Robert “Boot” Hill is the only son of Dr. John Robert Hill, a Houston plastic surgeon, and Joan Robinson Hill, a River Oaks socialite and champion equestrian. He lost his mother to a sudden illness in 1969, was present in the house when his father was shot to death by a hired gunman in 1972, and was later a named plaintiff in a wrongful death lawsuit accusing his own maternal grandfather of arranging that murder.1Texas Archive of the Moving Image. Joan Robinson Hill Story
A River Oaks Childhood
Robert’s parents married in 1957 in a ceremony the Houston press called the “wedding of the century.”2ABC13 Houston. Texas True Crime: River Oaks Murder Mystery Joan was the only daughter of Davis Ashton “Ash” Robinson, a wealthy Houston oilman, and had won roughly 500 trophies and multiple national equestrian titles by adulthood. The Hills settled in a mansion on Kirby Drive in River Oaks, near Ash and Rhea Robinson. Robert, nicknamed “Boots” or “Boot,” was their only child.1Texas Archive of the Moving Image. Joan Robinson Hill Story
His Mother’s Death in 1969
In March 1969, Joan Robinson Hill fell suddenly ill and died within days at Sharpstown General Hospital. She was 38.3The New York Times. Oilman Is Cleared in Houston Murder of His Son-in-Law Dr. Hill attributed the death to a stomach problem. Ash Robinson did not accept that explanation and pressed the Harris County District Attorney’s office to investigate his son-in-law. On May 22, 1970, a grand jury indicted Dr. Hill for “murder by omission” — the first use of that statute in Texas — on the theory that he had withheld lifesaving medical care from his wife.1Texas Archive of the Moving Image. Joan Robinson Hill Story The first trial ended in a mistrial in 1971, and a second was scheduled for November 1972. Dr. Hill did not live to see it.
Present at His Father’s Murder
On September 24, 1972, two months before the retrial, Dr. John Hill was shot to death in the foyer of the River Oaks home. He had just returned from Las Vegas with his third wife, Connie Hill. Robert was inside the house at the time, in the care of his paternal grandmother, Myra Hill. The gunman, Bobby Wayne Vandiver, held Robert during the attack before shooting Dr. Hill multiple times.4vLex. Hill v. Robinson, 592 S.W.2d 376
Houston police concluded the killing was a murder for hire, not a robbery. Vandiver was killed in a shootout with police in April 1974 and never stood trial. Lilla Paulus, whom investigators identified as the organizer of the killing, was convicted on February 28, 1975, and sentenced to 35 years. Marcia McKittrick, Vandiver’s girlfriend and the getaway driver, received a ten-year sentence and served five.1Texas Archive of the Moving Image. Joan Robinson Hill Story
The Lawsuit Against His Grandfather
No one was ever criminally charged with ordering the killing. Suspicion centered on Ash Robinson, who had testified under oath that he felt “fiendishly vindictive” toward Dr. Hill.3The New York Times. Oilman Is Cleared in Houston Murder of His Son-in-Law Houston District Attorney Carol Vance said the evidence was insufficient to charge him.
In 1977, Dr. Hill’s survivors brought a civil case instead. Connie Hill, Myra Hill, and young Robert Hill filed a $7.6 million wrongful death suit against Ash Robinson, alleging he had arranged the murder out of “revenge and hatred” for Joan’s death.5The New York Times. Family of Slain Texas Surgeon Sues Ex-Father-in-Law for $7.6 Million Robert was a child plaintiff suing his own maternal grandfather over the killing of his father.
The trial ran seven weeks. Marcia McKittrick testified that Lilla Paulus had identified Robinson as the person who ordered the hit and that she had watched Robinson meet Paulus in a Houston hospital parking lot and hand over large sums of money. Robinson denied it under oath. On October 21, 1977, the jury unanimously cleared him of conspiracy. Jurors calculated that the Hill family’s damages would have totaled $840,000, but because they found no conspiracy, no payment was ordered. Juror Michael C. Schetler said afterward: “We all agreed there was a conspiracy, but there was not enough evidence.”3The New York Times. Oilman Is Cleared in Houston Murder of His Son-in-Law
Robert was also listed as an appellant in Hill v. Robinson, decided by the Texas Court of Civil Appeals in 1979. The appeals court affirmed the take-nothing judgment, holding that the jury’s finding of no conspiracy was supported by the evidence.4vLex. Hill v. Robinson, 592 S.W.2d 376
After the Verdicts
Ash Robinson died on February 14, 1985, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, at age 87. His survivors included his wife, Rhea, and his grandson, Robert “Boot” Hill.6United Press International. Oilman Ash Robinson Dies in Florida The available record does not show how Robinson’s estate was distributed or whether Robert inherited from the grandfather he had once sued for $7.6 million.
Robert Hill’s adult life has stayed largely out of public view. What the record establishes is the childhood itself: a mother lost at 38 under circumstances a Texas grand jury found criminal, a father shot in front of him at home, and a civil case brought in his name that ended without a finding of who was responsible.