It was just before 9 p.m. on Dec. 23, 2023, when police arrived on scene in Friendswood, Texas.
OFFICER (bodycam): What happened?
CONNOR HILTON: I screwed up so bad.
OFFICER: Somebody hurt?
CONNOR HILTON: (nods to affirm)
OFFICER: Who’s hurt?
CONNOR HILTON (holds up two fingers): Two people.
OFFICER: Two people. …
OFFICER: Where are they at in the house?
OFFICER: Where are your friends at?
CONNOR HILTON: They’re — they’re in the walkway. They’re in the walkway. (crying)
Two Texas teens shot in the head at their friend’s home
OFFICER (bodycam/entering home): Oh, s***
When police entered Connor Hilton’s home, they found 18-year-old Ethan Riley and 19-year-old Benjamin Bliek lying on the floor. Each with a gunshot wound to the head.
15-YEAR-OLD (bodycam): Hello?
OFFICER: Hello? Who’s — who’s in here?
15-YEAR-OLD: I’m the caller in the bathroom.
They also discovered the boy who called 911. He was 15.
OFFICER (bodycam): Open the door. Let me see your hands. Let me see your hands.
15-YEAR-OLD (opens door): It’s just me. I’m on crutches.
OFFICER: Pull your shirt up. Pull your shirt up. Let me see the back. Turn around.
OFFICER (bodycam outside home): Is there anybody else that’s supposed to be in the house?
15-YEAR-OLD: No.
OFFICER: How many? Four total?
15-YEAR-OLD: It — it was four total.
The teen told police officers how quickly everything unfolded.
15-YEAR-OLD (bodycam): … We, as we, we literally 10 — not even a, two minutes of being in the house, uh – I – we come in, he’s, uh, on the couch or something, he stands up. I walk right to the bathroom, I have to pee. And then I heard two loud gunshots … And everybody was quiet. And I felt like I could hear laughing, but I think it was just them breathing. And Connor was like, “What have I done? What have I done?” And started crying. And I don’t know where — I don’t know where y’all found him. But I thought he was gonna shoot through the door or something. …
In the house, unbelievably, paramedics saw signs of life in Ben and Ethan and worked to keep them alive.
OFFICER (bodycam): Where’s the gun at, bud?
CONNOR HILTON: I — I really have no clue.
Outside, police bagged Connor’s hands to preserve evidence before putting him into a squad car.
CONNOR HILTON (bodycam): I need to be put in a mental hospital.
Connor, at first, claimed he fired the gun in self-defense.
CONNOR HILTON: We got into an argument.
OFFICER: OK.
CONNOR HILTON: And Ethan tried to — he tried to come at me and … He tried to come at me and I freaked out and, um — He – he – he — he tried to grab for my throat.
At the time of the shooting, Connor’s mother, Johnece Hilton, wasn’t home.
Johnece Hilton: I got a message from my neighbor that said, hey, something is going on at your house. … And I was already on my way home. …
Tracy Smith: You pulled up and what did you see?
Johnece Hilton: Yellow tape, police cars everywhere …
OFFICER: I — I’m gonna talk to you something that’s gonna be very hard to talk about.
JOHNECE HILTON: OK.
Johnece Hilton: The police had me sit in a car … and he told me. …
JOHNECE HILTON (in police car): I cannot believe this.
OFFICER: Yeah. No, you know —
JOHNECE HILTON: This is insanity. …
Tracy Smith: What was going through your mind?
Johnece Hilton: I was just like, how could this happen? … I was just there 45 minutes ago and he — he was perfectly fine. …
It wasn’t long before Connor’s father, Neal Hilton, received word. Johnece and Neal divorced back when Connor was a toddler.
Neal Hilton: Never in a million years would you think you would get — I would get that kind of phone call, just knowing — you know, just knowing my son. …
Ben and Ethan were taken to area hospitals where they were fighting for their lives. Nick McCanless, then a detective with the Friendswood Police Department, was tasked with calling Ben’s mom, Shannon Bliek.
Det. Nick McCanless: I get her phone number through dispatch and uh, call her up and I said, “Look … your son has been injured … and I need you to come up here.”
Shannon Bliek: I just got in the car, and I just started praying. …
Tracy Smith: And what happened when you got to the hospital?
