Twin sisters are murdered and their brother is the prime suspect.

Smiling Jill and Julie Hansen

Jill and Julie Hansen

Firefighter rushing to the Hansen home as its engulfed in flames

Fire engulfed the Hansen home

CASE DETAILS

Willow Creek, California, is about 250 miles north of San Francisco. Hans and Betty Hansen moved to this quiet community in 1971, three years after they were married. Hans operated a logging supply business in a warehouse next to the couple’s mobile home. The Hansen family grew to include four children, Donny, Becky, and two twin girls, Jill and Julie. According to Hans, his twin daughters were kind to everyone:

“Jill and Julie were good kids. They were a little shy. They would kind of be more friendly to underdog people and they were real popular girls in school. So if a new person came to school or something, that wasn’t taken in so much by the other people, they would befriend them.”

A police officer shining a light on Donnie

Donnie became the prime suspect

For Betty and Hans, life was close to perfect, until the night of November 14, 1986. At around 11 PM, the 16-year-old twins were in their room, preparing for bed. Their half-brother, Donny, age 21, was visiting from the town of Fortuna, 70 miles away. He planned to sleep on the living room couch. Then at around 3:00 AM, Betty Hansen suddenly awoke. She smelled smoke and woke up Hans. Their mobile home was on fire. Hans grabbed a fire extinguisher and tried to put out the flames:

“I shot that fire extinguisher down the hall, it burnt right back up. There was a strip in the middle of that hallway burning. That’s real odd that coming back in a strip like that. And still no, I got no response from anybody. I was yelling all three of their names and then exited the house. As I ran out the door, I kicked the gas can out of the way, not really thinking much of it ‘til I got a few steps away, thinking that gas can shouldn’t have been there. It was empty because I felt how it was empty when I kicked it.”

As Betty ran up the hallway to warn her everyone of the fire, the first person she saw was her son, Donny:

“…he was standing at the end of the couch, where I think he slept that night and he didn’t see me. And he’s screaming in a horrible voice, he’s screaming get out of here, real loud and running, chasing. And so right away I was afraid for him, what was happening, who he was chasing out.”

An investigator removing a shotgun shell from a shotgun

The shotgun and shells belonged to Donnie

Betty ran to the warehouse, where several fire extinguishers were stored. She was met first by Donny, then by Hans. Hans searched for a ladder:

“I got a ladder and came to Jill’s room and just shoved that ladder right through the window. That room was totally in flames, totally engulfed in flames. And I didn’t get any response or see anybody.”

According to Hans, Betty and Donny continuously returned to the warehouse for fire extinguishers:

“I remember asking Donny as we were chasing back and forth for fire extinguishers, did you see anybody. And he said no, he didn’t see anything.”

Smiling Julie Hansen

Julie died in the hospital

Fire trucks responded to the scene within 15 minutes. Minutes later, a neighbor noticed a crumpled figure in a vacant lot across the road. It was Julie Hansen and she was nearly dead, bleeding from a gaping wound in her stomach. Hans recalled the terrifying moments that followed:

“I heard somebody yell from across the street, we found one of them or something like that. Then the next thing, Donny came running up on the deck and he said we found Julie. Julie’s out, I got her out. And my first question to him was how bad is she burned. And he didn’t give me an answer.”

Hans claimed that it was only after Julie was discovered, that Donny took credit for having pulled her from the fire. But according to Betty Hansen, that apparent discrepancy was quickly overshadowed by concern for Julie:

“When I saw Julie, I thought there was no way she could live. Her stomach was just open, blown open. And so I ran back across the street and I just went from one fireman to the other one, begging them to please go in and find Jill. And then I’d run back across the street and to see how Julie was doing. And each time I went back across the street, I was surprised she was still alive.”

Emergency personnel rushed Julie to the hospital, believing her stomach injury had been caused by some kind of fire-related explosion. But in surgery, doctors made a shocking discovery. Julie Hansen had been shot in the abdomen at point blank range with a 12-gauge shotgun. Hans was shocked when he heard the news:

“Well, I about fell off my chair then because that was the first I’d known anything about any shooting at all. And I still couldn’t figure out… who could’ve hated us this much to make an attack on our house like this.”

