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Couple guilty of murder
By Taylor Messick
Last Updated: September 27, 2018

A Sedgwick County District Court jury on Sept. 24 found Jeff and Heidi Hillard guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, rape, three counts of aggravated battery and two counts of aggravated kidnapping. They were found not guilty of aggravated robbery.

The charges stem from the Nov. 6, 2016, murder of Scottie Goodpaster Jr. at a Valley Center home in the 1300 block of South Meridian. There are three other suspects in the case. Willie Earl Morris was sentenced to life in prison on May 18. Brian Bussart took a plea deal in exchange for his witness testimony; he will plead guilty to murder and all other charges will be dropped. Alexandria Scott is charged with kidnapping and aggravated robbery.

According to witness testimony, the Hillards became suspicious of Goodpaster and another victim — Goodpaster's girlfriend — after a couple of botched methamphetamine deals. The five suspects confronted the victims at a West Kellogg hotel on the evening of Nov. 5. The Hillards believed Goodpaster and his girlfriend were involved in some sort of scheme to get them busted by police. They were concerned that they would be caught selling drugs and that their children would be taken or they would be robbed.

Goodpaster's girlfriend was taken from the hotel by the Hillards and Scott, who was taken home shortly afterwards. Goodpaster's girlfriend said she was bound, tortured and sexually assaulted with a Taser inside a rental car while being questioned by the Hillards. She stated that she wasn't aware of a plan Goodpaster had to set the Hillards up, but told them their suspicions were true anyway to stop them from torturing her further.

The Hillards then brought Goodpaster's girlfriend back to their Valley Center home to confront Goodpaster, who had gone to the residence with Morris and Bussart. After luring Goodpaster to the garage, the suspects restrained, beat and tortured him while trying to coerce a confession about the alleged set-up.

Goodpaster was tortured and beaten with a number of objects that were found inside the shed on the Hillards' property. The weapons included an ax, screwdriver, hammer, knife and several pieces of wood. His boxers and genitals were cut with the knife and cuticle sticks were pushed into his ears. A staple gun was also used on his mouth and eyes.

After all of that, Goodpaster still attempted to escape his attackers by jumping through a shed window. He could be seen on a security camera at the residence running toward Meridian on that Sunday morning as cars passed by several feet away. Goodpaster was caught in the driveway and restrained again by the suspects before having his mouth taped and being tied up and loaded into a white pickup.

Goodpaster was barely clinging to life by the time the pickup left the residence. Jeff Hillard, Morris and Bussart tried taking Goodpaster to one of Hillard's relatives before driving to southwest Harvey County and dragging and hanging Goodpaster from a tree with a lasso near a creek.

Heidi Hillard took voice recordings on multiple phones of the events, even stating at one point that the recordings would be a big help to her in the long run. Those recordings — along with the other evidence in the case — helped to portray the suspects as paranoid and violent criminals. On the recordings, Heidi Hillard was heard barking orders and threats at everyone else involved.

The Hillards will be sentenced Nov. 7.





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