Naman Shrestha
In September 2016, when a road rage incident turned into a deadly fight, 64-year-old William McFarlan got the brunt of it as he was brutally beaten and injured, so much so that he passed away a few weeks later in the hospital. It took the police only a few hours to track down the perpetrator, who was then brought in for questioning. All the events that followed the beating of William are covered in detail in the episode titled ‘Make Sure You Get My Good Side’ of Investigation Discovery’s ‘Signs of a Psychopath.’ Besides official interviews, it features many portions of the police’s interrogation sessions with the perpetrator.
William McFarlan Was Found Severely Beaten in a Church Parking Lot
In the early 1950s, Richard “Packy” McFarlan and Mary Ellen McFarlan gave birth to William “Andy” McFarlan. William shared the umbrella of love and care of his parents with his siblings — three brothers named Gary, Dale, and Jim, and sister Sue Rupp. After completing his education with flying colors, he proudly became part of the US Army and served his country. Besides that, he was also employed at General Motors for about three decades before retiring. In his free time, William loved to wear the hunting cap and go fishing. Later in life, he tied the knot with a lovely woman named Dana and fathered two children with her — Jason and Dustin. Being a family man, he kept his family over everything else. On the night of September 29, 2016, the life of the retired 64-year-old man and his family altered.
Around 9 pm, the police were called to a church along Whitneyville Avenue in Alto, Michigan, where William was found severely beaten with multiple injuries. They rushed him to the hospital straight away while they inspected the scene of the crime for any piece of evidence. When William was admitted to the hospital, the doctors revealed the seriousness of his injuries, including multiple rib fractures, an unstable facial fracture, and severe head trauma. Despite being in the hospital, with the nurses taking care of him now and then, the injured man did not last more than five weeks, as he succumbed to his injuries and took his final breath on October 31, 2016.
William McFarlan Got Killed in a Road Rage Incident
Just a few hours after the road rage incident, the police tracked down the 18-year-old Christian Hillman and called him to the station for interrogation around 1 am the following morning. According to Christian, he was riding his dirt bike along Whitneyville Avenue with his friend Noah when William came in his pickup truck from behind and tried to run him off the road. Both pulled over at the parking lot of a church along Whitneyville Avenue in Alto, where Christian and William confronted each other. As per the teenager’s claims, the senior citizen grabbed his neck, tried to strangle him, and even struck him in the face.
That is when Christian allegedly lost control and acted in self-defense. He admitted that he had anger issues and his “meds are kind of messed up.” Christian then went on to confess that he beat him continuously, knocking him to the ground and kicking him in the head with steel-toed boots. Playing victim in front of the police officers, the 18-year-old emphasized repeatedly that he only acted in self-defense. However, when the officers asked him to be completely honest with them, Christian asked for a lawyer and called his mother to bail him out while he was chained to the floor. Meanwhile, the authorities searched his house for clues and found various pieces of evidence, including his blood-stained pair of jeans that had William’s DNA on them.
A few days later, the police called in Christian’s friend, Noah, for questioning. He testified against his friend and confessed that Christian didn’t seem to have acted in self-defense. Noah also claimed that the suspect had texted him a few days prior about getting their stories straight before the authorities questioned him. While the initial charges that Christian faced were of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, this changed to second-degree murder when William McFarlan ultimately died in the hospital due to the injuries.
Christian Hillman Remains Behind Bars While Awaiting Parole
In late June 2017, Christian Hillman received the guilty verdict from the jury and was convicted of the second-degree murder of William McFarlan. In less than a month, on July 24, 2017, he was sentenced to 22 and a half to 100 years in prison, with a possibility for parole in 2039, for the same charge. After the sentencing in 2019, Christian and his defense appealed for a retrial, but only in vain, as the court denied it and upheld the sentence. Sometime later, Christian’s legal team also requested to be resentenced by another judge. However, the panel denied this request as well, since they did not find any evidence of the judge ordering an invalid or unjust sentence.
During the sentencing of Christian Hillman, William’s oldest son, Jason McFarlan, addressed the court, representing his family. He stated, “I lost my hunting partner, my father, my fishing partner. Everything I do to this day for hobbies, he taught me. He’s not here anymore so I’d really appreciate if we could get full sentencing for that.” Currently, Christian Hillman is serving his sentence behind bars at Macomb Correctional Facility, located at 34625 26 Mile Road in Lenox, Michigan, while waiting for his parole eligibility date.
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