Loading summary
A
At dsw, we ask the important questions like what shoes are you going to wear? Whether you're prepping for wedding season, festival season, or just planning the ultimate vacay, the right shoes can make or break an rsvp. So own the moment. You've got big plans and we've got just the shoes at the perfect price, of course. Get ready to get ready with Designer Shoe Warehouse. Head to your DSW store or dsw.com today and let us surprise you. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary you're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hey everyone and welcome back to the into the Dark podcast. I'm your host Peyton Moreland. So glad you are here listening. If you are listening on audio and can please leave me a 5 star review I would really appreciate it. And if you are watching on YouTube, can you please drop let's do your favorite animal emoji in the comments. Thank you. Just a quick comment real quick. Just a great way to engage and help the podcast out quickly. Doing my 10 seconds before we get into today's true crime episode, I did try to plant some flowers in the pots that I have on my front porch. I just, I don't have it. I don't have it. Not good at it. I did my best. I'm gonna keep watering them and trying my best but honestly I just, it's not something I excel at and I feel like every single time I try I fail. But that will not stop me. You guys don't worry. I don't want to have fake plants outside. I want to be able to get these plants to live in my flower pots. So I will keep doing what I can but honestly I think I'm just really bad at it. I'm really bad at it. I keep googling trying to figure out like what's best to do. So I'll just keep doing that and keep you guys updated. On how that's going. But other than that, I don't have anything too interesting going on this week, just besides, you know, working at the bagel shop and working on murder with my husband and into the Dark. So, yeah, that's basically a look into my life this last week. So let's get straight into today's episode. Now, sometimes true crime cases can feel like a jigsaw puzzle, especially when you try to put one together without even seeing the solution on the box. You start out with a bunch of pieces that don't even seem to fit, but then slowly, it seems like you start to build a picture. Except even once everything starts to click together, you still don't know exactly how things will turn out. You might originally think you're creating this beautiful picture of a garden, and then you realize it's actually not a garden, it's a building or a horse running through a field. Even if you think you know how everything's going to come together in a case, you don't have the entire picture until the entire case is solved. And honestly, true crime fans are not the only ones who have to figure things out without having all of the information first. Lots of jobs involve puzzle solving and some guesswork, and in today's case, our solver is an Uber driver. They don't always know who they're supposed to pick up or even what sort of destination they're headed toward before accepting the ride. They can't anticipate if a client's going to be rude or chatty or difficult to be around, or if they're going to have to take a detour due to bad traffic or or if the drop off point is in a bad neighborhood. But a lot of drivers cannot afford to be picky about their clients because they have bills to pay and others will try to do the best job possible, even if they don't technically need that work. And that was the case for a woman named Lolitha Hall. Now, Lolitha was 61 years old, and she had spent her whole life living in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. She actually used to work in the State of Ohio's tax department, and there Lolitha had always been a hard worker, the sort of person who'd do anything to get a difficult task done. But now she's in her 60s, she's retired, and she just wants to enjoy her golden years. Except Lolitha's work ethic hadn't gone away since she retired, so she still wanted to keep busy, which meant she filled her days with gardening Preparing big meals for her family, and teaching her son how to cook. Lolitha, at this point in her life, was also very involved with her church. And if that wasn't enough to fill her days, she was also driving Uber just for something to do during the day and to get a little extra cash. Now, recently, on March 24, 2024, she got a request to drive to a particular house in the suburbs of Columbus. But she wasn't headed there to pick up a passenger like usual. The app said she was actually supposed to grab a package at that address and then deliver it somewhere else. This is actually a service that Uber had been offering in Ohio for a while, so it wasn't particularly surprising or a red flag. However, it was a bit out of the norm. This isn't her typical gig, but she can deliver packages now. Either way, Lolitha was still a hard worker who believed in getting her job done. She didn't ask questions. She just drove until she arrived at the house at 10:52 in the morning. Lolitha parked in the driveway, and then