Bio 

Paul Christopher Hildwin was born on March 22, 1960. Before the Florida murder case, he had a criminal record from New York, where he had been convicted of rape and attempted sodomy in 1979. At the time of the 1985 offense in Hernando County, Florida, he was on parole.

Most available information focuses on the criminal case, appeals, DNA evidence, and his long imprisonment. Hildwin later spent nearly 34 years incarcerated, including almost 30 years on Florida’s death row, before his release in 2020. His original first-degree murder conviction and death sentence were vacated in 2014 after DNA evidence showed that key biological evidence belonged to the victim’s boyfriend, not Hildwin.

Murder Story

On September 9, 1985, Vronzettie Cox disappeared in Hernando County, Florida. She had reportedly left home to wash clothes at a coin laundry near a convenience store. Her body was later found inside the trunk of her car, which had been hidden in a wooded area. Authorities said she had been strangled.

Investigators connected Paul Christopher Hildwin to the case after he forged a check from Cox’s account. A search later found items belonging to Cox, including a radio and ring. Hildwin was charged with first-degree murder and convicted on September 4, 1986. On September 17, 1986, a jury recommended death by a 12–0 vote, and he was sentenced to death.

The case became heavily litigated for decades. His first death sentence was later vacated because of ineffective assistance of counsel, and he was resentenced to death in 1996 after an 8-4 jury recommendation.

Years later, DNA testing changed the case. In 2003, testing excluded Hildwin as the source of biological material found on key crime-scene evidence. A later database search matched that DNA to Cox’s boyfriend, William Haverty. In 2014, the Florida Supreme Court vacated Hildwin’s murder conviction and death sentence, ruling that the new DNA evidence undermined a major part of the prosecution’s case.

In 2020, instead of facing another death penalty trial, Hildwin entered a no contest plea to second-degree murder. He was released with time served after nearly 35 years in prison.