Daylight brought still more unbearable news. Jill’s body was found in the ruins. An autopsy later confirmed that Jill had also been wounded by shotgun fire. Unable to flee, she had perished in the flames. Authorities recovered three shotgun shells and another five-gallon gas can from the ashes.

Smiling Jill Hansen

Jill died in the fire

The Hansen’s warehouse was untouched by the fire and investigators examined every square inch for clues. Behind some boxes they found a 12-gauge shotgun. Ballistics tests later proved it was the weapon used to shoot Jill and Julie Hansen.

The entire Hansen property was cordoned off and kept under round-the-clock surveillance. Two days after the fire, in the early morning, the officer on duty caught a prowler outside the warehouse. It was Donny. Detective George Gatto of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department was called to the scene. Donny told Detective Gatto that he had come to feed the family dog:

“He knew the dog had been taken to a neighbor’s… He knew the dog was not there. And that’s when we figured that the reason he was there, he was there to get the shotgun, because he didn’t know we had found it yet.”

Three days before the fire, Donny had borrowed the shotgun from a friend and kept it in his car. Unspent shells found in the car matched those used in the attack. Donny had purchased the ammunition the very evening Jill and Julie were shot. Also, a credit card statement verified that two days before the fire, Donny had purchased five gallons of gas at a local station. Witnesses confirmed that the container Donny filled was identical to one of those found at the scene.

There was only one person who could confirm the growing suspicions—Julie Hansen. Approximately two weeks after the fire, she had recovered enough to tell her parents what had happened. According to Hans, Julie recalled being shot, but not seeing anyone:

“She said she crawled over her sister… so her sister was still asleep in the bed beside her… and stepped out of her bedroom door and bang… she saw the flash and she thought a bomb went off. And she said she reached down and felt her belly. It was like a bowl of jelly.”

As Hans and Betty asked more questions, Julie had a chilling flashback. She claimed to have seen Donny’s face before being shot. Two weeks after the fire, Donny Hansen voluntarily met with Detective Gatto for further questioning:

“He kept saying he was innocent. He failed the polygraph twice and when I interviewed him he kept denying everything. Because every time it was a different story with him.”

The interrogation lasted two hours. When Donny emerged, he was in handcuffs, facing trial on charges of arson and murder. Betty Hansen was stunned:

“That was a pretty low point in my life to see my son arrested for the murder of my daughter. It was just unbelievable. And I kept thinking, when am I going to wake up. When’s this going to end?”

But the nightmare was far from over. On December 19, 1987, Julie suddenly died in a freak medical accident. An air bubble entered her bloodstream through an intravenous tube and stopped her heart. Julie’s death was another devastating blow to her grieving parents. It was also a major setback to the prosecutors. Julie’s eyewitness statements would now be inadmissible as evidence, since she could not be cross-examined by defense attorneys.

In April of 1988, Donny Hansen went on trial for the murders of his half-sisters, Jill and Julie. Terry R. Farmer, the Humboldt County District Attorney, was confident enough to ask for the death penalty:

“The defendant, Donald Hansen, brought the gun that was the murder weapon to the scene. He brought the shotgun shells that killed those two girls. He hid the murder weapon and he lied about all of those things. That was strong evidence.”

However, Donny’s lawyer introduced testimony from the Hansen’s’ neighbors. They claimed to have seen two unidentified men near the trailer while it was on fire. Their sighting became the cornerstone of a defense theory designed to show that Donny Hansen was innocent. William Bragg was Donny’s attorney:

“There were a tremendous number of unanswered facts and occurrences that happened that night that the prosecution couldn’t explain and which were not consistent with Donny having been involved. I was able to come up with at least a suggested scenario that tied the majority of the unanswered factual questions together.”

