a suspect in the teen’s death.
His office said Hutchinson was a Montana State University student at the time of Houchins’ death and randomly encountered her at the river. Authorities described the killing as “a crime of opportunity” because the two had no prior connection.
Stephanie Mollet, Houchins’ younger sister, told reporters Thursday that she has no doubt that Hutchinson “forcefully and violently sexually assaulted” her sibling. Mollet went on to say that Hutchinson had held her sister’s head down in mud until she choked to death.
Since the killing, Hutchinson had married, with two children, the sheriff’s office said. He worked for the local Bureau of Land Management for 22 years and had no criminal or traffic violation history.
When Hutchinson was questioned, investigators saw that “he sweated profusely, scratched his face, and chewed on his hand,” the sheriff’s office stated, adding that the interview lasted nearly two hours.
“When shown a photo of Houchins, Hutchinson slumped in his chair and exhibited signs of being uncomfortable.”
The sheriff’s office also noted that “Upon release, his behavior was observed to be erratic.”
Hutchinson called the nearby Beaverhead County Sheriff’s Office the following day at 4:17 a.m., saying he needed assistance before hanging up, according to the sheriff’s office. Responding deputies found him on the side of the road with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Houchins’ case is now closed, but Springer told reporters that authorities are continuing to investigate Hutchinson in possible connection to other cold cases around the country.
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