she sat there for a while because she didn't see the package that she was supposed to pick up. And there also wasn't anyone around to tell her where it was. So Lolitha messaged her client to say she was there and ready for the package, but still no one came out. She didn't even get any instructions about where to find a package. Now, 20 long minutes passed until roughly 11:10am and during that time, Lolitha is just waiting around. She doesn't hear a peep. She must have probably been tempted to drive away and cancel the job. But like I told you, that just wasn't her personality. She didn't leave things half finished. So finally, Lolitha got out of the car and walked up to the house. It had a front porch that was screened in, and Lolitha realized she'd have to let herself onto the porch to ring the doorbell or knock. But she was sick of waiting. So she goes onto the porch, she walks across it, and then tried the front door, and it was unlocked. So Lolitha pushed it open and yelled something like, hey, I'm here for the package. Except nobody answered. And this was all very strange. Lolitha could probably tell that something was wrong. She may have even debated about whether she should step into the house and look around. I don't actually know if she went inside the house or not, but at this point, she's just kind of investigating what's going on, why this delivery is not working. There were no witnesses or security cameras to capture what happened next. I do know that if she went inside the house, she didn't make it very far, because at that moment, Lolitha saw inside the house an elderly man in the kitchen. And he looked furious. He was stomping towards the doorway, and he had a gun in his hand. Now, this older man lifted the weapon, aimed it at Lolitha, and ordered her to leave. Obviously, Lolitha doesn't need to be told twice. She turns around, walks either out of the house and off the porch, or out of the doorway and off the porch and headed toward her car. She didn't want any trouble, except even though she was leaving, the old man didn't let her go. He followed Lolitha out of the house with the gun pointed at her the entire time. And Lolitha had no idea why he was threatening her. She was just trying to get this Uber stop done. But she begged him to leave her alone. She actually told him, quote, stop, stop, or I'll call 91 1. And when she said that, she was pulling her phone out of her pocket so she could call them. Now, unfortunately, the old man didn't stop. He, in fact, ordered Lolitha to hand her phone over to him. Obviously, she doesn't want to. I mean, if she gave him her phone, she'd have no way to call for help. Also, this is just her phone. This entire situation is weird. It's a safety issue for her. So the man kind of just keeps following her outside, keeping his gun trained on her, and he was yelling at Lolitha to give him her phone. She continued backing away from him, getting closer and closer to her car and warning him that she was going to call the police. And finally, she makes it to the front driver's side door. She opens it, and she's just gonna climb in and drive away. Except that's when the man shoots her. Completely unprovoked. He hits Lolitha in the leg, and she collapses to the ground. The man kept yelling at her to give him her phone. So that's when Lolitha began screaming for help, hoping a neighbor or someone on the street would hear her, see this commotion, see what's going on? And she also used the open car door to shield and defend herself. She swings it open wider, trying to hit the older man with force to get him to back off. And at one point, she did manage to knock him backward. Remember, both of these people are a little older. And when she knocks him backward, that's when he fired again five more times. Now the bullets struck Lolitha in the shoulder and torso. She let go of the car door because she was too hurt to defend herself now, but she keeps shouting and screaming, just begging someone to help. And while she was laying on the ground helpless, the shooter does something odd. He pulls his phone out and he calls the police. And he tells the police he'd shot a strange woman in his driveway. The man admitted he'd hit her in the shoulder, in the leg, and he's telling 911 dispatch he's done it in self defense. Here's where this situation gets weird because this man isn't necessarily intentionally lying. He had a completely different understanding of everything that had happened that day. Basically, he's trying to figure out what happened as well. If you've listened to this podcast for a while, you know I love Quince. If you don't know what Quince is, it is the place you go to for the staples in your closet. I have so many Quince items in my closet. Not just clothing either. I have a makeup bag. I have shoes from Quint. They they have everything that you need at quality. Quality products. Okay? I'm telling you, you can trust me on this. When you purchase from Quince, you are going to get a quality product that is going to last long. Which is why I'm telling you they're the staples in my closet. Quince makes it easy to refresh your everyday this spring with pieces that feel as good as they look. They use premium materials like a hundred percent European linen, organic cotton, ultra soft denim. Their lightweight linen pants, dresses and tops start at $30. It's priced so well, 50 to 80% less than similar brands because they work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen. So you're paying for quality and craftsmanship and not brand markup. I tell you guys all the time I love my silk skirts from Quints and as spring and summer are rounding the corner I will be wearing them on repeat. