SALEM – Forensic investigators report that a man who died of natural causes on May 24, 2012, went to great lengths to hide his gun-toting past, even going as far as removing his fingerprints.
Moxxy Forensic Investigations report on May 24, 2012; the body of “Bill Lee Hull” was found in his Salem, residence after he died of natural causes.
He had been living with his associate Bessie Fields and her family, whom he had met in 1987 in Tuscon, Arizona. Fields died in 2009.
Investigators learned “Bill Lee Hull” was using an alias and someone else’s social security number.
In his obituary, “Hull” was born on March 15, 1932, in Fort Collins, Colorado to “Robert and Edna Hull”. But investigators could not corroborate that information.
“Hull” did have a tattoo on his left forearm in blue ink that read “PINKY”, could that be a clue? Police learned “Hull’s” fingerprints had been removed, likely done by himself.
“Hull” was subsequently buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Salem, Indiana.
In early 2023, his remains were exhumed in hopes that genealogical testing conducted by Moxxy Forensic Investigations would uncover the man’s true identity. Using the man’s femur, DNA was extracted and then computed into a DNA kit that was uploaded onto GEDMatch, a public DNA database. Once the DNA kit finished uploading, it took less than 30 minutes for the team of genealogists to identify a potential candidate.
Albert Edwin Roadhs, who went by the nickname “Pinky,” was born on March 15, 1932, in Fort Collins, Colorado. Archived arrest and newspaper records showed that Roadhs had a criminal record beginning in childhood consisting of petty crime and felonies, before becoming involved with a gang known as the “Shotgun Bandits.”
The Shotgun Bandits committed a series of stick-ups from October to November of 1955 in Denver, Colorado before being apprehended. At his trial, court investigators stated that Roadhs “will never adjust into a normal individual.” Roadhs was sentenced to 10 to 15 years for his crimes, and shortly after his release, was caught breaking into a warehouse with two other individuals in Longview, Washington on June 4, 1966. He was sentenced again to 10 to 15 years in September 1967. However, Roadhs’ whereabouts between September 1967 and 1987 remain unknown.
Moxxy Forensic Investigations would like to thank the team at Lakehead University for the DNA extraction, Dr. Weining Tang of Genologue for the sequencing, and Kevin Lord of Saber Investigations for bioinformatics. Furthermore, they would like to thank Coroner Peggy Schell of Washington County, the team of individuals present for the exhumation, Weathers Funeral Home, and both Roadhs’ biological and foster families for their cooperation and efforts to help identify him. Thoughts are with both families at this time.
Anyone with information related to Roadhs’ case is advised to contact Kaycee Connelly at kaycee@moxxyforensics.com.
