PETERSBURG, Va. (WTVR) -- US Marshal Fugitive Task Force Supervisor Kevin Connolly told CBS 6 in a sit-down interview Tuesday that investigators are searching internationally and from coast-to-coast, chasing every lead that may produce Alexander Hill Jr.
The horrific discovery of three women and a toddler deadinside a Petersburg home has at least one Tri-Cities community growing restless as Hill, the only person of interest in the case, remains on the run.
"Some folks are scared of him. I'm not,” said Derrick Streat a Petersburg resident whose aunt lives on Harding Street. “He needs to get what's coming to him. The same thing needs to happen to him."
The medical examiner says Pauline Wilkins and her daughter Vicki Chavis Ansar were found with stab wounds to their torsos. Pauline's granddaughter Tanique Davis and great-grandson Delvari Chavis died as a result of heat and smoke inhalation.
Five murders in eight days. That's not a city-wide statistic. Those numbers are for just Harding Street in Petersburg. Four of those victims came from one house.
"I can tell you that we aren't looking for any other fugitive in this case," said Connolly.
CBS 6 Reporter Jon Burkett asked him whether, as indicated in search warrants in this case, investigators retrieved text messages suggesting that the suspect may have intended to harm himself. Did they think that was the case?
"I've chased two fugitives that staged their own death before,” said Connolly. “We consider the fugitive alive until proven otherwise. No one has come up with a body for him, so we believe he's running."
I asked him whether much help has come from the public so far.
"In a case like this, based on the alleged crime in which three women and a two-year-old child were killed, we expect the public to call in with tips,” said Connolly. “We expect no one would harbor a fugitive like this."
A $5,000 dollar reward is being offered to the person that can lead marshals to Alexander Hill, Junior.
We asked Petersburg Police Chief John Dixon for an interview, but he declined, all relevant information has already been released to the media.