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use head to quince.comdark for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. It's actually now available in Canada. To you guys, that's Quince Q-U-I-N-C-E.com dark for free shipping and 365 day returns. Please slash dark. Great way to support the show. Quince.comDark all right you guys, you know how much I hate cooking and how much I love factor. And I love factor because not only does it take out the work of cooking and it also makes eating healthier easier. It's not a willpower problem, it's a setup problem. That was until I found Factor With Factor I'm hitting my nutrition goals this season without the planning, grocery runs or cooking. It is so easy. Factor has meals built around your goals, whether that's weight loss, overall nutrition, more protein or GLP1 support. You guys, I'm telling you right now, if food is hard at all, please go check out factor. They have 100 rotating weekly meals and you can tailor it to exactly what you are looking for. You can also try the newly launched Ready to Eat salads with vibrant ingredients like corn and miso edamame. It's ready in two minutes. Factor shops, preps, cooks and delivers straight to your door so you have more time for everything you love this spring. I love Factor guys. You will too. Add to factor meals.com dark50off and use code DARK50OFF to get 50 off and free daily greens per box with new subscription only 20 while supplies last until 9272026 Again you guys, if you've ever want to check out meal delivery or you've just been struggling eating what you feel like you need, check out FACTOR right Now using code DARK50OFF. See website for more details. See the shooter was named William Brock. He was in his early 80s. He was a retired farmer who lived in rural Ohio for his entire life. He was also a widower. His wife had died over a decade earlier in 2014, and since then William had lived alone in his house, which was in the same neighborhood where he had spent his entire life. He'd grown up here, bought his first adult home here and retired here. And William was very close to his neighbors. He was known for being polite and sweet, or at least that had been the case for most of his life. But according to sources, at one point in the 2000 and twenties or so, something had changed. Around that time, William's neighbors had noticed that he was just acting a little more paranoid. The older he got. It was like he was always afraid of the outside world. He wasn't always thinking clearly, maybe losing his mind a little. Most people figured, you know, this is just a sign he's getting older, his mental abilities are getting worse, but he was still able to take care of himself, to care for the house, practice good hygiene. And William had plenty of children and grandchildren to look out for him. So while the neighbors realized, you know, his personality is changing a little bit, they're not too worried about the Situation. That was until the morning of March 25, 2024. That day, William got a call from an unknown number. And when he answered, the caller said he was William's adult grandson, whose name hasn't been made public. So for simplicity, I'm going to refer to this grandson as Fred. So Fred said he was calling from a jailhouse phone, and that's why it wasn't his usual phone number. He explained he'd been driving recklessly, gotten into a bad car accident, and a pregnant woman in the other car had died. Fred told his grandfather William that it had all been a mistake. He hadn't meant to hurt anyone. But now he, he was in danger of being charged with homicide. And the police were not going to let him out of his jail cell until someone paid his twelve thousand dollar bail. Which was why he was calling his grandfather William. He needed the money right away. Now, obviously from the outside looking in, this is very alarming. But something about the story also didn't feel right to William. Fred's voice sounded a little different from, from usual. And he wondered if maybe the caller on the other end of the phone wasn't Fred. Maybe it was a con artist, he was trying to scam him out of some cash. So he tells the caller he doesn't really believe him, he has some doubts. And right away, Fred gets off the line and a new man jumps onto the call and he says his name is Judge Dent. He worked at the jail. And he also warned William that the clock was ticking. The judge was apparently going on vacation the next day, and there was no way for anyone to pay the bail while Judge Dent was out of the office. So now