Remembering Rita Hicks and Alvin Minter

 

A Night Out

On October 25, 1980, Rita Hicks, a single mother of eight children, decided she wanted to see a movie. Rita called her friend Sandra, a family friend for over 20 years, however Sandra had just moved and could not go. Sandra’s brother, Alvin Minter, heard the phone conversation and told Sandra he would go with Rita. Alvin, who had just returned to Columbus, Ohio after a two-week vacation with his father, was scheduled to go back to his home in New Jersey the next day. Rita’s daughter Theresa told her mom she would take care of the children. Alvin arrived a short time later and the two left to catch the 10:00 p.m. movie.

On that same night, Rita’s abusive ex-husband George Hicks Jr., who was the father of two of Rita’s eight children, decided if he could not have Rita, then no one was going to have her. Hicks had met Rita after her first husband, Aaron, died from complications of pneumonia. Rita, who was successfully raising the six children she had with her first husband, married Hicks several years later. Hicks initially seemed like the perfect husband, however, during the marriage, Hicks became controlling, jealous, violent and abusive, all of which escalated after Rita had two sons with Hicks. Hicks’ abuse included physical violence and he regularly turned off the lights, lit matches and threw them at Rita. Hicks also took black spray paint and wrote “bitch” all over walls of their home. Hicks had removed all the doors from the children’s bedrooms because he said they “did not deserve doors.” After eight years, Rita decided enough was enough and believed the only way to protect herself and her children was to divorce her controlling and abusive husband.

A Cold-Blooded, Calculated Double Murder

After calling and learning Rita was not home, Hicks, who had been separated from Rita for two years, put a gun in his pocket and took a cab to Rita’s apartment. He took a cab because he had been drinking and knew if he was caught driving drunk, it would affect his towing business. Hicks arrived at the house shortly after midnight and told Rita’s five children who were at home, including his two sons, to go upstairs and go to bed. Hicks then took the phone off the hook so the children could not call their mother to warn her. He turned off all the lights, sat in a chair in the dark with the gun in his lap, and waited for Rita to come home. All five children tried to stay awake in their beds so they could run outside to warn their mother, however they all fell asleep.

At 12:45 A.M., Alvin’s car pulled into the driveway. The sound of the car awoke Rita’s 11-year-old daughter, Dominica. Hicks calmly walked outside, and before Alvin could put the car in park, Hicks went to the passenger side and shot Rita five times. Three of the bullets went in Rita’s right side, one bullet hit her hand and one bullet went into her head. Alvin put the car in reverse, however, before he could pull out of the driveway, Hicks ran to the driver side of the car and fired a fatal shot into Alvin’s head. The car, which was going backwards, smashed into a tree. Hicks then fled into the woods. From a window, 11-year-old Dominica watched the entire scene unfold. The coroner determined both Rita and Alvin died within minutes after the shooting. In addition to the injuries to her head and hand, Rita suffered injuries to her lung, stomach, spleen and heart.

Consecutive Life Sentences

Police began searching for Hicks and on Monday morning, 24 hours after the murders, Hicks went to police headquarters with his attorney and turned himself in. Hicks refused to answer any questions and was charged with the aggravated murders of Rita Hicks and Alvin Minter.

Hicks claimed he was not guilty by reason of insanity and opted to be tried by a jury of his peers. Hicks’ attorney did not deny the murders; rather, he said that Hicks was temporarily insane after seeing Rita Hicks kiss Alvin Minter. A kiss that Alvin Minter’s family states to this very day never happened. Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Thomas Beal said that Hicks’ actions that night were premeditated and well thought out. Beal told the jury, “The acts weren’t accidental. They were purposeful acts.”

At trial, Rita Minter’s 11-year-old daughter, Dominica, told jurors she saw Hicks kill her mother and Alvin. She stated, “I saw George had the gun, shoot my mother, and after he did that he ran to the other side of the car and shot Alvin.” Rita’s oldest daughter, Theresa, told jurors that she tried to stay awake to warn her mother, however she fell asleep.

George Hicks Jr. testified while he was supposedly under hypnosis. He recalled “A strange beast standing in front of me and a burning in my chest … A person, object or thing with a hood on him with a symbol like death or the devil close to me.” Hicks claimed he saw demons after he saw Rita kiss Alvin, and the next thing he remembered, he was stumbling through woods, and then seeing a gun in his hand. Hicks said, “That was my first inkling that I might have done something terrible.” Hicks then told jurors he put the gun to his head, however when he pulled the trigger, there were no bullets left. He said he “started digging in the dirt with my hands, trying to push the gun in. Then I scooted away from it.” Hicks told jurors he remembered going to Rita’s house and he was “afraid to go back, afraid of what I might see.” He said he then turned himself in to police after hearing about the murders on the radio. Hicks stated, “I still didn’t accept I had done it, but I wanted to come back to find out.” Hicks testified for 90 minutes and, while he initially stumbled to the witness stand as if groggy and under hypnosis, he became more animated as time went to on. Throughout his testimony, Hicks showed absolutely no remorse for what he had done.

After Hicks’ testimony, Asst. County Prosecutor Beal produced two rebuttal witnesses. One stated it was possible to lie under hypnosis and the other stated Hicks told her several months earlier the same details the defense attorneys said that Hicks recalled for the first time while under hypnosis at trial.

The nine-man, three-woman jury saw right through Hicks and convicted him of two counts of murder. Judge Clifford Rader immediately sentenced Hicks to consecutive (back to back) life sentences.

While the parole board records state Hicks “takes responsibility for the offenses with insight and remorse,” in 34 years the family of Alvin Minter and Rita Hicks’ children have never heard one word from Hicks expressing remorse for his actions.

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UPDATE: Double murderer George hicks Jr. died in prison on March 7, 2015. Thank you to everyone who submitted a petition to help ensure he fulfilled his full life sentence. Justice has been served. Rest In Peace Rita Hicks and Alvin Minter. You will never be forgotten.