Doneta Hill

Donetta Hill was born on 23 September 1966 and spent most of her life in South Philadelphia. By her early twenties, she was living in chronic poverty and had become deeply entrenched in survival sex work and crack cocaine addiction. Her upbringing and early adulthood were marked by instability, limited family support, and repeated involvement with the criminal justice system. Before the murders, Hill had accumulated several robbery convictions and was under intensive supervision probation, conditions that reflected the ongoing difficulties she faced with drug dependency and unstable living arrangements.

Those closest to her during this period described her life as chaotic and heavily influenced by her addiction, which frequently drove her into high‑risk situations and criminal behavior. She frequently traded stolen items for small amounts of cash or crack cocaine and drifted between temporary residences. While she was the mother of two young children, she struggled to maintain consistent involvement in their lives due to her drug use and unstable housing. These pressures contributed to a life in which sex work, substance abuse, and criminal activity intersected regularly.

By 1990, Hill’s circumstances had further deteriorated. Her probation record indicated missed appointments and positive drug tests. She often sought money through sex work with clients in the immediate South Philadelphia area. The two men she eventually murdered were both vulnerable, isolated individuals and known to hire sex workers and lived within a small radius of one another. 

Hill’s first known murder occurred on 28 June 1990, when she met 72‑year‑old Nghia Quy Lu at his home on South 8th Street in Philadelphia. Lu had allegedly offered her $20 for sex, but after two sexual encounters, he attempted to pay her only $5. Enraged and fearing he might strike her when he reached toward a nearby toolbox, Hill grabbed a clawhammer and struck him repeatedly in the back of the head. The attack was brutal, leaving Lu dead on the basement floor with his pants pulled down. After the killing, Hill stole several personal items from the home, including a watch, gold rings inscribed in Chinese, and eyeglasses. She later split the proceeds with a friend who sold some of the jewelry.

Her second murder occurred 4 March 1991. The victim, 21‑year‑old Nairobi (sometimes spelled Nairobe) Dupont, was a mentally disabled young man living with his father. Hill visited the home to exchange sex for money, but when Dupont offered only two vials of crack in place of cash, a dispute erupted. As in the first murder, Hill reached for a hammer and struck Dupont repeatedly in the back of the head. He collapsed on the kitchen floor, where his body remained undiscovered until his father returned from a trip days later. Hill stole two VCRs, videotapes, and other small items from the home, later trading them for money and crack cocaine.

Police identified Hill quickly due to a red purse containing her identification left at the crime scene. She voluntarily appeared at the homicide division accompanied by her probation officer, where she confessed to Dupont’s killing. After additional questioning, she later admitted to the murder of Nghia Quy Lu as well.

Hill’s trial in 1992 was widely covered by local media. Prosecutors emphasized the cruelty of the killings and her pattern of targeting vulnerable men for sex and robbery. Her prior robberies, drug use, and contradictions in her statements were permitted into evidence and severely damaged her credibility. When the jury returned guilty verdicts for both murders, Hill reacted by spitting at them as she was led out of the courtroom—a moment captured in press reports and remembered as one of the trial’s most volatile incidents.

On 9 April 1992, Hill received two death sentences, making her the second woman in Pennsylvania sentenced to death since reinstatement of capital punishment in 1978. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed her sentence on 29 September 1995, and Governor Tom Ridge signed her death warrant in January 1996, though it was immediately stayed due to ongoing appeals.

Despite the issuance of a death warrant, Hill has never come close to execution. Every defendant with pending post‑conviction litigation in Pennsylvania has received a stay, and the state has not executed any individual since 1999. Additionally, Pennsylvania’s governors have maintained a de facto moratorium on executions for over 20 years. As a result, Hill remains incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy, still under a sentence of death but with no active execution date and no realistic prospect of execution in the foreseeable future.