[2] On September 15, 1972, the bound and gagged body of 19-year-old Pamela Milam, an Indiana State University student, was found in the trunk of her own car by her father, who had gone looking for her after the girl failed to come home that night.
[5] On June 16, 1973, Hand was driving along Highway 41 in his turquoise Chevrolet when he stopped to pick up an interracial couple, 22-year-old Jeffery Wayne Thomas and his 22-year-old wife Carol, who were hitchhiking back home to Evansville after visiting a friend in Chicago.
[6] Acting on the pretext that he lived on a farmhouse in nearby Warrenton, Hand agreed to take them there, but when they reached the road to Evansville, he suddenly said that he had to stop by at his aunt's house to get gas money.
In the meantime, Carol managed to free herself from her restraints, sufficiently bent the door of the outbuilding to reach the exterior latch, and ran towards a nearby farmhouse, alerting the state authorities in Evansville.
[7] After enduring police questioning and talking to his father, Hand confessed that he had killed Thomas and would lead them to his body, which he had dumped along State Road 62.
[6] Thomas' hands had been tied, and he had been shot in the face with a .22 caliber rifle, his throat slashed and suffered eight stab wounds to his chest and abdomen.
[9] The murder of Jeffrey Thomas, who was black, raised racial tensions in the surrounding counties, causing several people to start throwing bricks and rocks at the cordoned off areas near the crime scene, injuring one woman in the process.
[17] The arraignment was waived in June 1975, and after two months, he was again found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered to be committed to the Norman Beatty Mental Hospital in Westville.
[1] Hand's car was cut off at a nearby parking lot, causing him to ditch Matlock and flee on foot towards an alley, chased by Deputy Vernal Baugh.
[21] This was achieved with the help of GEDmatch and Parabon NanoLabs, who had traced his widow and two sons and obtained their DNA, allowing them to build a family tree that eventually led to Hand.