Dateline season 2 episode 12 - A detailed case overview of Hannah Hill's disappearance

Dateline revisits the disappearance and murder of 18-year-old Hannah Hill in Akron, Ohio. The case centers on a weeklong search that ended when police found Hill’s body in the trunk of her car, turning a missing-person alert into a homicide investigation, and setting off years of trials and appeals.

The episode, The Night Hannah Hill Disappeared, first aired on February 1, 2013. A re-air is scheduled for Tuesday, August 26, on Oxygen at 4:00 AM.

Hannah Hill's disappearance (Image via Pixels)

---

Dateline case details

Hill left her parents’ home on the night of May 19, 1999, and did not return. Days later, officers located her car on a residential street and discovered her body in the trunk. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide by asphyxiation.

Early attention fell on her boyfriend, Brad O’Born, who told police he had been a bad partner and admitted verbal and physical abuse, while denying any role in the killing.

These events and statements were documented by Dateline NBC when the program originally aired in 2013. O’Born had visible scratches when he came to the station, cooperated with questioning, and was not charged. Investigators also identified Denny Ross as part of Hill’s social circle through O’Born, placing him on their radar early in the timeline

According to Fox 8 Cleveland reporting from the retrial period, O’Born testified in open court that he had abused Hill but stated under oath that he did not kill her, reinforcing the split between relationship misconduct and the homicide itself. Fox 8 Cleveland also noted the strained relations with Hill’s family and O’Born’s drug use at the time.

---

Dateline investigation and key evidence

Phone logs showed Hill contacted Denny Ross the night she vanished. Ross was a 20-year-old acquaintance linked to Hill through O’Born; he hosted friends at his Akron apartment and by his own account to detectives, was the last person to see her alive that night.

Ross told detectives that Hill came by his apartment, then left. A search tied to that lead produced a bag beneath a window that contained Hill’s clothing.

Years later, advances in testing became central to the case. At the retrial, prosecutors presented DNA findings that placed Ross’s blood on items linked to Hill, evidence that jurors later described as decisive.

The Akron Beacon Journal described how improvements in genetic testing allowed the state to connect a small blood spot to Ross during the 2012 proceedings, strengthening the forensic case after earlier limitations.

What happened to Hannah Hill? (Image via @DatelineNBC Facebook)

---

Dateline verdict and aftermath

Ross’s first trial in 2000 ended in a mistrial after juror misconduct, which sent the case into years of litigation over whether the state could try him again. The Ohio Supreme Court ultimately allowed a retrial.

In 2012, a Summit County jury found Ross guilty of murder, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, and related counts. He received a life sentence. The Akron Beacon Journal reported that the verdict arrived after a lengthy retrial featuring dozens of witnesses and hundreds of exhibits, with detectives crediting preserved evidence and persistent follow-up.

Fox 8 Cleveland noted that by the time of the retrial, Ross was already serving 25 years for a separate 2004 rape and attempted murder conviction, a detail jurors in the Hill case were not tasked with deciding, but that shaped Ross’s incarceration status outside the Hill matter.

---

Watch Dateline season 2 episode 12 on Tuesday, August 26, on Oxygen at 4:00 AM. Streaming options include Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, fuboTV, NBC, The Roku Channel with ads, and Spectrum On Demand.

---