Her unexplained death at age 38 led to her husband, John Hill, becoming the first person to be indicted by the state of Texas on the charge of murder by omission. The case precipitated a series of events that included the murder of John Hill, and two years later, the fatal police shooting of the man accused of that murder. Adopted as an infant by wealthy oil tycoon Davis Ashton "Ash" Robinson and his wife, Rhea, Joan became an equestrian at a young age.
She excelled and continued the sport into adulthood, ultimately winning several national titles. After two youthful marriages that ended in divorce, Joan married plastic surgeon John Hill in After a tumultuous marriage, she died following a short illness on March 19, Autopsy examinations failed to determine a cause of death beyond an infection from an unknown source.
Ash subsequently accused John of poisoning Joan, and petitioned the district attorney to prosecute John for murder. John's murder trial was held in February , but ended in a mistrial.
As a second trial was approaching, John was gunned down by an intruder at his home. A suspect, Bobby Wayne Vandiver, was arrested and indicted for the murder, but was killed in a shootout with police before his trial.
Two other suspects, Marcia McKittrick and Lilla Paulus, were convicted as accomplices to John's murder and served time in prison. The case was the subject of Thomas Thompson 's book Blood and Money and the made-for-television film Murder in Texas. Davis Ashton "Ash" Robinson studied dentistry at Tulane College , New Orleans , but disliked the subject and chose not to follow it as a career.
