A Gwinnett County man who used to join two brothers for Sunday dinners has been handed two life sentences for their murders back in 2021. Walter Debron Hill, 31, was convicted of the double homicide of Darius Myles, 28, and Christopher Smith, 21, both shot to death while they slept in their Lawrenceville home.
The District Attorney's office detailed that Hill, who had been a confidant of Myles, carried out the executions on March 28, 2021. There was no forced entry into the residence, indicating Hill may have had access. He followed Myles into the home early in the morning and acted shortly thereafter. After shooting Smith twice in the head on the living room sofa, he turned the gun on Myles, who was in his bed, and shot him four times.
According to Atlanta News First, during the investigation, Hill admitted to owning a similar 40-caliber handgun to the one used in the Killings but claimed it had been stolen. Investigators discovered Hill's car in Houston with casings that matched those found at the crime scene.
In a statement obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Tyreene Brown, the mother of the victims, expressed her disbelief at the unsettling news of Hill being the murderer, "This person used to come to our house often, especially for Sunday dinner." Hill had previously stayed at the Oxford Hall Drive home, which suggested a betrayed trust at the core of the double murder.
The merciless nature of the crimes shocked the community and the family. "The victims were young men with promising futures that were tragically cut short by this defendant,” said Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson. Following his arrest, Hill showed no remorse, telling investigators he "felt nothing" about the killings. The victims' family told police that Hill had not reached out to express condolences following the widespread reporting of the murders.
Hill's conviction includes two counts each of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He received two life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 10 years, a sentence that the District Attorney hopes will aid in the beginning of the healing process for the victims' family, facing an "unspeakable loss." The calculated and cold nature of the crime, the betrayal of familial trust, and the absence of remorse paint a chilling portrait of a justice rightly served according to the law.
