Monday, July 25, 2011

More than 40 years later, KCPD solves the murder of Richard DeLeon Hill

Posted by Peter Rugg on Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 12:23 PM

click to enlarge Sometimes justice takes a long time.
  • Sometimes justice takes a long time.

If you missed it this weekend, Star reporter Mike McGraw wrote a fascinating piece on the just-solved murder of Richard DeLeon Hill. Hill was killed in 1968, his body found at the south end of the ASB Bridge with a single gunshot wound to the side of his head.

Kansas City Police, who came upon new evidence in the case while investigating the separate homicide of political leader Leon Jordan, say it's the oldest cold case the department has yet solved.


Police now say Hill's death can be tied to Joe Centimano and James "Doc" Dearborn, both notorious names in their day.

Here's just a bit of the story that, in parts, reads like an old-school noir. It should be more than enough to entice you to head over to the Star's site and read the rest for yourself.

While Joe Centimano held a .38-caliber handgun to the man's head, he told his son to get his .410-gauge shotgun from the back of the store.

He said his father and Dearborn put the trembling man in the backseat of his father's Cadillac while holding the shotgun on him. Joe Centimano told his son to turn off the lights in the liquor store and lock the door, saying he would be back later.

The younger Centimano said his father and Dearborn returned about 45 minutes later.

"There was blood on the gun and on my dad's hands," Danny Centimano told police last year.



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