Bio

William Eugene Hall Jr. was born on October 9, 1956, in Paducah, Kentucky. He was raised in a troubled household. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and his mother died of throat cancer when he was four. After her death, Hall went to live with his father and stepmother.

Family members later testified that Hall and his siblings received little supervision and were not properly taught right from wrong. Discipline in the home often involved physical beatings. Hall began getting into trouble while still in grade school.

According to testimony presented during his sentencing, Hall started drinking alcohol at around eleven years old and became involved with drugs during his teenage years. By the age of fourteen, he had developed an addiction to Valium. He spent time in juvenile detention facilities and later in a youth development center.

Hall left school after the ninth grade but eventually earned a GED while incarcerated. He held several jobs during his early adulthood, but much of his adult life was spent in and out of prison.

Psychological evaluations conducted before sentencing revealed that Hall had experienced two head injuries, one as an infant and another at age fourteen when he was struck with a baseball bat. A psychologist testified that Hall suffered from severe emotional maladjustment, feelings of worthlessness and inferiority, and longstanding problems related to substance abuse.

Murder Story

During the early morning hours of June 16, 1988, William Hall and seven other inmates escaped from the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, Kentucky. Hall escaped with fellow inmate Derrick D. Quintero and several other prisoners.

After stealing a pickup truck, Hall and the other escapees entered the Leatherwood community in Stewart County, Tennessee, near the Kentucky border. Over the next several days, they committed numerous burglaries of cabins and homes throughout the area. They stole food, clothing, weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and other supplies while avoiding an extensive manhunt.

Evidence showed that Hall and Quintero eventually became separated from some of the other escapees and continued moving through the rural community. Fingerprints and other physical evidence connected Hall to several burglarized homes.

Buford and Myrtle Vester lived in the Leatherwood community and were last seen alive by their son at approximately 6:00 p.m. on June 19, 1988. Their son became concerned when he could not reach them by telephone over the next several days. On June 22, a neighbor checked on the elderly couple and discovered both of them dead inside their home.

Investigators found that the telephone line to the residence had been cut and that the home had been entered and ransacked. Medical evidence showed that the murders were exceptionally violent. Buford Vester was shot twice with a shotgun while in his bedroom. One blast struck him at the junction of his head and neck, causing massive injuries to his lung and major blood vessels. Another shotgun blast struck his chest and abdomen.

Myrtle Vester suffered a prolonged and brutal attack. She was shot three times, including wounds caused by a shotgun and a high-powered rifle. One gunshot nearly severed her right hand. In addition to the gunshot injuries, she was stabbed thirteen times in the head, neck, and shoulder area. Two stab wounds severed her carotid arteries. The medical examiner testified that she could have survived for up to fifteen minutes after the attack.

Ballistics evidence linked weapons stolen during earlier burglaries to the murders. A sawed-off shotgun found in the victims' abandoned vehicle was identified as a weapon stolen from one of the burglarized homes. After the murders, Hall, Quintero, and another escapee traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, where witnesses later identified them. They attempted to sell stolen property, including silver dollars taken during the burglaries.

Hall eventually contacted his girlfriend, Barbara Vasser, and arranged to receive money through Western Union in El Paso, Texas. Concerned for his safety, Vasser informed authorities.

On July 6, 1988, FBI agents arrested Hall when he arrived at a Western Union office in El Paso to collect the money. Four days later, Quintero and another escapee were captured in Mexico and returned to U.S. authorities. Hall and Quintero were charged with two counts of felony murder, burglaries, and theft offenses. Their trial took place in Stewart County, Tennessee.

On December 4, 1991, both men were convicted. The jury sentenced Hall to death for the murder of Myrtle Vester and to life imprisonment for the murder of Buford Vester. The jury found multiple aggravating circumstances, including that the murders were especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel and that Hall had previous convictions involving violence.

Hall's convictions and death sentence were later affirmed by the Tennessee Supreme Court and through subsequent post-conviction proceedings. He remains on Tennessee's death row.