FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) - A man with a history of mental illness has been sentenced to serve more than three decades in prison for killing a woman and her adult son in Otter Tail County.
A judge earlier rejected William Hillman’s mental illness defense and found him guilty of fatally beating 42-year-old Denise McFadzen and 21-year-old Dalton McFadzen at their home north of Perham in April 2018. The McFadzens had allowed Hillman to live in their home in Gorman Township.
Judge Kevin Miller noted that Hillman carried out “some level of planning” before the killings and understood what he did “was morally wrong and illegal.”
According to court records, Hillman told investigators he had not taken his medication for schizophrenia for five months. Authorities say the victims were beaten with a large pipe wrench, the Star Tribune reported.
With credit for time served in jail since his arrest, Hillman is expected to serve more than 32 years behind bars before his supervised release.
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