Jill and Julie Hansen

[James T]

Originally Posted by plmkr88

Almost zero doubt Donnie Hansen committed the crime.

Anyone know whatever happened to him or where he is today?

He became Nailz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC9EvT1n2Jc

[Janel "Jaycee" Miller]

This is an interesting article about Jill and Julie's grandfather. Other googling led me to their grandfather's obituary which mentions Hans, Betty and the girls but perhaps not surprisingky, nothing about Donny

https://m.northcoastjournal.com/humb...nt?oid=2131586

[TripleG]

There are quite a few cases in UM's history where you just know who did it and everyone with common sense knows who did it, but there is that crucial piece of evidence missing to make it a slam dunk case against the perp.

The Chad Noe/Ida and Beverly Prewitt case really comes to mind as being a super frustrating "Oh come on! We know they did it!" type of story. Fortunately, some level of justice was finally obtained in that case.

But then I look at this one, and there is just no way in hell I can come up with any possible scenario where Donnie is innocent. Now keep in mind, I'm the type of guy that watches 12 Angry Men and walks away thinking that the kid is guilty, but there is just way too many coincidences, way too much damning evidence, and too much of Donnie's suspicious behavior in general to convince me he didn't do it.

If Julie hadn't died, Donnie would have fried for sure, and even that situation is fishy as all get out. I don't want to accuse anybody of anything, but if there is nothing nefarious there, then that defense team got the luckiest break imaginable.

[Rweiss]

Ok here we go after watching this segment again,(gonna be in the vast minority here),but I don't think Ronnie did it.
Here's why I feel this way
1.If he did do it and wanted to get away with it,why leave all the evidence there,he would have to be the dumbest criminal ever,its like him just walking up to the police and saying hey I did it arrest me.He hid the gun yes,but why leave the gas cans in plain sight knowing they could be traced to him.
2.Shooting the girls in the stomach,don't you think if he was trying to kill them wouldn't he go for the chest(heart) or head,and there's no way after Julie I believe got shot he wouldn't see she was still alive.
3.on the um segment the prosecutor said if you were gonna do this wouldn't u bring the materials to do so,well yes unless you knew they were there and knew where.
4.according to the segment Ronnie burrowed the gun and was skeet shooting or whatever with it,ok I know with me when im with friends or whatever,ill talk with them bsing with them,ive mentioned to my brother about getting gas for my mower or whatever.
With all this being said yes donnie lied his ass off and looked guilty as sin,I do believe he heard the gunshot hence hiding the gun,I do believe he knows more than he's saying,but I also have serious problems with the motive.
Imo the girls were the target being shot where they were has to be a big factor(maybe one of them were pregnant?)also all someone had to do was overhear donnie about getting gas and more shells for the gun.
Someone doing this would basically get away with the perfect crime,knowing everything would be traced back to donnie.This is just my opinion

[Mike82]

Originally Posted by Rweiss

Ok here we go after watching this segment again,(gonna be in the vast minority here),but I don't think Ronnie did it.

I agree: it wasn't Ronnie it was his evil twin Donnie

Seriously though I should start a thread entitled "what are you 100% sure of. Not 99.99% (like David Dowaliby's innocence for example) but 100%-bet your-life-on-it." Without a doubt Donnie would be at the top of the list. Even if you ignore all the overwhelming circumstantial evidence and Donnie's lying, the bottom line is why wasn't Donnie shot? He was literally right there and what's the difference between two murder charges (with one witness) and three with no witnesses? I might be willing to conceed that Donnie was a victim of drug dealers except for the fact he bought the murder weapons.

There really is no mystery except as to how a jury could have acquitted him and how they failed to kill both girls right away. When your own family says on national TV you are a murderer, that's a pretty clear sign to me.

I maintain he is without a doubt if he isn't luckiest criminal in UM history he is a shoe-in for second.

[Rweiss]

With me I feel all the evidence left there,if he wanted to get away with it,its just too convenient.ok he hid the gun,but why not grab the gas cans and hide them too(at least the one on the porch.)He would have to be the dumbest criminal in history.Also yes the parents believe he's guilty,im sorry if I was presented with all this evidence I would too,I feel after hearing everything they were so focused on the fact it was donni,they never thought of how convenient everything was left the re pointing at him.Like I said if someone else did this,it would basically be the perfect crime everything points to donnie,the house is gone so no evidence and the police are gonna one hundred percent look at donnie because of the facts and not even attempt to look anywhere else.

[Mike82]

Originally Posted by Rweiss

With me I feel all the evidence left there,if he wanted to get away with it,its just too convenient.ok he hid the gun,but why not grab the gas cans and hide them too(at least the one on the porch.)

