On Sunday night, the family of recent high school graduate Jacob Hills reported him missing in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Then came the anonymous call.
On Monday morning, police went to the location specified in the call and found Hills, 18, dead in the basement of a Detroit apartment building, according to Fox News.
“Without hindering the investigation, we know that the victim was interested in purchasing a firearm. Whether that was in the area he lived or in this area — don’t want to get into that level of detail at this time,” Detroit Police Cmdr. Michael McGinnis said at a Monday news conference at the building where Hills was found, according to Fox.
“I know for certain he was here for a party. What occurred from that point until where we are now, these are the answers we need to get for the family,” he said.
Michigan teen Jacob Hills found dead in Detroit basement after party after dad gets anonymous call https://t.co/iFlsqPQXnw
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 26, 2022
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Hills was with his family on Saturday and went to a party in the Detroit area with a friend, according to WDIV-TV. When his family did not hear from him Sunday, they traced his phone and found it and his vehicle in Dearborn Heights, a city outside Detroit.
Then came the anonymous call to Hills’s father. Police responded and found the Hills’ body.
“They found my son in a pool of blood. They stole his shoes off of his feet,” his mother, Sadie Hills said, according to WXYZ-TV.
Hills had recently enlisted in the National Guard, WXYZ reported.
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“He would do anything and everything for anybody at any time. It did not matter,” Sadie Hills said.
“It was hard to hear who these kids were that my son was hanging out with and what they were capable of.”
She disputed the possibility McGinnis hinted at in the news conference that Hills was in the area where his body was found to buy a gun, according to WDIV.
She said that her son had recently purchased a rifle from a local gun shop to practice shooting before he joined the Guard.
“He had that gun in his car when he went down there on Saturday and he was lured down there because of the gun and his graduation money,” she said.
The Hills family says the teenager who traveled with Hills has changed his story several times, according to WDIV.
McGinnis said police are making the necessary contacts to fill in the blanks.
“We do have information on who he was with. You know, his friends, and we are in the process of trying to make contact with them so we can follow up with what information they can provide that would aid the investigation,” he said, according to WXYZ.