Shannon Bliek: Nick met me outside the doors, and he told me that Ben had been shot. And I remember falling to my knees. And he, you know, was like, come on, let’s go upstairs, and wait in the waiting room and let’s find out what’s going on.
Eventually, a doctor came out to speak with them.
Shannon Bliek: He said that Benjamin had been shot in the head. … It was all very surreal. It just didn’t make any sense. … I just kneeled on the floor and just prayed.
Tracy Smith: What did you say in that prayer?
Shannon Bliek: I just asked that He’d be with Ben and that He please get us through this. …
While Ben underwent surgery, Connor Hilton was taken to the Friendswood Police Department.
CONNOR HILTON (in police car): Where am I being transported to?
OFFICER: Friendswood.
CONNOR HILTON: I know this isn’t a time to be — be bringing this up, but are you having a good Christmas, officer? …
Nothing about that night was making sense.
DETECTIVE SEAGO (police interview): Listen, what I’ve gotta do —
CONNOR HILTON: Is read me my Miranda rights. I have the right to attorney —
DETECTIVE SEAGO: So, well. Yeah. But I’m — I’m gonna read ’em, man.
Soon, Connor would end up in an interrogation room, with an entirely new story to tell.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): Let me just cut straight to the chase …
Det. Nick McCanless: He literally just kind of opened up, right? And it was an emotional roller coaster. …
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): You know what, I need to be honest with you guys. I just need to be… (crying) Oh, my God. …
“The idea of murder is super interesting for me,” Connor Hilton tells detectives
DETECTIVE SEAGO (police interview): Hey man, how are you?
CONNOR HILTON: Doing good. How are you?
DETECTIVE SEAGO: Good, man. I’m Detective Seago.
CONNOR HILTON: Do you know if my parents are here?
DETECTIVE SEAGO: Yeah, I think your mom and dad.
As his two friends were in the hospital fighting for their lives, Connor Hilton was in a Friendswood Police Department interrogation room so that detectives could start to unravel the truth of what happened.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): How you doing, sir?
DETECTIVE SEAGO: This is Detective McCanless.
Det. Nick McCanless: I knew nothing about him … I kind of went in blind. … And so I had no idea if he was going to be aggressive towards me …
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS (police interview): I don’t know you, man. You know what I mean? I’m trying to get to know you, right? Just trying to understand, you know?
CONNOR HILTON: Yes, sir.
Det. Nick McCanless: Yes, sir. No, sir. …
Tracy Smith: Very polite.
Det. Nick McCanless: Very polite. … Not who I normally would sit across from and interview right after a shooting.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): Let me just cut straight to the chase …
It appeared the 17-year-old didn’t want to waste any time. He launched into a story and this time, he didn’t mention an argument. Instead, he said it was an accident.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): I don’t — I don’t know. It just all kind of — it just all happened (crying) …
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS: Tell me how the gun goes off.
CONNOR HILTON: It happened so fast. I – I — I had it in my hand. I — I really don’t know (crying). I was just standing next to Ethan. (Crying) I — I don’t know. … But I — I — I heard it —I heard it — I heard it go off.
Det. Nick McCanless: I’m letting him stick with his story about it just went off, right?
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): My f******* idiot self had the stupid finger on the trigger.
Det. Nick McCanless: So I’m like, OK, well, how did it go off the second time? … And so, I said, Connor …
DET. MCCANLESS (police interview): I’ve got two guys that are — that have both been shot in the head, right? So, you know what I mean? Like, how does that happen as an accident? That’s what I want you to explain to me …
That’s when Connor Hilton broke down.
Det. Nick McCanless: It’s like his whole personality, everything changed.
And so did his story, yet again.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): You know what, I need to be honest with you guys. I just need to be (crying) — Oh, my God. OK. I’ve had suicidal, homicidal thoughts for so long. I’ve — I — I — I went up (crying) — I went up to — to Ethan and just— (simulates shooting, crying) … I’m sorry for lying to you guys.
Detective: That’s OK.
CONNOR HILTON: I really am sorry.
And Connor didn’t stop there.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): I convinced my mom to buy that gun for me so I could either shoot myself or shoot somebody. Oh, this feels so much better. (gasps)
Connor told the detectives that he hadn’t told anyone, including his mom, that he had been experiencing those suicidal and homicidal thoughts.