Bragg claimed that around 3:00 AM, two intruders approached the Hansen’s trailer:

“The person had found Donny’s shotgun outside and for whatever reason decided to bring it inside with some shells. Picked the lock. Came through the sliding glass door. They just spread the gasoline around the living room area at the front of the trailer, the kitchen. At some point during the activities of the perpetrator, Julie was awakened… and walks in on the perpetrator. And he shoots her as she’s coming out the hallway. And she goes down, that’s what wakes Donny up. Donny picks Julie up, takes her out on the front porch, deposits her there.”

According to the defense, at least one of the assailants was still in the trailer after Hans, Betty, and Donny escaped. It was only then that Jill was shot.

Terry Farmer and the prosecution disagreed with that theory:

“If you’re going to commit a murder, don’t you bring the instruments to do that job? Don’t you bring the gun if you’re going to burn down the house, don’t you bring the gas. How convenient for them that both of these items just happened to be provided by Donald Hansen, makes no sense.”

However, the jury believed it did make sense and they found Donny Hansen not guilty. For Hans Hansen, Donny’s acquittal was a crushing blow:

“This has been a real tragedy for us because we have lost three out of our four children out of this. Two of them are dead and Donny’s dead to me, because I do feel he was 100% responsible for this, whether he pulled it off 100% himself or not.”

Since the trial, Donny has moved and changed his name. His account of the events that took place the night of his sister’s murders is still the subject of debate. Although his attorney claimed Donny was awakened by the shotgun blast, Donny now has since changed his story and said he never heard the shot:

“No one that was in that trailer that night heard any blast. I don’t know how I didn’t hear it. I don’t know how any of us didn’t hear it.”

Another nagging question is why Donny removed the shotgun from his car before anyone knew that a shotgun had been involved, or even that a crime had been committed:

“I don’t really know why I moved it, other than… I didn’t want… someone to steal it… someone find the gun… thinking oh I did this. You know if it was used in the commission of this crime. At that time, I didn’t know if it had been or not.”

However, with all the circumstantial evidence against him, Donny still maintained his innocence:

“The accusations that I know what went on that night are absolutely ludicrous because I had absolutely everything to lose and nothing to gain. You know. And the fact to let someone get away with what they did to Jill and Julie tears me up.”

The whole truth about this hideous crime may never be known. A jury has acquitted Donny Hansen, but his mother Betty has not:

“You go on but life is never the same. And you can build a new house or buy a new car, but you can’t… bring back the girls. And all we have left is memories. And it’s really rough.”


Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season six with Robert Stack and in season three with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu.

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66 Comments

  1. Ronnie

    Between this case and Casey Anthony…..where do they find these jurors??? Idiots!
    Donnie wanted to kill his entire family but they woke up before the fire could kill them. He waited at the door wanting to be sure no one got out alive. Anyone who woke up got shot! Like his sisters. When the fire got too big he ran thinking his parents would never get out but they did!

    Reply

  2. Tony

    The only “unsolved mystery” here is how the jury acquitted Donny

    Reply

  3. Suëde Puccini

    I have news : Donny was dating a juror, Angelica Royce (document I have seen stated Angelic) and therefore can only believe that one juror influenced another. But do remember also , it’s all circumstantial evidences not actual real evidence. I believe he wanted to benefit from the business and had an accomplice with him who’d also benefit. Back in the 80s there were no cameras no decent idea of an education and who would you think was on a jury that day? Yh I know what your thinking… exactly that. Jurors were and are random. So Donny being in a relationship with one of them is bizarre to me, but it is true. Also remember unsolved mysteries only showed 15 minutes of the events form that day , there was 100% more evidence and information in the actual trial. The motive is very unclear and this case should be solved today, it can not be hard as it seems. Reinvestiagations to re interviews! It’s possible!

    Reply

  4. A friend

    Thinking about what I was told one night by Jill, what she said was that she thought her brother was weird and did not want me to talk to him. Saying this when we were sitting outside his vehicle at a drive in theater.
    They say he is a loner and an alcoholic. Good for the guy, is all I have to say about him. I just wonder if he ever regretted what he did or what he never said..

