Citizen Crime Watch Blog

Award in Helen Hill case increased to $15,000
Groups seek help solving filmmaker’s shooting death
The Times-Picayune
Saturday, September 15, 2007
By Daniel Monteverde
Staff writer

Nearly eight months after friends and family of Helen Hill organized an anti-violence march on City Hall, they came together again Friday to announce an increased reward for information in the case.

Hill was shot and killed Jan. 4 at about 5:30 a.m., the sixth shooting victim in a 24-hour span. When police arrived at the Faubourg Marigny home of Hill and her husband, Paul Gailiunas, they found Hill dead and Gailiunas shot three times, clutching the couple’s 2-year-old son.

What they couldn’t find was a suspect or motive. Gailiunas told police that a stranger had invaded the house, killed his wife and shot him.

While police have received some tips, NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley said Friday that none have proved concrete.

Now, with a reward of $15,000 — increased from $3,500 — police, Crimestoppers, Silence Is Violence and Hill’s family hope someone with information or evidence of who committed the crime will come forward.

Riley and Hill’s brother, Jake Hill, said they believe there are people in the city who know something that can lead to an arrest.

Speaking at the Sound Cafe — where the January march was organized after the killings of Hill and Dinerral Shavers, a band director and drummer for the Hot 8 brass band — Jake Hill pleaded for help in the case.

“With all of us working together, I believe we will solve this,” he said.

He said the cafe would become a clearinghouse of sorts for information on his sister, with fliers announcing the reward kept there.

Detective Erbin Bush told a small group that mingled around the cafe to distribute fliers widely, because a person with information might live outside the area of the crime.

Riley said while the case remains open, detectives continue a “relentless effort” in their search for new clues or suspects. He said detectives will fly this weekend to Washington, D.C., to tape a segment about the case for “America’s Most Wanted.”

“We’re doing everything we can to bring forth additional witnesses,” Riley said. “At some point we will, in fact, clear this case.”

While Jake Hill said he doesn’t know whether the increased reward, raised at his request through additional Crimestoppers money and new donations, will lead to new clues or even bring an end to the case, he said he knows it can help keep it alive.

“Money talks often times and we want to make sure everyone in New Orleans knows we’re still looking for information,” he said.

Darlene Cusanza, executive director of Crimestoppers, also announced a second reward increase for information that leads to the arrest of a suspect in the killing of Anthony White.

Cusanza said the reward has been raised to $10,000.

White, a Pineville engineer working as a construction inspector for the government at two federal buildings downtown, was shot in the face July 26 at about 3 a.m. He had just returned from work to his temporary home in the 8400 block of Panola Street.

. . . . . . .

Anyone with information on the killings of Helen Hill or Anthony White is asked to call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or toll-free at (877) 903-7867. Callers do not have to give their names or testify and can earn up to $2,500 for tips that lead to an indictment.

Daniel Monteverde can be reached at dmonteverde@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3452.