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS (police interview): What did you think you were going to be able to achieve, to help you, by doing this tonight? Was it something you felt you had to do to be able to get this pressure off of you?
CONNOR HILTON: Yes. You — you said it right there. Those are the exact words … I know it’s going to sound really like psychopathic and just like straight up disgusting and just weird, but the idea of (crying) murder is just super interesting for me. I don’t know why. I don’t know why. It is. I don’t know why. (crying)
DETECTIVE SEAGO: Listen, listen, hey — it’s OK …
Det. Nick McCanless: That interview … was probably one of the most honest interviews I’ve ever had with a suspect in a case where literally they just poured everything out on the table. And like, you could see the sigh of relief …
Tracy Smith: So walk me though what Connor said happened.
Det. Nick McCanless: Connor says that he had planned this … His plan all along was to shoot his friends.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): Been planning it for so long.
But he said he had no specific target in mind. He had invited a whole group of friends over that night; Ethan and Ben just happened to be the ones who showed up.
15-YEAR-OLD (bodycam): I was convinced maybe he was gonna try to kill me, too.
As for that 15-year-old who went to the bathroom as soon as he got there? He simply got lucky.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): He closed the bathroom door. … I — I thought it was risky to either shoot through the door or go — ’cause he locked the door.
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS: OK.
CONNOR HILTON: And I’m really glad. I’m really. I’m so, so glad that he closed the door and I didn’t kill him. (crying)
Before the interview ended, Connor made yet another admission:
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): What I did was wrong. I need to do the punishment. I know that. But I also need help. I need really, really—I need some help. (crying)
Det. Nick McCanless: I could tell he was struggling that night with, I knew this is what I felt, I knew this is what I wanted to do, but how I got here? I don’t know. …
Connor Hilton was arrested on two counts of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury. That night, in jail, Hilton was allowed to make a phone call to his mother.
CONNOR HILTON (jail phone call): Mom, I need — I need help. I need like — like mental — like mental—like mentally help. (crying)
JOHNECE HILTON: I know, sweetheart. It’s OK. We’ll get it for you, OK?
CONNOR HILTON: I did—I did—I did a very bad thing.
The next day – Christmas Eve – Connor was released on bond.
Johnece Hilton: We … got him home … and then he just lost it, fell on the floor.
Neal Hilton: Yeah.
Johnece Hilton: Like crying (crying). …
Tracy Smith: Did he tell you what happened? …
Johnece Hilton: I — I couldn’t hear any of it. … I, like I, mentally, didn’t want to hear.
The Riley family spent their Christmas Eve in the hospital and were there when their son, Ethan, died.
On Christmas night, officers were back at Connor Hilton’s door to arrest him on a murder charge.
Connor Hilton: I look out the window and there’s a SWAT truck outside.
OFFICER (bodycam | officers enter home): Johnece —
JOHNECE HILTON: Yes, sir.
OFFICER: Hey, is he here?
Tracy Smith: They came in.
Connor Hilton: Yeah, they came in …
OFFICER (bodycam): Where’s he at?
OFFICER: Where’s he at?
JOHNECE HILTON: He’s right there. He’s right there.
OFFICER: Hands, hands, hands. Show me your hands.
Connor Hilton: I was kind of like in the back of the house sort of, and I just had my hands up.
OFFICER (bodycam): Turn around. Face away from me.
Tracy Smith: And they had their guns drawn?
Connor Hilton: Yes, ma’am.
OFFICER (bodycam): You’re under arrest for murder, OK bud? (Connor crying) Alright, come on, bro. …
JOHNECE HILTON: May I give him a hug?
OFFICER: No.
JOHNECE HILTON: No hugs?
OFFICER: No hugs.
NEAL HILTON: Connor —
OFFICER: Go. Let’s go.
NEAL HILTON: No hug? Hey, we love you, Connor.
JOHNECE HILTON: Please. I love you, bubby.
NEAL HILTON: Connor, we’re working on it, OK? Be strong.
Connor was booked into jail, but again, the stay was short-lived. He was eventually given a bond, and his family posted it.
As Connor’s parents began grappling with what their son had done, Shannon Bliek was still in the ICU with her son, Ben.
