Charging papers and neighbor statements describe a brief, violent encounter inside a Mason County home before a suspect fled.
HOODSPORT, Wash. — Deputies say the March 24 killings of Anna Child and Jason Hilde unfolded quickly inside a Hoodsport house, where witnesses reported yelling, a man carrying a shotgun and, moments later, fatal gunfire before the suspect drove away in a white pickup.
The emerging picture in the Mason County case is built around sequence. Investigators say Robert T. Child, 60, entered the residence, two people were shot, and witnesses then helped direct deputies toward the suspect’s vehicle. Prosecutors have charged him with two counts of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary, while local reports say firearm possession allegations may also be part of the case.
The timeline begins just after 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, when deputies were dispatched to a home on North Hamma Hamma Drive East on reports of gunfire. A caller told dispatchers she believed Robert Child had just shot his wife. When deputies reached the residence, they found Jason J. Hilde, 46, dead just inside the front door with a gunshot wound. Anna L. Child, also 46, was found on a stairway inside with gunshot injuries. A shotgun and spent shells were inside the home, according to the probable cause account cited by local stations. A teenager who had been in the house told investigators Robert Child came in holding a shotgun, yelling and searching for someone. The teen said gunshots followed. Those details, if proved, would place the shooting in a narrow and direct span rather than after any long standoff.
The next part of the sequence comes from people outside. Witnesses told deputies they saw Child leaving the home after the shots. One witness said Child declared that he would not go back to jail and threatened to kill anyone who came after him. Caleb McGill, a neighbor who later spoke publicly, said he heard the blasts, called 911 and encountered Child as he moved toward the scene. McGill said he asked what had happened, and Child answered that the victims had pointed a gun at him. Authorities have not publicly described evidence that either victim fired a weapon, and investigators have not released any ballistic detail that would support that claim. The known physical evidence released so far centers on the shotgun and spent shells found inside. What remains unclear is exactly where each person was positioned when Child entered and whether anyone besides the shooter handled a firearm during the encounter.
Only after the violence inside the house did the case widen into a countywide search. Deputies issued information that the suspect had fled in a white pickup truck. The sheriff’s office first described the vehicle publicly, then said the truck had been located while the suspect remained at large. By Wednesday, March 25, deputies arrested Child after tips from the public and assistance from law enforcement partners. That quick arrest tightened the prosecution’s initial timeline and gave investigators a chance to seek warrants for the home and vehicles. KOMO reported that a judge approved search warrants that included an effort to collect possible dashboard-camera video from vehicles parked at the residence. That means the case is likely to rest not only on witness memory but also on any digital record of movements before and after the shootings.
The record behind the sequence also points backward. Robert and Anna Child were in divorce proceedings, and Anna had filed for a protection order earlier in March. A judge granted that order on March 23, the day before the shootings, but sheriff’s officials said it had not yet been served. Local reporting further said Child was not living at the home at the time. Court records cited by KOMO and KING say he is a convicted felon, which would bar him from legally possessing firearms. That background matters because prosecutors often use it to explain why a case moved from a domestic dispute to a criminal file with multiple violent-felony allegations. It also helps explain why the witness timeline has drawn so much attention: it sits inside a longer chain of warnings, court action and separation that had already been documented.
By the time Child appeared in court, the timeline had shifted from field notes to formal accusations. KING reported that a judge set bail at $5 million. Prosecutors described a defendant accused of entering a residence where he no longer lived, killing two people and fleeing before deputies arrived. Public records do not yet answer every question. No widely reported plea was available in the initial coverage, and the defense position was not clear in the earliest reports. Investigators also have not publicly laid out any detailed motive beyond the divorce, the protection-order filing and the witness statements about threats. What they have done is place the basic structure of the night in the record: entry, shooting, departure, manhunt, arrest.
The latest public status leaves the prosecution still at an early stage, but the outline of March 24 is already central to the case. Future hearings, warrant returns and any release of additional evidence will test whether the state’s version of those minutes holds up in court.
Author note: Last updated April 19, 2026.