    Reply

  5. legosparklequeen

    How does a defense attorney say that absolute ridiculous story with a straight face? The video re-enactment was absolutely ludicrous. A man breaks in and shoots a defenseless, sleepy teenager instead of the man on the couch and is in the same room? Excuse me? I’m not a criminal but I’m pretty sure that’s filed under “crime 101-take out the obvious enemy” BUT wait, it gets better! This random guy, who just randomly decided to go on a murder spree with no weapons or kill kit, somehow picks this house and happily enough (for the criminal) there is a FRESH can of gasoline on the porch and a loaded shotgun…. at that point I would think any self respecting person (I’m talking to you, you low life attorney who defended him, and the low life douche who got away with the annihilation of his family) would just laugh and say, “you know what, even I don’t believe this ridiculous story. I’m going to stop talking now). The real coup de grace is that the criminal politely puts the shotgun back where he found it. Wow, now that’s a gentleman.

    Reply

    • Mitchell

      Well in the attorney’s defense, he’s doing his job. With that said, a large issue with the case is not enough evidence, though if it looks like a duck, smells like a duck, well it’s not a chicken, it’s a duck and Donny did it (maybe with help??)

      Reply

  6. Pee wee

    Bye bye donny

    Reply

  7. michaelangelo

    i mean what are motives for things ..rape ..lust ..financial gain ..why was donny even there …
    .he dragged the one girl across the street at some point in his convoluted story but he definitely
    put her there for a rape in my mind ..
    ..who knows whe she was dragged out and shot …if he had jelp they were in it for rape
    rape …then they shot her in the stomach ..an odd place usually it would be the face or chest ..
    donny wanted to rape his half sister …and he was an out of his right mind loser ..so he created a
    nitemare scenario to try to cover it up …a co conspirator could have killed the girl in the hospital
    easy enuff ..

    Reply

    • JM

      The father even said he believes Donnie did this all to be the sole beneficiary for the life insurance polices the Hansens had . This makes way more sense then the absolute ludicrous story the defense came up with . Also how the prosecutor said , “ oh so some intruders just came and found a shot gun and gasoline to commit this random crime ? How convenient “. I cannot believe a juror acquitted this POS !

      Reply

  8. Steve

    The defence’s story makes far less sense than the prosecution’s story. Some two strangers with unknown motives (1) pick a lock (why not just break the door down?), (2) conveniently use Donny’s shotgun and gas that he had just purchased, (3) just shoot the sister when one of the perps was next to Donny, (4) return the shotgun to Donny’s car and Donny moves it to the barn?! It doesn’t matter how scant the details are, this story is absolute farcical, and I’m appalled the jury couldn’t use common sense to laugh this off.

    Reply

  9. Robert

    donald hansen=donald stewart

    Reply

  10. V.E.G.

    I know now! The actress who played the twins, played by one actor in a dual role, Jubilith Moore! Some Moores is of British origin and/or Melungeon origin!

    Reply

  11. Miller

    Donny=scum!

    Reply

  12. Kia

    My questions are (a) Where is the Photo of Donny ? (b) What is Donny’s NEW NAME ? Would be interesting to see his history now !!

    Reply

  13. Dean

    This is why everyday citizens should not be allowed to decide the fate of people in cases like this……..the JUDGE ONLY should be the one deciding the fate if Donny…..not 12 everyday normal people.l

    Reply

  14. Tyrone

    This case makes O.J. Simpson look not guilty beyond ANY reasonable doubt! Unbelievable! Who were the jurors? They’re probably trump voters nowadays!

    Reply

  15. Terry Johnson

    In all the Unsolved Mysteries episodes I’ve seen — which is many — I’ve never seen one where a person’s guilt was so clear-cut as that of Donny Hansen.

    Donny, if you ever read this, we know you did it, you piece of garbage. If there were any justice in this world, you’d have been put down like the murderous animal that you are.

