Member-only story
Audrey Marie Hilley: Alabama’s Black Widow
Wife, mother, and murderer
In 1979, 18-year-old Carol Hilley began experiencing nausea and vomiting. Soon she was so sick that she couldn’t walk and was taken to the hospital. Doctors were unable to find a cause for her mysterious illness. All they knew was the symptoms were the same ones experienced by Carol’s father, who died in 1975. What was going on in the Hilley family?
No one knew that the investigation that was about to take place was going to be a full-on roller-coaster.
Audrey Marie Hilley
Carol’s mother, Audrey Marie (Frazier) Hilley was born on June 4, 1933, in Blue Mountain, Alabama, near Anniston. Her parents, Huey and Lucille Frazier, while barely considered blue-collar, made sure that their little girl had the best that they could possibly give her. She was given whatever she wanted and would have a massive tantrum if someone refused.
Just before turning 18 years old, Marie married her high school boyfriend, Frank Hilley, who was home on leave from Guam with the United States Navy.
After Frank’s service was complete with the Navy, he and Audrey bought a house in Anniston, Alabama. In 1952, they welcomed their son Michael, followed by their daughter Carol 8 years later.