A Montana man accused of killing a 15-year-old woman in 1996 died by suicide final month, a day after police questioned him in regards to the teen’s chilly case, the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Workplace introduced Thursday.
Paul Hutchinson, 55, was questioned by authorities July 23, after DNA proof collected in Danielle “Danni” Houchins’ dying made him a suspect.
Houchins was final seen leaving her dwelling on Sept. 21, 1996, at round 11 a.m. and was reported lacking by her household after failing to return. Her mom discovered the teenager’s truck later that evening on the Cameron Bridge Fishing Entry Website on the Gallatin River.
Gallatin County Sheriff’s Workplace
Two brothers who lived close by searched the realm, and one in all them ultimately noticed Houchins’ physique, the Montana Free Press reported.
“She had been raped, suffocated and left alone face down in shallow water,” Sheriff Dan Springer instructed reporters Thursday.
Houchins’ case went chilly after years of investigation, which concerned interviews with various suspects and assortment of DNA proof. The sheriff’s workplace revisited the case in 2019 and employed a personal detective in 2021.
Springer instructed reporters that fashionable forensic expertise was capable of level to Hutchinson final month as a suspect within the teen’s dying.
His workplace stated Hutchinson was a Montana State College pupil on the time of Houchins’ dying and randomly encountered her on the river. Authorities described the killing as “against the law of alternative” as a result of the 2 had no prior connection.
Stephanie Mollet, Houchins’ youthful sister, instructed reporters Thursday that she has little question 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 till she choked to dying.
Because the killing, Hutchinson had married, with two youngsters, the sheriff’s workplace stated. He labored for the native Bureau of Land Administration for 22 years and had no prison or visitors violation historical past.
When Hutchinson was questioned, investigators noticed that “he sweated profusely, scratched his face, and chewed on his hand,” the sheriff’s workplace said, including that the interview lasted practically two hours.
“When proven a photograph of Houchins, Hutchinson slumped in his chair and exhibited indicators of being uncomfortable.”
The sheriff’s workplace additionally famous that “Upon launch, his habits was noticed to be erratic.”
Hutchinson known as the close by Beaverhead County Sheriff’s Workplace the next day at 4:17 a.m., saying he wanted help earlier than hanging up, in keeping with the sheriff’s workplace. Responding deputies discovered him on the facet of the highway with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Houchins’ case is now closed, however Springer instructed reporters that authorities are persevering with to analyze Hutchinson in attainable connection to different chilly circumstances across the nation.