    Reply

  16. sean

    Donny is guilty

    Reply

  17. thinkingoutloud

    donny is so guilty. whether he murdered them or set the house on fire, he had something to do with it. maybe his plan wasnt to intentionally kill the twins, but one of them woke up and in fear she would alert the family or anyone first, donny or his accomplice killed her. maybe donny or his accomplice planned to only burn the house down with everyone in it, but since the twin woke up it comprised their original plan. donny definitely had something to do with it. he went back to the crime scene to get the gun! shady, he was so trying to hide it before the police got to it. so sad, their parents said they were really sweet and shy girls, terrible they didnt get to grow up and spread their kidness to others.

    Reply

  18. Lynda Akin

    I had lived in Willow Creek until 1984 and knew the family. Hans was one of the nicest men, always helpful. The logging supply business was one block off Hwy 299 (it think the street is Mayfair), and between Hansen’s and the highway there were two gas stations, a Ward’s catalog store and one large old building on the corner behind the second gas station (heading east) I think most of the residences in that area (which wasn’t that large) were mobile homes.
    Across the highway from the 2nd gas station was a bar. I forget the name; I never drank there. At the other (westerly) side of town was the other bar, The Forks. It was at the intersection of 299 & Hwy 96 (north to Hoopa).
    Mayfair & Country Club Way ( ran from 299 north between the Chevron station and the 1st one I mentioned before) had a vet’s office on the corner next to Han’s place. Next to that (east side) was/is a very small laundromat. North of that, on the corner is a mobile home. Across the . street (still on Country club) was a mobile, family named Huff lived there.
    On the west side of Country Club Drive heading north (the Chevron station took up the short block) was a small, bare lot and to the west, the Chevron distributor (bulk fuels, etc for the logging industry. Past that was the Trading Post…two businesses (3?) downstairs, a couple of apartments upstairs. Very large parking lot, and the new Post office and other businesses.
    So you see there weren’t really many \neighbors’ in the way most of us think of neighbors. But remember those two bars. There had been a lot of problems in the past with the people that frequented them and the Sheriff’s substation at the time was in Hoopa…a 12 mile drive over curvy mountain roads. Two deputies would do a drive through an area, a very limited patrol.
    This is a hunting area so you’d see a gun rack inside a large percentage of the pickup trucks you’d see. My husband worked nights and when he’d leave he’d remind me the shotgun was above the door, if someone came on the property (Burnt Ranch), take it down and tell the to stop. If they keep coming be prepared to fire, but don’t Tell them again to stop. If they come in the house/window/etc, fire. Aim for the upper body so hopefully you’ll blind them (somewhat) and if they’re on the ground and moving, hit them with the maul (outside for splitting firewood).
    Never happened, but I understood that there were people who might have thought about it.
    This is not to talk about me but to talk about what the area was like, even in the 1980s. There were always people around that you wouldn’t trust, wouldn’t want near your home, but since they lived in the area you just tried to avoid them.
    We lived in Willow Creek not far from downtown so we were used to that also. You hear gunfire. Not just before hunting season (sighting in a rifle) but all year long. Someone might be drunk and just shooting for the hell of it, shooting at a varmint getting into a garden, or whatever. A lot of the women I knew were familiar with handguns, rifles, shotguns, what have you.
    OK, that’s the physical and psychological environment.
    Now for Humboldt County’s Not-the-Finest. I served on a jury
    in the Hoopa Justice Court once and a couple of other times had
    been summoned. I’d served on juries in San Francisco and paid
    attention and I had a low opinion of the DDAs they sent out. Of course
    I had an even lower opinion of the deputies who couldn’t get their
    stories straight.
    so I am quite capable of believing that the DDA didn’t do a good job,
    that he was relying on the emotional factors without taking other
    emotional factors into consideration. He didn’t take into consideration
    how different things were 35 miles from Eureka. It’s not the miles, it\s the
    years and the culture. Inland we would be talking loggers, truck drivers,
    lumber mill workers, miners, a few professionals but not a lot. People from
    the coast might go to WC to swim & fish & hunt but there wasn’t a lot of
    friendliness. I knew people from WC who would not go to Hoopa Valley
    (a better food market there) because they were afraid of all the violence
    they heard about. Yes there was some violence there, but I knew people
    from there and liked the, shopped there and always felt safe.
    And people from the coast were all too ready to believe that ‘outsiders’
    were involved. Easier than saying we have really messed up crazy homegrown
    people here.
    Guess what. It’s 30 years later and the same prejudices exist. The more recent
    DAs have been a waste of money (finally a decent on I’ve heard from friends) so
    hopefully things will get better.
    So a good defense attorney played the ‘boogeyman’ defense that someone who
    wasn’t one of our decent, honest but confused youth did it. Or several boogeymen.
    You know…drunk miners or dope growers or dealers or who knows what. THEM.
    Of course the jury wanted to buy into the ‘Other’ defense. I daresay the defense
    attorney knew all of the DDA’s tricks, ploys, and weaknesses.
    The DDA expected to win but didn’t ensure it. He lost.
    I served on a civil trial in SF and the lawyer for the plaintiff was cocksure and
    very practiced. The defense attorney had been given less than week to prepare
    for a case along time pending.
    but the lawyer for the plaintiff played too many tricks…his client wouldn’t testify because
    he can’t speak English well & doesn’t want to insult the jury with his poor speech.
    The medical records were all messed up but we weren’t allowed to know anything about
    that. But without doing research (a no-no) I came up with discrepancies in the arguments
    vs the records…and my general knowledge. two of us hung the jury. We were polled and
    the plaintiff’s attorney was shocked. And angry. turned out there were 3-5 other personal
    injury suits for the same man (same lawyer). Defense attorney was shocked. We explained
    our separate reasons for voting not guilty and the lawyer said they’d make a lowball offer
    just to get rid of the lawsuit, ten cents on the dollar. Some juries you serve on, there’s no
    satisfaction and I end up with no respect for my fellow jurors (who do just what they promised
    they wouldn’t do).
    I think the jurors in the Hansen case didn’t follow the judge’s instructions, I think they went
    with what they could live with. They wouldn’t turn their back on their son.
    I remember friends telling me about the case. They too felt robbed—but somehow they’d come
    to expect it from Eureka. Most people agreed the Sheriff’s department did a very poor job with
    evidence, etc. And deputies were known for being authoritarian at times (One good DS: Red
    Marler, very good). I think this case is an excellent example of when LEO don’t do their jobs
    right and DDAs don’t have the smarts to fix it.

