Ex-Cop Accused of Murdering His Wife & Molesting Young Girl Caught in China After 13 Years
U.S. Marshals Service
Dan Hiers
A former police officer who fled Charleston, South Carolina, after he was accused of molesting a 10-year-old girl and murdering his wife has been caught in China after being on the lam for 13 years.
Daniel William Hiers, Jr., was reportedly living abroad and working as an English teacher and has been missing since March 15, 2005.
According to Shanghaiist, a woman who attended university in China and is now living in California happened across the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted list and recognized Hiers as her former teacher.
“She claims that at her Chinese university there was a particularly popular foreign English teacher, well-liked by women because he was tall and handsome. She notes that he was even hired as a bodyguard by an unnamed star,” according to the website.
The woman claimed that Hiers had hit on her friend, and sent the friend pornographic images after she refused his advances.
According to The Daily Beast, cops had been hunting Hiers since 2005, when he was reportedly scheduled to surrender on charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and committing a lewd act on a minor.
He was first arrested in November 2004 after police say he befriended a single mother with a young daughter whom he met at a karate institute, then allegedly molested the child for months. Hiers would take the child to Walmart and fondle her and make her touch him, according to police.
But instead of turning himself in at the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office, police allege that Hiers fatally shot his 24-year-old wife, Mila, in the back of the head while she slept.
He was seen at around 1:50 P.M. that day as he drove off in Mila’s red 2005 Chevrolet Aveo. After that, he was spotted on surveillance cameras withdrawing hundreds of dollars from an ATM at a convenience store 50 miles away.
Police found the car three months later in the Mexican border town of Laredo, Texas.
John Walsh has been chasing the story for years, both on America’s Most Wanted and The Hunt With John Walsh.
In a press release, the U.S. Marshals Service described Hiers as being six-foot-three inches tall and weighing 210 pounds, with blue eyes and blond hair. “He has 11 years of police experience, is trained in the martial arts, and maintains a high level of fitness,” the press release stated. A reward of up to $25,000 was announced for tips leading to Hiers’ capture.
Dennis Suszko, a deputy U.S. Marshal, recently told Crime Watch Daily that Hiers is known to patronize strip clubs and escorts — and that he may have dated other teens.
Hiers met his wife Ludimila (Mila) Araujo, a native of Brazil, during a cruise to Miami in 1995, according to the Post and Courier. Hiers was 22; she was 15. They married in August 1997, when Mila was 16. Many of Hiers’ acquaintances over the years said that they were completely unaware that he led a double life — and some even had no idea that he was married.
Mila’s family said that she adored Hiers and stood by him even after he was charged with molestation. Police say that he paid her back with murder.
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Read more: CNN, Shanghaiist, The Daily Beast
