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Oildale man found
slain at his home
Sheriff's deputies responding to reports of a pool of blood on the porch outside the home of Marshall Othal Collins, 231
Woodrow Avenue, discovered Collins' body Just inside the front door Wednesday.
Collins, 50, who lived alone at the address, had been shot once in the back of the head with a small caliber gun, Coroner Richard P.
Gervais said.
Neighbors reported hearing "shots" about 3 a.m., Wednesday. A short time later they heard a car leaving.
Three women, members of a religious group making house-to-house calls, discovered the blood seeping from under the front door, and reported the matter to the sheriff's office about 11:30 a.
. Deputies were told Collins' 1967 Cadillac was missing. It was located in the 1800 block of Miller Street, about 3 p.m.. approximately five miles from the Oildale residence of Collins. Oildale man found slain at his home.
[The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, CA, 14 Mar 1974, Thu, Page 11] |
Pill hoard discovered
in slain man's home A large cache of money and restricted drugs were, discovered in an Oildale home Thursday by technical officers investigating the shooting death of the tenant, the sheriff's department revealed today.
The body of Marshall Othal Collins, 50. 231 Woodrow Avenue, was found in a pool of blood just Inside his front door about noon Wednesday. Officers of the technical Investigation unit were combing through the Collins home Thursday, searching for evidence, when a bullet hole was
discovered in a wall. Detective Ken Swearington said he moved a chair to examine the bullet hole more closely when he heard a rattling inside the chair.
Taped to the underside of the chair were a cigar box and a red metal box. When opened
it was found the boxes contained $20,925, mostly in $100 bills, and some sliver dollars.
A short time later officers examining a bedroom cooler duct pulled from It a large paper bag. Inside it was another
plastic bag, and in that 74 smaller plastic bags, each containing a quantity of white pills tentatively identified as mini bennies. Officers counted 75,000 pills.
Later the sheriff's criminologists examined a portion of the pills and found they were amphetamine tablets.
At first it was thought Collins died of a single bullet in the back of the head, but Coroner Richard P. Gervais said today an autopsy revealed Thursday Collins had been shot three times — once In the back of the head, again in the left ear, and a third bullet creased the top of his head.
The third spent bullet was found in a corner of the hallway covered by accumulated dust.
Collins, who lived alone, was found by sheriffs deputies after three women, members of a religious group making house calls, reported a pool of blood on his front porch.
Neighbors said they heard shots from the Collins house about 3 a.m. Wednesday, and later sounds of an automobile leaving. Collins' 1967 Cadillac was found Wednesday afternoon In the 1800 block of Miller Street, about five miles from his home.
Later today, Sheriff Charles Dodge reported, his technical officers in examining Collins' car found 6,00
[sic] more white tablets in a man's boot. [The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, CA,
15 Mar 1974, Fri, Page 9] |
Murder
suspect
in court Preliminary hearing has been set for April 9 for Steven Leon Hill, 24, charged with murder, robbery, burglary and escape.
Hill, held without ball since his arrest In an East Bakersfield residence last Thursday, was arraigned before Municipal Court Judge Walter H. Condley Monday afternoon in the fatal shooting March 12 of Marshall Othal Collins. 50, in whose home officers found $20,000, mostly in S100 bills, and thousands of amphetamine pills.
The escape charge was added after Hill, taken to Kern General Hospital for treatment of diabetes following his arrest, broke a restraining chain on his third floor bed, climbed out the window and dropped seven feet to a ledge.
Despite the shackles on his hands and feet, Hill dropped from the ledge to a lower roof, then down to the hospital grounds.
The fugitive made his way to an apartment two blocks away when he entered the residence of Sharon Buford, picked up a knife with a 9-inch
see Pill case—page 14
 Pill case
from page 13
blade and threatened the woman and four other persons.
One of the occupants of the apartment left undetected and called sheriff's deputies who surrounded the Flower Street apartment and recaptured Hill without resistance early Sunday morning.
The body of Collins was discovered when members of a religious group, making house-to-house calls, reported blood seeping under the front door onto the porch.
Investigating deputies found Collins' body just inside the doorway. He had been shot three times in the head. The officers found more than S20.000 in cash in boxes taped under a chair, and thousands of amphetamine pills hidden in the house.
Ballistics tests are being made on a .22 caliber weapon, taken from Hill at the time of his arrest, to see if shell casings found at the Collins' home match the weapon.
[The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, CA, 26 Mar 1974, Tue, Pages 13 & 14] |
