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SLO County supervisor’s widow claims he was murdered

February 16, 2023

Dee Torres and Adam Hill

By KAREN VELIE

In an email to San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding, former Supervisor Adam Hill’s widow claims her husband was murdered.

In the Valentine’s Day email, Dee Torres-Hill asks Paulding to convince Gov. Gavin Newson to open an investigation into Hill’s death, which she claims actually occurred on Aug. 5, 2020. Hill committed suicide on Aug. 6, 2020, the day his body was found, according to the autopsy report.

“As we both know, Adam supported and believed in you from the start, and again even in death he was right,” Torres wrote in her email to Paulding. “Will you help me convince the governor to open an honest, and public investigation into my husband Adam Craig Hill’s death on Aug. 5, 2020, which is the day I believe he died.”

In the email, Torres-Hill accuses Sheriff Ian Parkinson, District Attorney Dan Dow and others of ignoring evidence.

“In fact, I say this with all seriousness, I have more evidence of a homicide than all the law enforcers combined have provided me so far of a suicide,” Torres-Hill says in her email. “As you can imagine, this mountain of evidence can’t be swept under the proverbial rug, as it has grown too big to be ignored any longer.”

“Today Jimmy, I am on bended knee asking you to please help me get the truth for my family, our community, and frankly all of our communities. Again, I am pleading with you to facilitate a meeting with the governor so that we can figure out the best way to launch a complete investigation into the almost two decades now political targeting of me and my family which resulted in, among countless other unimaginable injustices, my husband’s inevitable death.”

Paulding does not plan to contact the governor.

“Per our phone conversation, I reviewed the coroner’s report,” Paulding wrote in an email to Torres-Hill. “There is nothing that leads me to disagree with the conclusions made in the report. Further, I do not have any investigatory authority over this matter as a supervisor.”

Hill’s separation and death

After two years of marriage, Hill and Torres-Hill separated in the fall of 2016, according to court records. In early 2019, Hill filed for divorce.

Hill submitted a proposed judgement on Jan. 24, 2020, in order to finalize the divorce. At the time, he was dating Nicole Nix, his administrative assistant.

On March 11, 2020, the FBI raided Hill’s office at the county government center and his Shell Beach home over allegations of bribery and corruption. Shortly after the last agent left his home, Hill attempted to kill himself. He survived.

The following day, Torres-Hill’s attorney filed a pleading seeking to allow Torres-Hill rights to Hill’s retirement. Their divorce was pending when Hill died in Aug. 2020.

In the days leading up to his death, Hill returned to work after a month-long absence to find Nix had accused him of sexual misconduct, including groping, slapping and “gross things.”

On Aug. 6, Hill died from a drug overdose, which was deemed a suicide. He left a four-page suicide note.

Even so, multiple people tied to the bribery schemes have questioned if Hill was forced to take the fatal combination of cocaine and antidepressants.

Responses to Torres-Hill’s email

Becky Jorgeson, a woman on the almost 80-person email list, blamed CalCoastNews for Hill’s death in her response to Torres-Hill.

Torres-Hill thanks Jorgeson and then accuses KVEC radio host Dave Congalton and this CalCoastNews reporter of being paid to lie. An allegation Hill first lodged after CalCoastNews exclusively reported on his bribery schemes.

While Torres-Hill writes that she plans to never mention Congalton or this CalCoastNews reporter again, she notes her plans to target those who she claims ask KVEC and CalCoastNews to lie.

Torres-Hill, who no longer lives in SLO County, lists those she plans to target, including SLO County supervisors Dawn Ortiz Legg, John Peschong and Debbie Arnold; District Attorney Dan Dow; attorney Stew Jenkins; former state legislator Sam Blakeslee and COLAB.


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Guys, don’t be so bitter. Damn!


Adam Hill is gone now. No need to piss on his grave. Dee was fired. Let it go.


I wonder though, maybe she knows something. I would like to hear what she thinks, and whether she has a theory. If it is real, perhaps the FBI might take it up.


-37

It’s not bitterness, it’s disgust. Disgust for their complete and total disregard of others. It’s the abuse of power and lack of ethics. Being fired or dead doesn’t change or excuse their behavior.


38

Yes, I would like to piss on his grave. Adam, and his cohorts still in charge at the County, Bruce, Jimmy and Rita, and their boss Stewart Resnick, continue to piss on us every day.