If I understand you correctly you are proposing that someone could have framed Donnie for the crime: maybe they asked him to buy ammo saying it was for a hunting trip and to grab some gas in exchange for forgiving a drug debt for example and he had no idea these were the weapons that were going to be used to kill his family? In other words, the reason he didn't cover his tracks was because he wasn't involved.

I considered that but always feel back on the idea that Donnie not only lied repeatedly, tried to destroy the evidence after the fact and after he was acquitted made no attempt to my knowledge to assist law enforcement in capturing the real killers. It's obvious why: he either killed them or played a large role in their deaths and could face very serious jail time on related charges (a judge and jury would probably throw the book at him a la OJ Simpson). It also begs the question as to why drug dealers would shoot his half-sisters and leave him without a scratch if HE, not them was the one who owed the $$$.

If I had to guess I would say the fire was supposed to do the job and once the gun was fired, everyone panicked and the plan fell apart, forcing him to be "the hero" rather than "struggle" to make it out alive of the fire. He is just one lucky dude that his idoicy didn't led directly to death row.

[Rweiss]

What im saying is 1.donnie knows more than he's saying, 2.He lied his ass off and looks guilty as sin because of it,3.yes it does seem fishy that he want shot,makes me again believe the girls were that target not the family. 4.Don't want to say framed(although yes that's how it sounds.).just WAY to convenient that all this evidence is left right there pointing at him,unless a person is incredibly stupid there not gonna leaveall this evidence for investigators to find, like I said it would belikehim walking put to LE and saying hi I did this you can arrest me now.I mean think about it if your trying to get away with a crime like this are your u gonna leave that **** there? I don't think it had anything to do with drugs or donnies life in general,the girls were killed no one else they were the target, I firmly believe it had to do with them somehow,being shot in the stomach of all places maybe one of them were pregnant? but who knows to me there's never been a motive that made any sence at all,the prosecutor said something to the effect of inheritance, now if this was fact why not shoot everyone not just the girls?what your gonna waithow long for this money its ridiculous.I believe donnie knows something but for some reason he want talk.

[Rweiss]

What im saying over all this is my opinion only.it just seems WAY to convenient.The fact he hides thegun,yet doesn't try to get rid of the gas can,or the shells makes no sense if he's completely guilty,the fact the girls were shot in the stomach of all places,another thing there's no way in hell he wouldn't have seen that one of the girls was still alive and just let her go so she could identify him,really.To me all this says something doesn't add up.

[TheCars1986]

If this was some drug debt gone horribly wrong, why wouldn't Donnie just come right out and say this? If he had nothing to do with shooting his sisters, why not confess to knowing who did? Especially after he was charged with the murders.

[Rweiss]

Like I said, I don't think motive had anything to do with Donnie,people assume this believing he's guilty.I believe the motive for this sits with the girls,they were the target,not Hans and Betty or Donnie for that matter.
If money was the motive then why not shoot the parents as well,or just the parents?
The girls being shot and where they were shot sticks out to me,shooting both of them in the stomach of all places to kill them,not normal especially seeing the caliber and type of gun,a head shot would make more sence.

[StackTime]

Originally Posted by Rweiss

Like I said, I don't think motive had anything to do with Donnie,people assume this believing he's guilty.I believe the motive for this sits with the girls,they were the target,not Hans and Betty or Donnie for that matter.
If money was the motive then why not shoot the parents as well,or just the parents?
The girls being shot and where they were shot sticks out to me,shooting both of them in the stomach of all places to kill them,not normal especially seeing the caliber and type of gun,a head shot would make more sence.

The girls may have been shot (and not the parents) because they were woken by the gasoline spreading/beginning of the fire, and the parents did not wake until later. I'm guessing his plan was to set the fire and bail, with the shooting as a backup in case things didn't go according to plan. They didn't.

Donnie didn't shoot them in the head perhaps because he wasn't an expert shot. Stomach shot still lines up vertically with chest and head.

If the parents die in the fire and are NOT shot - it's easier to claim it was an accident. Arson isn't terribly hard to prove, but gunshots would immediately prove a crime. So if you're Donnie and trying to get money, the safer bet is to hope the fire wipes the people and evidence out.

Funny that he was allegedly fearful of retaliation from drug dealers but did not flee the scene - in fact stuck around, when, for all he knew, they were waiting outside to shoot him as he escaped the fire. THEN returns to the crime scene for the gun - again, they could have been waiting to finish the job.

Sorry, but every theory positing that he is innocent has massive flaws that cannot be overlooked. He either did it himself or was directly involved. The theories supporting this position are not perfect, but far, FAR more plausible and supported by evidence.

Defense caught HUGE breaks, and the prosecution was likely not aggressive enough, thinking it was a slam-dunk from the beginning.

