GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County police said the man accused of stabbing Matthew Jones to death confessed he might have killed the wrong person.
On Wednesday, Delano Hill went before a Gwinnett County magistrate judge for a preliminary hearing and appeared to nod each time the judge read the charges of aggravated assault, felony murder and malice murder.
Prosecutors said Hill stabbed Jones to death and left him to die on his front lawn in 2022.
The lead detective in the case took the stand and revealed the disturbing details.
“He said he took the knife and stabbed him twice and Mr. Jones fell to the ground,” the detective told the court.
Police arrested Hill in December 2024, two years after the case went cold despite surveillance video from the scene.
Detectives said a letter sent to police in New York City helped crack the case and led them to Hill.
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“The details that were in the note were not known to the public,” the detective said.
Police said the NYPD was able to use their real-time crime system to track the suspect around the city.
“Looking at the footage, it appeared to be the same exact male from our homicide in 2022,” the detective said.
Police told Channel 2 Action News that Hill followed a YouTube page named ‘Dog Tags.’
They said that was significant because detectives said they found a note next Jones’ body that read: “The Dog tags were here.”
Once in custody, investigators said Hill confessed to the crime.
They said he thought he killed the person who sexually assaulted his friend, but said he had the wrong person.
No assault at the home was ever proven.
But the defense questioned that claim.
“Do you know who the right person was supposed to have been?” Hill’s defense attorney asked.
“So, there is someone at that address who had a prior sexual assault incident,” the detective said.
The judge ultimately ruled there was sufficient evidence for the case to move forward.
“I’m going to bind everything over to superior court,” the judge said.
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