3

I seem to remember when Hill presented as a nice guy, when he seemed to be in it for all the right reasons, when he wasn’t all swollen and puffy, from drinking excessively and doing what drugs he was using, when he wasn’t a crazed vindictive man. All before he became involved with Dee Torres. She had to have been money hungry because she was accused of stealing from the homeless, the poorest of the poor. These allegations were confirmed by many, including Torres’ ex husband. Stealing probably wasn’t enough so she latched on to someone in power that could control and keep the money rolling in at any cost, Hill. Their marriage was doomed before it happened. Even during the divorce, after Hill had one failed suicide attempt Torres’ attorney filed a pleading seeking to allow Torres’ rights to Hill’s retirement. Money, not Hills mental health was a priority for Torres. Maybe it was murder, but when suicide was determined to be the cause of death, and the life insurance didn’t pay. Torres now claims there is evidence of murder? Does she have insider knowledge police don’t? Maybe the idea of murder should be investigated and maybe the perpetrator should be sought closer to home.Was Hill Torres’ victim as well as her puppet?


34

I remember when Adam lived near Hawthorne Elementary School in SLO. He refused to clean up after his dog and loudly claimed that as a County Supervisor he didn’t have to do s**t, as it were. He was a horrible person, matched only by Dee Torres, herself equally horrible.


9

Not that I have any time for Dee, so I’m hoping you are being facetious karmaclass40 because it’s ridiculous to blame all of Hill’s misbehavior on Dee.


-2

With Dee’s track record look for the scam angle.


45

My mother always told me….follow the money. Works every time.


38

Most of the people in the comment section here may not like Dee, and certainly not Adam, but Dee is not wrong. Just because you don’t like people doesn’t mean they’re always making things up. Many of us who have known some of the details for a while suspect that not only Adam but maybe two other people were murdered, all in relationship to cannabis business. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting Helios had anything to do with it.. There are some very heavy hitters above Helios and in some sense even he was just a patsy. Stay tuned kids.


-20

I will add this. These bigger players are big enough that most likely, very little will ever come out of this other than more questions. And when those questions don’t get answers, people will eventually just forget about it, and these jerks will get to keep playing these games, just like they always have.


17

While I agree there is a possibility Adam Hill was killed, that appears to be the only thing Dee got right. Most of her rant is an attempt to rewrite history to make it appear she was with Adam when he died. Dee accuses others of promoting misinformation about Adam, wanting to portray him as a good person. Adam was a currupt politician who demanded bribes and an awful bully. Remember his troll’s attacks on Dan Carpenter’s daughter, which led to a suicide watch. And now Dee plans to target those who helped expose the corruption that has so damaged our community. So many people in our county elected to look the other way as Adam and his troll attacked mostly women and children. Whether they were afraid or more interested in having a powerful man in their corner, their lack of integrity has harmed our community.


45

I am not defending Adam nor Dee here. Clearly, when you get yourself involved with shady people, you’re exposing yourself to more risk.


15

It’s not a matter of like or dislike. When things are always someone else’s fault and people lie, steal, and cheat, their credibility is shot. Maybe if, just once, responsibility was taken and remorse was evident, people might believe there could be validity in her claims.


17

Agreed. I don’t like Dee. She’s deranged and greedy, but that doesn’t make her assertion incorrect.


-1

The worst part of Adam Hill was his bullying of those who either challenged him or divulged his bad actions. Dee now wants to copy Hill’s behaviors and harass those she dislikes. Will she belly up with Aaron Ochs and attempt to destroy people through fabricated claims? Not long ago, Dee was booted from her last homeless services gig for financial issues. So now she paints a picture of a distraught widow who needs help. How long will it be before she seeks financial support for her next plan to profit off of homelessness?


51

Talk to anyone who spent time with Torres while she worked with homeless. She isn’t copying Hills behavior, she more than likely shaped it. She’s not the pretty little wifey that held the arm of her husband at parties. She was the mad scientist that created a monster.


24

Are you kidding me? Hill was a monster long before he hooked up with Dee. Not that she wasn’t also a monster!


5

Dee you need to check yourself. You left Adam. You abandoned him after he took you in and tried to protect you and your daughters and your broken lying thieving reputation of stealing from the homeless population. Adam would post on late night social media and personally attack via email those who he blamed for losing you. He was a representative who was untrusted by the voters to make positive choices for our county but in the background he was a dark, illegal drug user, alcohol abusing man who was unraveling and making really bad decisions about his personal life. One of them being in a relationship with you. You are obviously looking for more financial gain like a vulture picking the bones of a dead animal on the highway. The real victims here are Adam’s sister and family back in New York. Not you. As for local law enforcement Sheriff Ian Parkinson District Attorney Dan Dow have made their decisions on this case based on the facts and findings of a thorough investigation. For you to go after Adam’s former girlfriend Dawn Ortiz Legg is laughable. Dawn got exactly what she wanted from Adam; lucrative jobs she was not qualified for and a career in politics she is not qualified for because Dawn knows how to use people and tell them what they want to hear. Something you perhaps should take a lesson in and stop going for the money grab. Adam is gone and so are your opportunities to gain any more financial security from him.


76

Looks like Dee must’ve taken some BevMo gift cards on the job and has been using them up! Face it Dee, Adam is dead and the world is a better place as a result.


47

What became of Nicole Nix after her lawsuit?


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