Lila hadn't really paid that close attention to the trial of the man who murdered her friend. It was something she didn't want to think about. She was in Washington D.C. with her twins who were almost a year old.
"This is Chris Miller from Mystery Murder Show. Tonight we're going to discuss the murder of 16 year old Hannah Green who was murdered back in 1996 in Okalahoma City. James Hilson was arrested and charged with her murder. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Everyone thought this was an open and shut case but last week an amazing development in the case. The victim of the murder was not Hannah Green. This was proven through DNA. It was also proven through DNA that the man James Hilson who spent nearly 15 years in Prison wasn't the man who killed the 16 year old girl."
After the advertisement the story continued.
"Witnesses say that they saw one woman come into the Wal-Mart store and the other stayed in the black Mercedes which had been stolen. A man approached the vehicle and shot the person believed to be Hannah Green in the face, took the vehicle and sped off. The other woman that was with her was never identified and police had been looking for this woman for years. Is she Hannah Green? And if she isn't where is Hannah Green.
The phone rang while Lila was watching the program. It was Spencer Reid.
"Lila, you have some explaining to do."
Before she could respond, there was a knock on the door. She recognized the FBI agent as the neighbor who lived next door years ago. Standing next to him was Spencer Reid.
She invited both men into her apartment. Spencer Reid had come over to see his children and was surprised when Agent Mayfield who'd recently joined the BAU told him he was going to interview Lila on a case they had been working on. The BAU had been asked to investigate this case to find out what happened.
"I know who you are and why you are here. Come sit down." Said Lila.
"Okay, we are re-opening the murder of a young woman whose name was believed to be Hannah Green. Some DNA was taken from her aunt and compared to her DNA and it turned out that the dead teen-age girl wasn't related to her. The case was re-opened last year and a detective in the cold case division found a Library ID card which belonged to Lila Archer. When he looked at the photo and the photo of the deceased teen, he noticed that although they looked alike, they weren't the same people. We found out that you give blood from time to time and through the blood sample that you gave, it was determined that you are Hannah Green. The DNA matched. "
Lila didn't say anything. She knew that someday she would get a knock on the door. The first couple of years she was really paranoid about police showing up at her door. Once she turned 18, her fear was less but she was concerned that she could be arrested and charged with stealing a car.
"We just want to hear you're side of the story."
"Okay I will tell you what happened."
Lila started out telling them about her life in Maine.
"It was a couple of years before the news of the murder reached Friendly Maine. This was pre-internet. You boyfriend Mark was very sadden by the news as where others who knew you."
"Do you know how Mark is these days?"
"Well, he got married last year. Married some woman he'd met in Portland. Don't really know her that well."
"I would have loved to go back to Maine but I couldn't at first. I thought I would wait till I was 18 and then return but once I got to California and was there for a couple of years, I didn't want to leave. I was also afraid that someone would find out I was alive and arrested me for stealing a car. I can tell you that I sure as heck wasn't going back to live with my aunt and uncle."
Agent Mayfield looked at the report. Her aunt and uncle painted a very unflattering picture of her. Rebellious, drinking and using drugs, sleeping with several different boys and out of control was how her aunt and uncle described her to police in Blount, Oklahoma and Oklahoma City Police.
"I was only in their care for one week. I'd never met them before and my parents told me both of them were Looney tunes and there believed me they were. What they told police was a lie. I did none of those things. "
Agent Mayfield was rather surprised that Reid volunteered to look after the Lila's children while he questioned her. He had no idea that he was the father of the twins but had believed that he had come to Lila's apartment to question her. He said that he had some questions for her.
"I decided that I wasn't going to live with my aunt and uncle. They were mean people. In the week that I was there, they beat my cousins for no reason with anything they got their hands on. This was to spare the rod and spoil the child. They used the bible to justify beating children. They threatened to paddle and beat me but didn't because the social worker was coming. I did nothing to deserve this and secondly I was never disciplined in this manner, growing up. It was only a matter of time before this was done to me."
Tears came down Lila's face.
"My poor mother was in foster care where she was physically and sexually abused. Her sister beat her up all the time as well. She vowed never to do this to any child or anyone else and she kept her promise. His sister ended up continuing the pattern."
After a couple of more questions, the two men left.
Since the statue of limitations had run out on auto theft and the laws were very different at the time about identity theft, Hannah wasn't charged with anything.
