Some people think that going to prison for the crimes they commit is the worst punishment they can face but as it turns out, it can get much worse. 59 year old Anthony Palma was sentenced to serve life in an Oklahoma prison after kidnapping an 8 year old, raping her & killing her to cover up the evidence.
He thought spending the rest of his life behind bars was as bad as it gets but, as it turns out, he was sorely mistaken. When he got to prison, he was forced to share a cell with 35 year old Raymond Pillado who was doing a few life sentences for killing people & firing off a gun recklessly. For a while, it was smooth sailing but that all changed once Pillado caught wind of just why his cell mate was in prison in the first place. With that knowledge, it all came to a head on January 11 when Palma’s corpse was first discovered in his cell.
Reports indicate that Pillado killed his cell mate after finding out what he did to 8 year old Kirsten Hatfield. How he found out about this is not clear but it’s possible he may have told his fellow inmates. In the mid 90’s, Hatfield went missing & she lived just 2 doors down from Palma. After a while, authorities were finally able to track down Palma & bring him into custody. Despite this, her body was never found & they were planning to interview him in an effort to locate her remains.
Of course, this is no longer a viable option but, in spite of this, her family is at least grateful that the criminal who took their daughter’s life will no longer be a threat to anyone else ever again. In a recent statement, her mother has said that she refuses to give up the effort to locate the body & hopes that the authorities won’t either. They were able to convict him of the crime by using DNA evidence that linked him to her disappearance all those years ago. Once they obtained that, they had all the evidence they needed to convict him and lock him up for a long time.
The DOC recently issued a statement about this heinous crime & what they think was the motive behind it. Their spokesman Matt Elliott said those who are doing time for terrorizing kids are much more likely to get attacked than the rest of the inmates & they believe this was what was driving Pillado’s actions when he brutally took the life of his cell mate. When they first found his body, they kept the motive behind the murder a secret until they were sure that it was on account of his actions toward his neighbor.
Once they had concluded this beyond a shadow of a doubt, they did finally report his death to the main stream media. It is not known what, if any, consequences will befall Pillado at this time but the prosecutors are saying that they plan on drafting charges against him at some point in the future. In the meantime, at least Shannon Hazen, the girl’s mother, and the rest of her family can now have a small sense of peace in light of this horrific tragedy.