Judge Dent is talking to William saying if he didn't hand the money over right now, his grandson would be stuck in jail for a pretty long time. Now, again, that really didn't sound right to William. He's having a hard time believing the story. And it felt like the judge was trying to pressure him to make a decision without thinking it over. Remember, this is a man in his 80s. And there was also a little bit of doubt in his mind. A part of him wondered, what if this is true and his grandson Fred actually needed help? So William told the judge he needed a few minutes to kind of reflect on everything. And he hung up. And he called Fred's cell phone. He figured if Fred picked up, he could confirm if the story was true or not. But he calls his grandson. The phone rings and rings, and then it just goes to voicemail. Now, it's completely possible. Grandson Fred was just busy and not answering his phone. But if he actually was under arrest and if the police had taken his phone away, then he wouldn't be able to answer it. Problem was, William still didn't have enough information to figure out what was true. So a few minutes go by, and his phone rings again. It was the same number that had called him before. When William answered, the judge is on the phone once more, urging him to hand over the money. So that's when William decided to give the callers a test. He's like, okay, let me speak to Fred. And once he was on the line, William asked Fred what his last name was. Fred gives an answer. It's not the right one. Apparently, grandson Fred doesn't know his own name. So, next, William asked Fred, okay, what kind of car were you driving when you were in this alleged accident? Again, Fred named a make and model of a car. But William knows that's not the kind of car his grandson drove. So, clearly, at this point, this guy's lying. He's not really Fred. Now, William tells the caller he knows he's a con artist. And that's when the men on the other end of the line become angry. They dropped the act. They admit, yeah, okay, we're not really your grandson or judge. But they told William he still needed to give them the money. They threatened him, saying they'd hurt him if he didn't pay, saying they knew where he lived. They had drones flying above his house, watching his every move. And the scammers even warned him that they were sending an assassin to. To his front door. They said her name was Lolitha, and William needed to give $12,000 cash to her or else she would kill him and his family. Now, William had never given these people his address, and yet, right as they said that Lolitha was on the way, he saw an unfamiliar car pull into his driveway. It had tinted windows, so he couldn't see who was inside. But it was clear to William that the timing of this is not a coincidence. These people on the phone are like, we're sending someone named Lolitha to come pick up this money, and then someone pulls in. The con artists actually did know where he lived. And to all appearances, they really had sent someone to hurt him. So William hung up on them, grabbed his gun so he could defend himself if he needed to. And not long after that, he hears the sound of his front door opening and an unfamiliar woman's voice shouting that she's here to pick up a package. Now, of course, as you know this was Lolitha. All William could think was that she was breaking into his home to steal the $12,000 or even kill him. So he begins charging the front door, aiming the gun at Lolitha and ordering her to leave. Now that you have both sides of the story, right away, Lolita walks off the porch and starts going back to her car. But according to William, he had a difficult decision to make. He is terrified. He doesn't know if there was a second assassin waiting in the car, what she's even going back to the car to get, or if she was going to come back in to his home after he had let his guard down and maybe went back inside. He was also worried the scammers really had drones over his house spying on him, because right when they said someone was coming to the house to pick it up, someone did. So he does believe them. And as William later testified, he followed Lolitha off his porch and across the driveway because that was the only way to make sure she actually left. He marched her all the way to the driver's side door of her car, and that's when he noticed the phone in her hand. Remember, she's threatening to call the police. But William wasn't even thinking about the cops in this moment. He, you know, a frightening thought flashed through his mind that the phone could be used as a weapon. Specifically, he's worried that she has a bomb in her car. Okay, he's just jumping to these conclusions in the heat of the moment. He's thinking, maybe she's going to push a button on her phone and detonate the car and kill him. This obviously sounds over the top. I think it's important to remember William is completely frightened. He's a little older, and according to people around him, his mental capacity had been declining. And he really believes these threats. So his mind was racing with all these possibilities. So this point is