PS: I don't think he would have been able to sneak into the hospital, let alone have the medical knowledge to cause that IV accident. That, I think, was just a freak accident. He's a dumb and lucky criminal, not sophisticated enough to pull that off in addition to the original crimes.

[Rweiss]

Ok first off only one of the girls woke up,not both.The perpetrator shot the other one while she was sleeping,for no reason,and taking the chance everyone would die in the fire,is IMO stretching it a little.
I do believe there's holes in both sides of this,in the theory Donnie is guilty,and also the theory he's not.
If both girls woke up I could believe the shooting was because the perpetrator or perpetrators were surprised but that wasn't the case,one(Julie I believe) was shot in her bed while she slept.Being surprised by Jill there's a reason to shoot her,but there was absolutely no reason to shoot Julie. Another thing that makes little sence to me no one(neighbors,Betty,hans and possibly Donnie heard a gunshot.walls in a mobile home are thin,and shooting a shotgun myself I can say is very loud,also I live near state gamelands,during hunting season I can hear shots ring out from 1/2 me away at least.All I can think is there was some kind of suppression device on it,and saying Donnie did this leaving all this evidence behind and being really insanely stupid IMO if this is fact wouldn't be smart enough to do this.
Agreed though too many holes,on both sides,Donnie knows more than he's saying.
I still believe the motive for this sits with the girls,the major fact for this other than where they were shot,is the fact that the perpetrator or perpetrators made it a point to shoot both girls one while she was sleeping for no reason.

[Huskerz85]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

If this was some drug debt gone horribly wrong, why wouldn't Donnie just come right out and say this? If he had nothing to do with shooting his sisters, why not confess to knowing who did? Especially after he was charged with the murders.

From a 2016 reply

"The local theory on the two men seen was that Donny had a large drug debt and that these men were there to make sure he carried out the plot to collect life insurance, not there to commit the crime. I have no facts or evidence from this but that is what people were saying at the time. He was known to have a pretty serious drug addiction, not quite sure what. Probably at least once a year ago looking to see if I can figure out what happened to him I've never had any luck.

The thing is we need to remember is drug addicts don't necessarily behave rationally. I have a brother who died of a heroin overdose. The things he did was way beyond reason. So you mix the paranoia of a drug addict with the possibility of getting hurt if he didn't repay a debt, things might make a little more sense. Being a sociopath that I believe he was even prior to his drug addiction, it is not far fetched for me to see Donnie trying to kill everyone in that trailer. He just wasn't a well-practiced murderer at the time, and botched it.I really think that's why the whole thing is confusing it is so far-fetched and unbelievable...but that is the world of a drug addict."

[StackTime]

Originally Posted by Rweiss

Ok first off only one of the girls woke up,not both.The perpetrator shot the other one while she was sleeping,for no reason,and taking the chance everyone would die in the fire,is IMO stretching it a little.
I do believe there's holes in both sides of this,in the theory Donnie is guilty,and also the theory he's not.
If both girls woke up I could believe the shooting was because the perpetrator or perpetrators were surprised but that wasn't the case,one(Julie I believe) was shot in her bed while she slept.Being surprised by Jill there's a reason to shoot her,but there was absolutely no reason to shoot Julie. Another thing that makes little sence to me no one(neighbors,Betty,hans and possibly Donnie heard a gunshot.walls in a mobile home are thin,and shooting a shotgun myself I can say is very loud,also I live near state gamelands,during hunting season I can hear shots ring out from 1/2 me away at least.All I can think is there was some kind of suppression device on it,and saying Donnie did this leaving all this evidence behind and being really insanely stupid IMO if this is fact wouldn't be smart enough to do this.
Agreed though too many holes,on both sides,Donnie knows more than he's saying.
I still believe the motive for this sits with the girls,the major fact for this other than where they were shot,is the fact that the perpetrator or perpetrators made it a point to shoot both girls one while she was sleeping for no reason.

That nobody heard the shots makes no sense, I agree. I have not heard/read of any reasonable explanation, but everyone seems to agree that is how it happened.

In my mind, Donnie, motivated by money, would shoot the girls if necessary because if they escaped the fire alive, they would get part of the money. So, one wakes up and walks in on him spreading fuel to set the fire. He shoots to prevent her from alerting the others/escaping as a witness. He assumes the the shot was heard, goes into the bedroom and shoots the other. By then, the fire is set, is it not? So even if Hans and Betty have heard the shots, Donnie must escape then to survive, and stash the gun.

Doesn't matter re: life insurance if the girls die accidentally or not, so it was whatever the circumstances dictated. Had Hans and Betty died and all three kids survived, Donnie 1) has potential witnesses to deal with, and 2) has to share whatever money would come. It was more important for the parents to die in the fire, and for the girls not to survive regardless of method.