Man, 61, charged with 1985 murder of student Hillary Hellewell after Newport cold-case breakthrough
William Morton, 61, has been charged with the 1985 strangling murder of 22-year-old Hillary Hellewell in Newport, Rhode Island, after the state attorney general's Cold Case Unit used advances in DNA technology to crack the 41-year-old case.
A 61-year-old former Newport man has been charged with the 1985 murder of 22-year-old Hillary Hellewell, after Rhode Island’s Cold Case Unit used advances in DNA technology to crack a case that had gone unsolved for 41 years.
Attorney General Peter F. Neronha and Newport Police Chief Ryan Duffy announced on Tuesday that William Morton was arraigned in Newport County District Court and charged with one count of murder. The arrest followed a joint investigation by the attorney general’s office and Newport police, with assistance from the Smithfield police department.
Court documents allege Morton murdered Hellewell, a former University of Rhode Island student from Jamestown, on or about May 19, 1985, in Newport. The attorney general’s office stressed that the charge is an allegation and that Morton is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Hellewell’s body was found at about 4.15am on a Sunday morning in May 1985 on a Newport pavement in front of 25 Anthony Street, discovered by two brothers on their way to work. An autopsy by the then chief state medical examiner found she died of asphyxiation due to strangulation.
Neronha said the Cold Case Unit had now found answers in four previously unsolved cases over the past year, “with more on the horizon”.
Sources: Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office (https://riag.ri.gov/press-releases/former-newport-man-charged-alleged-1985-murder-following-cold-case-investigation); The Providence Journal (https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/crime/2026/10/06/arrest-made-in-1985-killing-of-jamestown-woman-hillary-hellewell/92120455007/)
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