SAN ANTONIO - The man accused of killing two women and critically wounding an 11-year-old boy is dead. Corey Hiller was found hanging in his cell at the Bexar County Jail early Monday morning. Hiller was facing two charges of capital murder in the deaths of his ex-girlfriend Rhonda Watson-Hammonds and her friend Casey Sweetwood.
Police say Hiller also attacked Hammonds' 11-year-old son Curtis with a knife. Curtis just turned 11 on Friday at University Hospital, where he's been since the attack on April 19th.
A guard woke up Corey Hiller just after 4am because Hiller had a morning court hearing. A short time later, when the guard came back to check on Hiller he found the 36-year-old inmate hanging from a bed sheet taken from the bunk in his cell.
Hammond’s family has been focused on caring for Curtis, the only survivor of the attack, who was stabbed several times. The boy's grandmother says word of Hiller's suicide leaves her with mixed emotions.
“My original thought has been that I wanted him to suffer for a long time," Susan Watson said. "I wanted every time he closed his eyes for him to see the same things that Curtis saw.”
Watson says for Curtis' sake, she's glad there won't be a trial, and he won't have to fear that Hiller could ever hurt him again.
“The only thing Curtis is aware of is that his mother is dead. We had a conversation yesterday because he still isn't speaking a lot, but he does say a few words,” Watson told us.
As for Hiller, Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz says the accused double-murderer had shown no indication he would hurt himself. He was being held in a medical ward because of injuries suffered when he tried to outrun police at the time of his arrest.
“He was actually in an accident and had been run over by a truck, so he had physical problems -- but not anything mental,” Ortiz told News 4 WOAI.
The sheriff says this is the first suicide they've had in the jail this year, and they had two in 2011.
As for young Curtis Hammonds, he's doing better than expected. Monday he got to leave University Hospital, and transfer to Christus Santa Rosa, where he will undergo physical therapy.