when he ordered Lolitha to give him the phone, because he's like, you're not gonna detonate this bomb. Lola refused. And that's when William shot her in the leg, according to him, as a warning. And she fell to the ground. She smashed the car door into his face in defense. And now that she had, like, physically hurt him, he just went into autopilot. He was probably angry. He was terrified. He fired his gun five more times. Finally, Lolita stopped struggling and fighting back. This is when he pulls out his own cell phone to call 911 and report what happened, saying he shot Lolitha in self defense because she had showed up to his house to hurt him. His hope was that the officers would arrest her, saving him from the con artists. Everything would, you know, sort out. Now, when the officers arrived, remember, you're the only one who knows both sides of the story. At this point, William goes up to them and is like, I'm so relieved you're here. At this point, he was bleeding from his head where the car door had hit him. So he received treatment in a hospital, but ultimately, his injuries weren't serious. But as for Lolitha, she was still alive but badly hurt. So first responders loaded her into an ambulance, rushed her to the hospital, too. But unfortunately, it was too late for doctors to save her life, and Lolitha died of her injuries. So police get his side of the story about these scammers, and they're like, okay, we're not actually looking for scammers here. Like, this is a potential homicide. So they begin gathering as much evidence as they can, trying to figure out if they can believe William. What's the true story here? So the police said they'd have to look at his call history to see if his story was true. And while they were holding his phone in their hands, it rang. Now, the officers didn't answer the phone, but they did ask William if he recognized the number. And he's like, that's the con artist. However, they didn't answer the phone. It just goes to voicemail. And when the scammer calls again a few minutes later, one of the police officers answers. And she didn't tell the caller exactly what was going on or what had happened, but she asked who was calling, and the scammer says he's a police officer. Hello? Yes. Hello? Hello? Yes, who is this? May I ask who I'm talking to? Yeah, this is the officer speaking. Okay. What officer? Yes. No, I need to know it. Officer. Sir, you're gonna be in trouble. Okay, let me ask you. Is the female you sent over here, you know who she is? Yes, I do. Okay, well, she's been in an accident. And this is actually an officer. It's Detective Cruz with the Clark County Sheriff's Office. I need you to dial a number. Get this number so I can explain more to you. Hello? Now, of course, the police officer, the real one, asked for his name and what department he was working with. And when he failed to answer, the detective explained that Lolitha had been badly hurt. But again, she didn't say what happened, who had hurt her, even that she was dead. Instead, the officer's like, I think you're involved in this, and I need to question you. She ordered him to come to William's house as soon as he could because obviously he knew the address. Con artist said he'd be there within 20 minutes. Obviously. Of course, he never arrives. He never answered when the police tried to call him back either. Unfortunately, they were not able to trace his phone number or figure out who he was or even where he was calling from. But they're kind of able to verify William's story because they just spoke to someone they realized was a scam artist on Williams phone, and they pulled his phone records and saw that the scammer had been calling him all day long. And they also knew that Lolitha was an Uber driver. Right. They had pieced this together. The app had tracked her as she worked, and there was a dash cam on her car that had recorded all of the stops she had made that day. It clearly showed she was innocent in this. She hadn't done anything. She had no part in a scam. She probably didn't even know these scammers existed. She had no idea what situation she was driving into. The reality is, you've probably put this together. The actual con artist had ordered a random Uber driver to pick up the money, saw the Uber driver's name was Lola. Tell William on the phone we're sending a woman named Lola to pick up the money. She accepts this, and it turns out to be a lie and a dangerous gig. So after the police reviewed all of the evidence, they think they understand what actually happened. They believed the scammers had done a lot of research on William before they called him on the morning of the 25th. They must have looked at his social media profiles or pulled public records about his life. This is obviously how they learned about his grandson and even knew the grandson's name. The theory went that the con artists called William. They told him the story about Fred killing a pregnant woman in a car accident in hopes that he'd believe them. Then they ordered an Uber to collect William's money and deliver it somewhere for the scammers to pick it up. If the plan had