NINA HILT: 20/20 FEATURE

HILThe November 28 edition of 20/20 will feature "The Toughest Call: What Happens When a Foreign Adoption Ends in Regret" Not much about the final cut is known. You can see the trailer here. (click on title). The focus seems to be on Ranch for Kids,"a Christian home for 'at risk' Russian and other adoptees who may be experiencing difficulties in their new families in the U.S"--but there will be some kind of coverage of Nina Hilt, beaten to death by her adoptive mother Peggy Sue Hilt. Nina's dad, Chris Hilt, informs me that his former wife now doing 25 years in Nina's death, was interviewed for the show.

You can read more about Nina throughout Nikto Ne Zabut.

Please visit Nina's memorial page, Remembering Nina, and light a candle for her.


Addenda: This additinal information was posted after I put this up.

REMEMBERING NINA; A MEMRIAL PAGE FOR NINA HILT

Chris Hilt and his daughter Natalyia have posted Remembering Nina, a lovely tribute page to their daughter and sister, Nina. Nina was beaten to death by Chris's now ex-wife, Peggy Sue, in July 2005.

The page holds dozens of pictures of Nina. They show her happy, playful, affectionate, and loved by Chris, Natalyia, extended family, and friends. I especially like the picture in the top left corner of the front page: a very determined little girl looking like she's ready to take on corporate America or a particularly difficult math problem.

I am so happy to see this page. These children are not abstractions They need to be remembered as real people with context, dignity, and lives that were worth living and were lived--not just statistics or ideological props in a grubby adoption war.

Please remember Nina and light a candle for her on her page.

******

Also go to Viktor Matthey's memorial page, Viktor's Promise,

Both memorial pages are permanently linked here.

RUSSIAN NEWS VIDEOS ON KOLYA EMELYATSEV AND DMITRY YAKOLEV/CHASE HARRISON

Last week I found a great Russian blog: Russian Videos from Russia hosted by Svet and Kyle Keeton in Moscow. For an expat in need of a daily dose of real life Russia, this is an ideal site. Documentaries, cartoons, liturgy, Soviet pop, ducks--they've got it all. I added Svet and Kyle to my Blog Catalog as a "friend" and linked their blog to this page.

Over the weekend, much to my surprise Svet and Kyle posted some Russian news videos about the Kolya Emelyantsev and Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison cases as well as a story on Russian domestic adoption. If you look quick you'll see a possibly heretofore unpublished picture of Viktoria Bezhenova/Nina Hilt in the video (1/1).

The videos are in English or with an English voice over. There is also a link to a new Russian advertising campaign encouraging domestic adoption. There's no separate URL for the videos, just scroll down to July 27, 2008.

большое спасибо

FOREVER MOTHER FEATURED IN DOCUMENTARY

(Originally published April 19, 2008)

Recently Peggy Sue Hilt was featured in the WE documentary Women Behind Bars. Hilt was convicted of 2nd degree murder in the beating death of her Forever Russian Adoptee, Nina, born Viktoria Bazhenova. Vika was 2 1/2 years old when she died on July 2, 2005. She was adopted from a Siberian orphanage about 6 months earlier. We do not know who conducted the home study, but Vika was placed with the Hilts by Adoptions International in Dallas, Tx. owned by adoption attorney Jody Hall. The agency refers to adoption as "the best experience of your life."

After Viktoria's murder, the couple's older Forever Adoptee, Nataliya Oksana, (born Olga, last name unknown) adopted from Ukraine through an independent adoption handled by Cathy Harris, was placed in protective custody with an adoptive aunt. Last we heard, Hilt's husband Christopher, who was not implicated in the murder, was divorcing his wife and seeking permanent custody of Nataliya. Peggy Sue Hilt was sentenced to 35 years in prison (with 10 years suspended and another 5 years of post-release probation). Her projected release date is 2022.

The following is taken from the WE website. It is an account by First Sergeant John Buttner, Sup. of the Crimes Against Children Unit of the Wake Forest Police Department. WARNING: graphic testimony follows:

As we carefully entered Nina's [victim] bedroom there were noticeable small fluid stains on the floor in the middle of the room. Along with the stains were numerous strands of hair. More than should ever be in one small area. Upon looking into the bed there was a considerable amount of what appeared to be blood stains on the pillow. For the first time I truly realized just how severe the assault was on the victim who wasn't even 3 years old yet. For a brief moment, I was caught up with images in my mind of what went on there just a few days before. I then had to clear my mind from the troubling images and focus again on what we were there for. We even found blood in the other daughter's bed on a pillow where Nina was placed by Peggy when she wouldn't go to sleep in her bed.

According to Prosecutor Paul Ebert as reported in the Raleigh News-Observer

This child had numerous bruises and at least one laceration and internal injury... It took a long time to kill this child.


This is the woman who murdered Viktoria Bazhenova aka Nina Hilt. Before and After:



















And another Before and After picture. The Hilts look like they're auditioning for a community theatre production of Grease. (Thanks to E Case for the "glamor shot" heads up.) The Hilt Family webpage is here.












According to defense attorney, William Stephens. Peggy Sue Hilt is a closet alcoholic who started drinking when she was 12 but never sought help for her problems.

Yet she passed two home studies and was seen fit by the adoption industry to adopt other people's children.

Updated 22 April 2008, 11:37 AM.


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