BEAVERCREEK, Ore. -- A 33-year-old man has been charged with aggravated murder in connection to a double homicide on his property in Beavercreek Tuesday evening.
Robert John Hilands (pictured), of Beavercreek, was booked into the Clackamas County Jail Wednesday night on two counts of aggravated murder and unlawful use of a weapon.
The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said the two victims, 50-year-old Thomas Lee Hegar Jr. and 40-year-old Dustin Louis Childress, died of gunshot wounds.
The investigation began after two women called 911 at 5:46 p.m. Tuesday to report that their boyfriends were being shot at near the 19200 block of South Upper Highland Road, according to Clackamas County Sgt. Brian Jensen.
"Suspicious circumstances had been reported that two males were on the property and had been shot at," Jensen said. "Their girlfriends responded to the scene and were unable to locate them and that's when they called us."
Sheriff's deputies rushed out to find two men dead right at the driveway gate to a rural property. Hilands is the owner of the property.
Victims trespassed before shooting
Childress and Hegar were dropped off in the area at 10 a.m. Tuesday, when detectives said the duo trespassed onto the property.
Investigators have not said why the two men entered the property.
About 15 minutes later, Childress called one of the two women who reported the suspicious situation, and told her they were being shot at. Hegar had been shot and wounded while they ran away.
Detectives learned that Hilands shot at the two men.
About seven hours later, one of the two girlfriends of Hegar and Childress called 911.
Deputies said the bodies of the two men were concealed near the property’s front gate. Both men died of gunshot wounds, the county medical examiner said.
Hilands agreed to be interviewed and admitted to killing the two men, detectives said.
Hegar's sister, Cindy Griffin, said she didn't understand why Hilands didn't call 911 when he saw trespassers on his land.
"Why not call the police? Why not have them removed that way? Why would you take this into your own hands and kill two people, for what reason?" Griffin said. "There was no reason and it just makes me angry that a 33-year-old man would take this into his own hands."
Longtime residents like Steven Hoffman say they aren't fazed by hearing gunshots in the rural area. But a homicide case is a little unnerving.
"It's very unusual for this area, it's usually a quiet little town," Hoffman said.