worked, William would have taken $12,000 out of the bank. He would have handed it to Lolitha. The she would have dropped the money off somewhere neutral where the con artists could have collected it later, and no one else was involved that knew what was going on. You're basically hiring people to do your dirty work. It would have been impossible for the police to ever track them down if William hadn't realized he had Been a victim of a crime. Except, of course, the con hadn't worked. William had seen through it. In the meantime, Lolitha had showed up at William's driveway. She was texting her client to say she'd arrived. The text was going to the scammers, not William, because they were the ones who had requested the delivery at William's address. So they had known she was at his house. And they told William, okay, Lolitha was going to kill him if he didn't hand over the money. They'd added the wild details about watching him with drones. Again, all of this is lies. It was their last ditch attempt to intimidate him, scam him into giving or the cash. Except William escalated, pulled a gun on Lolita, followed her to her car, shot her. Instead of the people who were actually trying to rip him off, thinking this woman was actually involved with the scammers, not realizing she was an innocent bystander who had just simply accepted the wrong Uber ride. All right, you guys, we are getting in to our sponsor today and it is Mint Mobile. I don't know about you, but I like keeping my money where I can see it. And unfortunately, traditional big wireless carriers also seem to like keeping my money too. After years of overpaying for wireless, I finally got fed up with crazy high wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks that actually cost more in the long run and switched to Mint Mobile. And honestly, it was crazy how the pricing compared. I don't know why you wouldn't switch cheaper and the same service. So stop overpaying for wireless just because that's how it's always been. Mint exists. Purely to fix that, Mint Mobile is here to rescue you with premium wireless plans starting at 15 bucks a month. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. The best part, you guys, you can bring your own phone over your number. It's such an easy transfer. So if you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans@mintmobile.com Payton spelled P A Y T O N. Again, that is mintmobile.com Payton upfront payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required equivalent to 15amonth. New customer offer for first 3 months only. Then full price plans, options available, taxes and fees, extra CMIT Mobile for details. You guys, I am so excited to talk to you about Poshmark. This is a newer sponsor, but I love Poshmark. I recently got a new pair of Uggs from Poshmark that I've been wearing as well as a new pair of Steve Madden tennis shoes that I've been wearing non stop. It is so easy and you get it at a discounted rate. Which is the best? Poshmark is the leading fashion resale marketplace shaped by real people and real style. Millions of new and pre loved items, from daily wardrobe staples to vintage and luxury fashion. And when you're ready for a closet refresh, you can earn real money selling the pieces you're ready to part with. Reaching more than 80 million users on the platform, which is like, it's great for the environment. It is so easy use it makes sense, honestly. You buy, you sell, find what feels like you shop and share your style on Poshmark today. New deals and styles are listed every day, so don't wait. Download the Poshmark app and use code DARK10 when you sign up to get 10 off your first purchase. Again, you guys, 10 off if you use my code or just shop now at poshmark.com dark10 and get 10 off your first purchase. That's Poshmark. P O S H-M-A-R-K.com dark10 now all of this to say this situation was a horrible mistake. And honestly, I'm not sure it would be believable if both of the people involved had died. William was not a heartless killer. He hadn't shot Lolitha out of jealousy or greed or ego. He was the victim of a scam who was literally afraid for his life. But also, Lolita wasn't part of the con either. She was just trying to do her job as an Uber driver. She didn't deserve to be gunned down in the street. And let's be realistic. Even if you accept that William really was afraid that day, he had other options. He could have let her get in the car and drive away. He could have called the police when he saw her car pull into the driveway, say, hey, I don't know, they sent someone. Can you send someone out, get this situation sorted? Or he could have locked his front door because then she probably never would have opened it. But for the sake of argument, let's say he's panicking, he's intimidated, he's not thinking clearly. It must have been frightening when he heard Lolitha open his front door. Except the law is pretty clear on this. If Lolitha had walked inside and if William had shot her inside his house, Will, this would have counted as self defense. He has a legal right to defend himself from a home intruder, even if the person does not