A Discarded Water Bottle Led to a Murder Charge in a 1985 Newport Killing, Prosecutors Say
William Morton, 61, is charged with murder in the 1985 killing of Hillary Hellewell in Newport, Rhode Island, after DNA from a water bottle matched evidence.
A Rhode Island man has been charged with first-degree murder in the 1985 killing of 22-year-old Hillary Hellewell in Newport, after DNA from a water bottle he left behind at a concert matched evidence from the case, prosecutors say.
William Morton, 61, of Smithfield, was arrested on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, and is being held without bail, according to WJAR and Fox News.
The killing
Hellewell was found on Anthony Street in Newport on the morning of May 19, 1985. The medical examiner found she had been strangled and ruled her death a homicide. She had been at a gathering with friends in Newport the night before.
Rhode Island did not have DNA testing in 1985. Evidence preserved from her clothing later produced a DNA profile, but it did not match the men investigators had tested, Attorney General Peter Neronha said.
The water bottle
The case was reopened in 2023, officials said. Investigators used DNA to identify members of Morton’s family, which helped lead them to him, Neronha said.
In August 2026, an investigator followed Morton to a concert at a Rhode Island theater and collected a water bottle he left behind, according to court records cited by Fox News and the attorney general’s account reported by WJAR. DNA from the bottle matched the evidence in the case, authorities said.
Neronha, who knew Hellewell, said investigators have found answers in four previously unsolved cases over the past year using newer DNA technology.
In Chicago, police said on Oct. 12, 2026, that they had identified the man who killed 8-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz in 1960, a former officer who died in 2006.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
