Bizarre Murder of Black Man, Anthony Hill, by White Male, Gregory Collins, Being Investigated as Possible Federal Hate Crime

Death of black man, Anthony Hill, in SC by white man, Gregory Collins, being investigated as possible federal hate crime, after victim's body was found on rural county road.

The bizarre murder of African American Anthony Hill, 30, of Winnsboro, SC, by Gregory Collins, who is white, is being investigated as a possible federal hate crime, SLED director Reggie Lloyd said. Hill's body was reportedly dragged on a rope for more than 10 miles behind a truck on a rural county road. According to The State, Hill's battered body was discovered Wednesday morning on U.S. 176 by a passing motorist. Newberry County deputies then followed a 10-mile trail of blood and gore left on several roads leading to Collins' home. Collins didn't have the guts to surrender peacefully to the police, for three hours he refused to leave his home, until a SLED Swat team finally fired tear gas into the home, forcing him out. He was arrested and charged with murder.

Collins was scheduled for a first-appearance hearing this morning at 9 a.m. Hill died from a single gunshot wound to the head and was apparently dead before his body was dragged and mangled, said Newberry County Coroner Craig Newton. The body apparently came to rest on U.S. 176 after the rope snapped, authorities said.

Lloyd said the victim and the suspect were co-workers at the Louis Rich chicken-processing plant in Newberry. The two, who both had girlfriends, had been spending a lot of time “just hanging out” with each other recently, Lloyd said. No drugs were believed to have been involved, and neither man has a serious criminal record, Lloyd said. Lloyd said elements of the killing that raised the possibility of a hate crime included: The victim’s body being dragged by a rope and left on a public road. The suspect is white, and the victim, black. Source: The State

This is such a reprehensible act and I hope Gregory Collins will get the death penalty for this unspeakable act. You have some people who are still stuck in the days of overt racism and Jim Crow, but times have changed and no-one who commits such a crime will walk away unscathed. My thoughts and prayer go out to the family of Anthony Hill. This case is a throwback to the horrific 1998 Texas incident in which white supremacists tied a black man to a truck by chain and dragged him to his death. Last December, three men ---- Thomas Blue Sr., his son Thomas Blue Jr., and Judson Hartley Talbert were were sentenced to federal prison last December for hate crimes for burning a black man's car and threatening him with a chainsaw when he tried to use a restroom at a rural store in 2007.