pose an actual physical threat. But we don't actually know if Lola did come inside the house. William gives contradictory statements to the police. Sometimes he says, yeah, she walked into his kitchen. Other times she stayed outdoors the entire time, just talking to him through the door. And since we don't have any other eyewitnesses or security camera footage, it's impossible to say for sure. But the point is, even if Lolitha did walk in, we know that she turned around and went right back outside again. From her dash cam footage, we know William didn't shoot her until she had the door open to her car to get in in the driveway outside. And Ohio's self defense laws don't give you the right to chase someone out of your home and shoot them in the street. You just have to get them out of your home. I mean, if William had really believed that Lolita was going to hurt him or that she had a bomb in her car, he could have just walked her out, turned around, went back inside, locked the door, called the police the moment he followed her out of the house and stopped her from driving away. He wasn't defending himself according to the law at that point. He was the one who was aggressive and violent, the person who escalated the situation. Which is why the police charge William with Lolitha's murder, felonious assault, and kidnapping. His trial began in January of 2026. This was a year and a half after the shooting. By this point, William was 83 years old. And during the hearing, he continued to say he'd killed Lolitha in self defense. William claimed he really believed she was at his house to kill him. And while it was true that he'd escalated the situation, he also argued that he wasn't thinking logically because it wasn't a normal situation. William said he was so afraid of the scammers that he had lashed out, but he didn't think he had actually done anything wrong. His lawyers collected testimony from several doctors. They explained that William was at an age where his ability to think and reason was getting slower. It was getting worse. And basically, they said William might have made the best decisions he could have given his mental state. So according to William and his defense team, this is all a horrible mistake, but not a murder, just a misunderstanding. However, the prosecutors argued that even if he couldn't think as logically as other people, he still didn't have to chase Lolitha outside of his home. They are like, he should have known better. They even played the dash cam footage of him Shooting Lolitha while she's begging for her life. It's clear in those clips she was not posing a threat, no matter what he believed, especially while she was hurt, bleeding on the street and pleading for someone else to come save her. Ultimately, the jury actually took about an hour to deliberate before they found him guilty of all the charges. Now, after the trial ended and before the sentencing hearing, lots of people from all over the country organized letter writing campaigns. It was kind of split. Many felt sorry for William. They thought he was just as much of a victim as Lolitha, that he shouldn't get a harsh punishment. They argued the scammers were actually responsible for all of this. They should be the ones getting punished, not William. But no matter how many people spoke up, the law was clear. The judge had no choice but to give him an automatic sentence of life in prison, with a possibility of parole after 21 years. And since William was now in his 80s, this basically guaranteed he would never be free again. Aside from his prison sentence, William was also still dealing with other legal problems. Lolita's family had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against him. And as of this recording, that still hasn't gone to trial yet. But William could end up owing her relatives $25,000 on top of serving life in prison. Now wrapping up. I understand why people feel bad for William. He murdered someone, but not the kind of controlling, greedy, or manipulative person you sometimes see with murder. He did something wrong. A woman lost her life at his hands. His choices. Someone who had never hurt him, who was really just trying to do her job. But he had been heavily manipulated and intimidated into a very bad situation. We can acknowledge that the scammers who targeted him destroyed two lives that day. Williams and Lolitha's. It can be nuanced. Unfortunately, these con artists have still not been identified or charged with anything related to Lolitha's death. They're still free. They're probably hurting more people. The executives at Uber banned the account they used to hire Lolitha, but that's obviously not enough to stop them from opening a new account and running the same scam as long as they're loose. Justice has not really been served in this case, in my opinion. And we'll never have a complete picture of what happened on March 25 or how things escalated so horribly. Now, I don't normally give my opinion on a case because I don't ever think I'm right or wrong. I just think it's an opinion. But I am going to offer you my feelings on this. And then you can let