A Custody Battle Turned Deadly When a Mother-Daughter Duo Took Matters Into Their Own Hands

If you Google the words "murder for hire" and "custody" you'll discover there is no shortage of horrifying stories of custody battles that turned deadly.

From the attorney who tried to hire a hit man to kill his ex-wife, to the Kentucky doctor who freely admitted to attempting to pay someone to murder her husband, it's a sadly common story. At the heart of these two cases, and many more, is a cantankerous custody battle.

Obviously divorce is difficult, and trying to navigate it when children are involved makes it more so, but is prison easier? What happens if someone succeeds, and their children lose a parent? It truly boggles the mind.

Netflix's series Worst Ex Ever digs into one of these stories and it goes beyond a problematic custody disagreement by involving both a mother and her own mother. Where are Rosa Hill and Mei Li now? Details to follow.

In August 2011, Hill and her mother Li were sentenced to 36 years and 25 years in prison, respectively. Two months prior, ABC 7 reported that the jury deliberated for three days before handing down their guilty verdicts. Both women were convicted of first-degree murder as well as attempted murder.

As of August 2024, Hill is incarcerated at Central California William's Facility in Chowchilla, Calif. She will be eligible for parole in January 2029.

In May 2015, Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported that Li's murder conviction was overturned because Hill claims her mother wasn't present during the killing, and only helped her after the fact.

The attempted murder conviction was upheld. Li is incarcerated at the same prison as her daughter and has been denied parole two times.

Both women were convicted of murdering Hill's estranged husband's grandmother. Eric Hill, along with his 2-year-old daughter were living with Selma Hill when she was killed. Sadly, that was just the beginning.

Eric and Hill were separated though he had been awarded "sole legal custody and 85 percent physical custody of the daughter, which meant that Rosa Hill only got to see her 15 percent of the time," per ABC 7.

Hill later claimed that she went over to Selma's house that day out of concern for her daughter. She believed Eric had been sexually abusing her, something he vehemently denied. The prosecution asserted that Hill was frustrated by the custody decision.

On Jan. 7, 2009, Hill strangled Selma then with the help of Li, dumped her body inside a dustbin. An autopsy would later reveal that Selma "suffered 23 wounds, including injuries inflicted by a Taser."

Selma's boyfriend Lester was the first person to grow concerned after calling her several times. Eric was made aware of Lester's uneasy feeling, so he returned home to check on his grandmother.

Upon entering her house, Eric proceeded to search each room but was surprised to find Li in the house. She told him Selma was in the garage so Eric left his daughter with her grandmother and went to check. As he was heading for the garage, Hill leaped out and tasered him.

After he fell, both Li and Hill began beating him. What they didn't know was that Lester had also sent his son and daughter-in-law over. They called the police when they heard the Taser.

Despite attempting to frame this as an unplanned attack, investigators later found troublesome searches in a computer both Hill and Li frequently used. They looked up how to get away with murder, and how to properly strangle a person.

They also "researched deadly substances such as arsenic, cyanide, strychnine, mustard gas and ammonia," reported ABC 7.

In the end, the jury did not believe that Eric was ever hurting his daughter. It was pretty clear who had done the damage.