PPD: Suspected kidnapper/rapist had history of suspicious and criminal activity

Pensacola, Fla. (WEAR-TV) — Corey Hill was known to hide in the woods along the trails near Summit Boulevard. According to reports from the Pensacola Police Department, he would wait for female walkers and joggers to pass before confronting them.

Other reports, state he waited in the parking lot for women to return from their runs. Reports were taken, but hill was never arrested because police say neither of those are criminal activities.

"An officer got out with him and did what's called a field interview," said Pensacola police spokesperson, officer Mike Wood. "We ask him what he's doing in the area, ask him for ID, write that information down, write down what he was in the area for and there was nothing that we could arrest him for at that point."

That report, Wood says factored into Hill's arrest Wednesday morning.

Hill's suspicious activity does not end on the trails. In 2016, Hill was accused of soliciting sexual favors from a masseuse in downtown Pensacola. Again, Wood says an arrest was not made.

"We investigated it," said Wood. "But it's one of those situations to where we didn't have enough, a 'he said, she said' sort of thing. He was told to stay away from there and there was nothing else to that particular incident."

In 2008, Hill was charged with possession of cocaine. Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille says the charge was dropped after he successfully completed a pre-trial intervention program.

In 2014, Hill was charged with murder after deputies found a body in the woods near Pensacola Catholic High School. Marcille says a 2x4 found next to the victim had Hill's DNA on it. The piece of wood was initially believed to have been the murder

weapon.

"It turned out that once the autopsy had been done, that in fact, there was no pieces of wood located on the body," said Marcille. "That particular piece of 2x4 could not be tied to the body in any way."

The charges were dropped and no additional arrests were made in that case.

"I wouldn't say he slipped through the cracks," said Marcille. "What I would say is, that there wasn't sufficient facts to prosecute him."

Hill remains a suspect in that case.

"You can't predict what somebody might do," said Wood. "But with the pattern that we see developing, it could have gotten worse, and we're glad he was caught when he was."

Now that Hill is charged with kidnap and sexual assault, the state attorney's office is revisiting the unsolved murder case.