    Reply

    • JM

      This rambling , incoherent diatribe scarcely helps make sense of this case !
      Any sane person knows Donny definitely did this . Maybe he brought a friend along to help , maybe not . But he definitely orchestrated the whole thing . I pray for the parents .

      Reply

  19. Anonymous

    Just seen this story, Donny isn’t the only one guilty! Alot of mess went on. Freak accident in the the hospital?? Yeah right! Shot gun shots wake up two people? This was all bad.

    Reply

  20. Anonymous

    In the reinactments, the girls was played by the actress, Moore (cannot remember her first name) in a dual role, Parent Trap style.

    Reply

  21. Greg Samsa

    If a verdict makes absolutely no sense at all, then two things are possible: 1) The jury happened to be composed of all equally irrational individuals who, presented with the same evidence that convinced every person in this forum, together arrived at the opposite conclusion, OR 2) You don’t have the whole story, you’ve assumed the info you got from a 15 minute tv segment or the brief summary above is equal or superior to the info the jury got during a whole trial, you’ve never noticed that Unsolved Mysteries always slants stories to guilt unless it’s an uplifting “Wrong man” story of exculpation, and you are easily manipulated by your television.

    Hm. I wonder which is more likely?

    I don’t know what happened but I find it really hard to believe that a convincing motive of Donnie’s existed (e.g. “jealousy,” or business or wealth he stood to get from trailer’s owner) and Unsolved Mysteries just somehow FORGOT to include it, or didn’t find it relevant.

    Btw, look more closely at the dates. The show makes it seem as if Julie’s death happened shortly after the fire. Nope. Check again.

