Inset: Ethan Riley (Jeter Memorial Funeral Home). Background: Connor Hilton during his sentencing for murdering Riley in 2023 (KHOU).
An 18-year-old Texas man who said he “wanted to commit a homicide for a long time” and followed through on that desire when he shot two of his friends, killing one, just days before Christmas, is headed to prison for a long time.
Connor Lynn Hilton was sentenced to 50 years behind bars after pleading guilty to the murder of 18-year-old Ethan Riley and the shooting of Benjamin Bliek on Dec. 23, 2023, in Galveston County.
Riley and Bliek, then 19, went to Hilton”s home in Friendswood so Hilton could show them his new gun. As they were looking at it, Hilton shot both of them in the head. Riley died, while Bliek survived after spending months in the intensive care unit and rehab.
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Bliek spoke at the sentencing and had strong words for Hilton, who was wiping away tears.
“Stop sniveling,” Bliek said, according to a video posted by local CBS affiliate KHOU. “Stop crying. You did this to yourself. Secondly, the grief you have caused the Rileys and my own family, I will never forgive you. Pucker your butt cheeks.”
Riley’s father also spoke.
“He’s a beautiful soul, full of love and light,” Matthew Riley said of his son. “You can see that light in his eyes and hear it in his laughter.”
Hilton was set to go to trial to argue that his acne medicine, Accutane, caused psychosis. But that defense collapsed when a judge declined to allow an expert to testify that Hilton was having a psychotic breakdown at the time of the shooting, KHOU reported.
As Law&Crime previously reported, cops first received a 911 call from an individual who witnessed the shooting. The person, who is not identified in records, reported hearing two gunshots inside the home and said they called police while barricading themselves off in a bathroom of the Friendswood home, according to a probable cause statement.
Police said this witness would also tell them that after the shooting, they heard Hilton crying as he walked by the locked bathroom door and exclaimed: “What have I done?”
Once on the scene, police said they found Hilton outside the home looking “visibly distraught.” When asked if anyone had been hurt, Hilton used two fingers to motion toward the house, nodded, and “stated there were two teenagers inside [he] believed to be deceased,” the probable cause affidavit states.
The scene inside was grisly: Riley was lying on the floor in his T-shirt and shorts “with a gathering of blood under the subject’s head,” police wrote.
Bliek, meanwhile, was lying on the floor nearby Riley.
Both had been shot in the head. Police found a revolver with a teal handle and gray finish nearby. Hilton allegedly later told police he “talked his mother into” purchasing it for him.
After Riley and Bliek were transported to area hospitals, police say they took Hilton in for a gunshot residue test of his hands and an interview. Police say throughout the session, they “observed Hilton confess to shooting Bliek and Riley.”
He told police his friends came over to his house and that they were “all in the main area of the residence” when he started showing off his gun.
“Hilton stated that there was no disturbance between him and the other subjects to include any disagreement on the date of this incident,” the Friendswood Police reported. “Hilton advised affiant that he decided to shoot Riley, Bliek and [redacted] once inside the residence.”
The then-17-year-old told police he “stood up, raised the gun and shot Riley first in the left side of the head.”
“Hilton then stated that he then turned to his right and shot Bliek in the left side of the head,” the probable cause affidavit states.
The defendant also specifically told his arresting officer that he watched Bliek raise his hands to defend himself when he pulled the trigger.
“Hilton stated that he fully understands what he had done and that he should be held accountable,” police said.
When first arrested by police in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve 2023, he was only charged with two counts of aggravated assault with bodily injury. He was booked into the Galveston County Jail with a bond set at $1 million.
Hilton posted bond by midday. By Christmas night, he was rearrested after District Attorney Jack Roady approved an upgraded murder charge upon Riley’s death. He had been out on bond awaiting trial before he pleaded guilty.
Brandi Buchman contributed to this report