me know in the comments how you're feeling. And now that you have this whole story, this is such a terrible misunderstanding. Like. Like genuinely, Lolitha had no idea what was going on and William had no idea what was going on. That being said, I believe William made choices that day to directly murder someone that didn't need to have happen. I think other people could have been in that exact same situation with all of the exact same things leading up and not chosen to continue shooting Lolitha. So I do believe he should be held responsible for Lolitha's murder. He should be charged with her murder. Yes. Do I think this is a crime that deserves a life in prison sentence for an 80 year old? No, I don't. But unfortunately, sometimes the criminal justice system is black and white. If you get charged with first degree murder, you do have a minimum sentence in most states. So it's not like a judge can bend the rules because this situation is completely different than most first degree murder charges. I do wish there was more police could do to find the scammers because I think they could also be held responsible for Lolitha's murder and serve time in prison. But yeah, this is my opinion. William definitely was not a 100% innocent victim in this. He made choices that day to take someone's life outside of his house when he. There were other ways to escape that situation. That being said, I do think that he is not a murderer to his core. He probably never would have murdered anybody in his life had he not been put into this situation. And I wish that there was a way for the punishment to fit that complicated crime, if that makes sense. Which is why I do understand people writing letters saying, we're not asking you to overturn the conviction. He should be held accountable. He should be responsible. He is responsible. He should be charged with this murder and convicted. But we believe his sentencing should be more nuanced than that. But I also don't blame Lolitha's family for filing a wrongful death suit. Because if you watch the body cam footage or even just hear me explain it, she's begging for her life, she's attempting to get away, and this man continues to escalate the situation. If that is your loved one at the end of that type of behavior, whether it's a misunderstanding or not, that is wrong. That is a wrongful death. That does feel murderous and unfair. So I also completely understand why they would file a lawsuit against him. Like I said at the beginning of this case. True crime is a puzzle and sometimes even when you have all of the pieces in front of you and you've put the puzzle together, it you still don't have a full picture because this is not an open and shut case where someone went to prison and everyone's satisfied. Most people who hear this story are left just feeling uneasy and and confused a little bit. So let me know your thoughts on this super complicated case and I will see you next time as we go further into the dark together. Goodbye. Your next chapter in health care starts at Carrington College's School of Nursing in Portland. Join us for our open house on Tuesday, January 13th from 4 to 7pm you'll tour our campus, see live demos, meet instructors and learn about our Associate Degree in Nursing program that prepares you to become a registered nurse. Take the first step toward your nursing career. Save your spot now at Carrington. Edu Events. For information on program outcomes, visit carrington. Edu Sci.
Host: Payton Moreland (OH NO MEDIA)
Date: May 13, 2026
In this episode, Payton Moreland explores the tragic and complicated 2024 murder of Uber driver Lolitha Hall in suburban Columbus, Ohio. The episode unfolds the events that led to her death—an intersection of modern gig work, elder vulnerability, and advanced scam techniques—with an emphasis on how puzzle-like, tragic misunderstandings can arise in true crime. Payton scrutinizes both the legal outcomes and the human dimensions of the case: a hard-working retired woman, an elderly man gripped by fear, and scammers whose manipulation had irreversible consequences.
Misunderstanding:
Escalation and Shooting:
Immediate Response:
The Double Victimization:
Trial and Verdict:
On True Crime as a Puzzle
William’s Fear and Confusion
Lolitha Begging for Help
On the Blame and Legality
On Moral Complexity
Victim Introduction & Set-Up
Shooting & Immediate Aftermath
Scam’s Full Context & Police Involvement
Legal & Social Implications
This episode artfully unpacks a case where both the killer and his victim were, in different ways, ensnared by a modern scam. Payton Moreland challenges listeners to confront the tragic irony of "innocent" participation in a deadly encounter, traces the role of technology and elder manipulation, and underscores the limits of both justice and understanding. The legacy is a chilling warning about the intersections of fear, crime, aging, and vulnerability in a connected world.
“This is not an open and shut case where someone went to prison and everyone’s satisfied. Most people who hear this story are left just feeling uneasy and confused a little bit.” [1:31:43 – Payton Moreland]