    Reply

  22. Stan Lore

    Ineffective prosecutor? Great defense lawyer? Idiot jurors? I have a feeling one or two jurors convinced the rest he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. A real shame. I recall the case as it was being tried. Personalities aside, it was a slam dunk guilty verdict waiting for the jury to vote. My old law school criminal law class professor said that he got physically sick to his stomach when the verdict was announced. He attended most of the trial. You just never know who is saying what during jury deliberations, and who is able to influence the others.

    Reply

  23. Blaise-Marie

    This is just so sad. My heart goes out to the Hansen family, essentially losing 3 children that day.

    Reply

  24. anonymous

    Here is what does not make sense. Re-read the snips, below. How could Donny say he never heard the shot, yet in the very next portion of the interview asking why he removed the gun from his truck, he says he didn’t want “someone to find the gun… thinking oh I did this. You know if it was used in the commission of this crime…”
    Well, if he did not hear any shots, then why would he think it could be interpreted that the gun was used in the commission of the crime??? What the heck? He implicated himself with his statements!!!

    Since the trial, Donny has moved and changed his name. His account of the events that took place the night of his sister’s murders is still the subject of debate. Although his attorney claimed Donny was awakened by the shotgun blast, Donny now has since changed his story and said he never heard the shot:

    “No one that was in that trailer that night heard any blast. I don’t know how I didn’t hear it. I don’t know how any of us didn’t hear it.”

    Another nagging question is why Donny removed the shotgun from his car before anyone knew that a shotgun had been involved, or even that a crime had been committed:

    “I don’t really know why I moved it, other than… I didn’t want… someone to steal it… someone find the gun… thinking oh I did this. You know if it was used in the commission of this crime. At that time, I didn’t know if it had been or not.”

    Reply

  25. brypan

    I think it’s simple. Before the girl died at the hospital she said she saw Donny in the shotgun blast. She did not say anything about an intruder. I know this wasn’t put in court, but surely someone could state this somehow. I’d love to know if the jurors ever did any interviews? They are a disgrace!

    Reply

  26. Lisa

    I knew Donny and had a hard time believing he would do something like this, as he always thought highly of his three sisters (he has an older one as well). I never believed that he actually committed the crime, but did have knowledge of who did. He came to visit a few years after he was aquitted, and seemed a shell of who he once was. To this day I wish
    that this case had been completely solved, and I always thought that perhaps drugs were involved?

    Reply

    • Anonymous

      He did it because he stood to inherit a few hundred thousand dollars… Only reason he was acquitted is because terry farmer was incompetent as a trial lawyer. Had also been shopping for expensive sports car prior to the murders.

      Reply

  27. Betty Hansen

    We did hear the gunshots that night, that’s what woke both my husband and myself up. We grieve for our daughters to this very day.

    Reply

    • V.E.G.

      I am sorry for your loss.

      Reply

    • Thanks Betty

      What name does he go by

      Reply

    • Simon

      you still believe it was your son

      Reply

    • grandma

      file an FBI report

      Reply

    • Donna Kemp

      The thing I’m having trouble with is the gun placement. Donny is sleeping on the sofa. Was the gun in his car or in the barn at that time? The impression I had was through all the chaos of the fire, the shooting, the finding of his sister in a field, how and when did the gun get to the barn where it was found? The timeline doesn’t make sense. Was he ever tested for gunshot residue, that’s police work 101. My heart as a mother breaks for this family. I hope and pray that the parents have found not peace, that will never happen, but maybe, just maybe a stronger faith in each other that helps them cope.

      Reply

    • Theresa

      I am so sorry for your loss, even though time heals, you never completely get over something so horrific as this. I know you will never have a sense of peace until you get the truth, but I wish you all the peace you and your husband can possibly have at this point in time. May the guilty Rot in Hell…

      Reply

    • Brighteyes

      I’m sorry for your loss. Just saw this on unsolved mysteries. You had said. Smoke woke you up and you didn’t hear anything. Nobody saw or heard anything. Now you say the gunshots woke you and your husband up?

