A retired Ohio State professor stabbed his wife after she told him his massage felt good, then blamed a $15,000 dating app sextortion plot

Mary Kathleen Hill was working at her computer in the couple’s Upper Arlington, Ohio, home when her husband came in and began rubbing her shoulders. The retired Ohio State University professor later told police a $15,000 sextortion demand drove him to kill her, as he believed he had no other way out. A judge has now sentenced him to life in prison, according to Law&Crime.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young sentenced James Stephen Hill, 77, on Wednesday to life with the possibility of parole after 15 years. Hill had reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one count of murder in the death of his wife, Mary Kathleen Hill, 64. He was originally charged with aggravated murder and also pleaded guilty to harming the couple’s dog.

The court credited Hill with 352 days already served. With the parole terms set by the judge, Hill would be 91 years old before he is first eligible for release. Hill taught music at Ohio State before retiring, and he was arrested at the couple’s home in November 2025.

The former Ohio State professor told police a woman from a dating app was blackmailing him

According to court records, Hill told police he had exchanged nude photos with a woman he met on a dating app. On the day of the killing, Hill said the woman demanded $15,000 in Apple gift cards and threatened to release the photos if he did not pay. He told investigators he could only think of one way out, which was to kill his wife and then himself.

Hill told police he looked for a firearm in the house but could not find one, so he took a kitchen knife and placed it in his belt. He then went into the home office, where his wife was working at her computer, and began rubbing her shoulders. According to Hill, she said the massage felt good, and he stabbed her once in the chest.

Hill told police he apologized and held his wife as she died. Prosecutors wrote that he acted with “prior calculation and design” to cause her death. Hill also tried to stab the family dog, which was struck but ran away, according to court documents. He then deleted pictures and documents from his computer before calling 911.

Court records say Hill unlocked the front door, sat on the couch, and stabbed himself in the chest after the call. Officers found him on the couch with a knife in his lap, and paramedics pronounced Mary Hill dead at the scene. However, Hill never claimed an intruder was involved, unlike a case where a husband reported a deadly home invasion that later drew suspicion.

Ohio treats sextortion as a felony under Braden’s Law, which was passed after a central Ohio teenager was targeted in a sextortion scheme. Under the law, the offense starts as a third-degree felony and becomes a first-degree felony when the target is a minor or an elderly person. Hill was 76 when the demand arrived.

Hill survived his wound and was treated at a hospital while in police custody, which delayed his first court appearance. However, the woman behind the $15,000 demand does not appear to have been publicly identified, and it remains unclear whether investigators ever found the person who sent the threat.

Hill will likely remain in prison for at least another 14 years, as the court credited him with nearly a year already served before his first chance at parole.