A Texas Socialite Died Mysteriously. Did Her Powerful Father Take Justice into His Own Hands?

Mar. 15, 2025

Joan Robinson Hill.Photo:AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, George Honeycutt

AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, George Honeycutt

Ash Robinson was always protective of his only daughter, Joan.

The powerful Texas oilman adopted Joan when she was a few months old, and then supported her throughout an early equestrian career that began at the age of 3. Later, he rented out an apartment blocks away from her on her college campus in order to watch over her. When she wanted to get married, Ash had the final say, though Joan’s first two marriages ended in divorce.

Here’s what happened.

A ‘Match Made in Heaven’

Joan Robinson Hill.AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, George Honeycutt

“It looked like a match made in heaven,” Dick DeGuerin, a Texas attorney who later worked on the case, told localABC 13in 2023. “This beautiful high society horse woman, the only daughter of a wealthy oil man and John Hill, handsome, dashing plastic surgeon at the top of his profession.”

Joan’s Death

From left: Troubador Buster Dees, John Hill, Joan Robinson Hill and J.S. Abercrombie.AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, DARRELL DAVIDSON

AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, DARRELL DAVIDSON

In March 1969, Joan suddenly fell ill shortly after Hill initiated divorce proceedings against her. For several days, Hill appeared reluctant to take his sick wife to the hospital and instead opted to treat her himself, according toThe New York Times.

Joan died just 15 hours after Hill finally brought her to the hospital once her condition worsened, according to theAbilene Reporter-News. Several pathologists would disagree on what led to her death – although Ash thought he knew whose fault it was, according toUnited Press International.

A Father’s Revenge

Ash Robinson.AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Sam C. Pierson Jr.

AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Sam C. Pierson Jr.

For years after Joan died, her father Ash refused to believe his daughter’s death was merely a tragic accident. According to ABC 13, Ash hired private investigators to dig into his suspicions that Hill had poisoned his wife and killed her.

“He had influence in the court,” longtime Houston reporter Tom Kennedy, who covered the Hill case, told ABC 13. “He had unbelievable influence with the grand jury." Three grand juries investigated Hill as a result of Ash’s pressure, leading to his indictment in 1970, according toThe Associated Press.

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By 1977, Ash was indicted for orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot related to his former son-in-law’s death, according toThe Victoria Advocate. But Ash was found not guilty after jurors said there was not enough evidence for them to convict the 79-year-old grieving father, who continued to plead his innocence. ‘‘I didn’t want him dead,’’ Ash said at the trial, according to theTimes. ‘‘The killing didn’t solve his problems or mine.’’

source: people.com