      Reply

  28. justsayin

    Money was the motive…The family owned a business and Donny wanted it all for himself…

    Reply

  29. anonymous

    I went to school with Jill and Julie. They were always so nice and polite to everyone. I still to this day cannot believe what happened to them by their older brother, it literally breaks my heart. What kind of jealous monster would commit such an act?

    Reply

  30. Robert

    Why was a motive never mentioned? Makes no sense for a guy to drive 70 miles to kill his family,and for what? Did he think his sisters stood to inherit the family business? Was he a crackhead? We need motive people!

    Reply

  31. Anonymous

    How in the heck would the smell of smoke be what made the mother wake up to check out where the smell was coming from? When there were three shot gun shots. One shot gun blast in a mobile home or even near by would of woke me up. What is the mother and father covering up.

    Reply

  32. Jim

    I don’t believe this. His own stepfather wishes his own stepson was dead.

    Reply

  33. Stacie Watson richelieu

    I knew these girls at a young age and will always wonder what truley happened that awful night to two beautiful girls.Why would someone want to hurt this family? My heart aches for the parents <3

    Reply

  34. Anonymous

    From what I heard Donny was dating one of the jurors.

    Reply

  35. Anonymous

    What was the motive? Has one ever came out?

    Reply

  36. Wiseman

    It’s a botched crime where everyone was supposed to die and Donny and his accomplice(the person he borrowed the shotgun from) would benefit.

    Reply

  37. DonnyDidIt

    This monster (Donny) got away with murder. And arson. My biggest question is, how could a jury acquit him? Then again, look at O.J. Simpson, Casey Anthony, etc. My heart goes out to Mr. & Mrs. Hansen.

    Reply

  38. Ashley

    I do not understand how a jury found Donnie Hansen not guilty, When there is so much evidence pointing to him?!?! No mystery here, just a big mess up by a jury

    Reply

  39. johnson

    this is ridiculous…. this is the problem that I have with our legal system.. literally everything points to this guy committing such a heinous act. Family even… Donny is guilty hands down and just because a few people had “doubts” this guy gets away and even changes his name to never be associated with this crime. things need to change… guilty people are getting away with crimes and innocent people are locked away all the time. all because of a good defense lawyer. something isn’t right here…..

    Reply

    • Anonymous

      Thank you I’m glad someone said what I was thinking…smh it is sicking

      Reply

    • Gregory Smith

      Guilt has to be PROVEN. apparently it WASN’T! THATS HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS!

      Reply

    • Awilda

      Maybe the father and mother were the real targets for Donny, for whatever reason, insurance money, to take over family business or plain jealousy. ………but Donny’s plans were foiled maybe due to his sister waking up and stumbling upon it. He then made them his target. And the so call mysterious strangers seen by the neighbors were probably his accomplices who disappeared during all the confusion during the fire!

      Reply

  40. Sky

    Donny is a monster!!!!

    Reply

  41. viz

    hes a snake and slithered away

    Reply

  42. Liz

    The girls were nearly the same age as well. A good time apart from each other though.

    Reply

  43. Liz

    Could this have anything to do with the Bible/ Freeman case? Both were carried out the same way. Murdered with a shotgun and trailer set on fire after the murder. Just seems similar to me.

    Reply

  44. John Matos

    First to the mother and father of their two beautiful twins(Jill &Julie),I felt so sad to see such a good family suffer such heinous tragedy.I can’t believe Donny got away with such evil.My heart goes out to the Hansen’s.

    Reply

  45. V.E.G.

    Wow! I have no idea if Donny Hansen is innocent or guilty, since he was acquitted, he lives now under an assumed name, just like Yuri Nosenko-style. (Nosenko was a KGB agent and lived under an assumed name until passing.) I hope to God, Donny Hansen should pray to God to forgive him. I hope so.

    Reply

    • Josh

      I rolled my eyes so many times, during the defense attorneys explanation of the story, that they almost rolled out of my head. Donnie is Guilty with a capital G. Who was on his jury, and how many head injuries did they have?

      Reply

  46. Tammy Thomas

    This was such a sad story. I think there was a mountain of evidence against Donny. I can’t believe they acquitted him.

    Reply