Shannon Bliek: His head was bandaged significantly.
She’ll never forget the moment she was first allowed to see him.
Shannon Bliek: I saw him, and I started to hyperventilate. … And a nurse grabbed me and hugged me. … I composed myself and I walked over … I said, “Benjamin, Ben, mama’s here.” And Ben opened his eyes. … Kind of like, I hear you, you know? …
If there is any good news in this story, it’s that Ben Bliek survived.
The Accutane defense
Shannon Bliek: He has shown more resilience and more grit than any person I could ever … even know. … It’s just like he’s on a mission to get better. And he just does it.
Shannon Bliek believes it’s a miracle her son Ben survived.
Shannon Bliek: Both bone flaps were removed, meaning the two big parts of the — the skull. … He had a tracheotomy put in to breathe and he had a feeding tube put in to eat. … And he was paralyzed on the right side.
Following the shooting, Ben spent more than three weeks in the hospital before being transferred to an inpatient rehab. Not long after arriving there, remarkably, he was up and walking.
Shannon Bliek: He was working so hard, so hard. …
According to Shannon, Ben would stay in that rehab for over a month.
Shannon Bliek: He had to learn to swallow again. I mean, everything.
During that time, Shannon shielded her son from the details of the shooting. Ben doesn’t remember anything from that night. It wasn’t until he came across an article on his mom’s phone that he learned his friend Connor Hilton pulled the trigger—and that his best friend, Ethan Riley, was killed.
CBS News 
Ben Bliek: I was really sad. …
Tracy Smith: What was Ethan like?
Ben Bliek: He was just an outstanding guy. (emotional) … He … looked on things with a positive light (emotional). …
Tracy Smith: You learned that this guy that you were friendly with was the one who shot you and shot Ethan. …
Ben Bliek: I was furious …
But Ben forced himself to stay focused on his recovery. At that point, Connor Hilton was out on house arrest awaiting trial. His parents say they were still dumbfounded.
Neal Hilton: We knew that our son, not in a million years, in his right mind would do that. We knew that. …
Tracy Smith: You think he wasn’t in his right mind?
Neal Hilton: Oh yeah, he definitely wasn’t. … In his right mind, he would never do this. … He’s always been the sweetest, loving boy ever.
In search of an explanation, Connor’s father Neal began researching a prescription acne medication his son had been taking called Accutane. The drug label warns of risk of “depression, psychosis … suicide, and aggressive and/or violent behaviors.” Neal encouraged his son’s lawyers to look into it.
Alamy 
Adam Brown, J.L. Carpenter and Rick DeToto make up Connor’s defense team.
J.L. Carpenter: Connor had … no trouble with the law, no trouble with school …
Adam Brown: This doesn’t make sense. …
Rick DeToto: Something changed. … The kid changed. What changed him? …
J.L. Carpenter: What it came down to in our research was the acne medication. … And my research led me to Dr. Bremner.
Dr. Doug Bremner: My name is Dr. Doug Bremner. I’m a professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory University School of Medicine …
J.L. Carpenter: His CV is 96 pages long. …
Adam Brown: We didn’t play around when we got our expert …
J.L. Carpenter: I don’t think there’s another human being on this Earth who knows more about this topic … than Dr. Douglas Bremner.
Dr. Bremner says he has done extensive research on isotretinoin, the generic version of Accutane. The drug is sold under several brand names. He also gets paid to testify in cases.
Dr. Doug Bremner: It’s a very strong medication … There’s a large number of people, you know, throughout the world that have experienced side effects from it … including psychiatric side effects.
Tracy Smith: Why is it still on the market?
Dr. Doug Bremner: Well, it’s a great treatment for acne, especially … severe acne that’s cystic.
And that’s what Connor Hilton says he has.
Connor Hilton: Ever since I was little, I’ve always had these bumps … on my bottom … Sometimes on my arm pit. … They would be extremely painful. … I couldn’t even walk. Like, that’s how bad they were … We tried all sorts of medicine to … make it go away. … And then one day we went to the dermatologist, and they said, hey, we’re gonna give you Accutane.
That was in late July 2022, about a year-and-a-half before the shooting. Connor was 15 at the time. His mother signed a document acknowledging the risks. According to court-admitted dermatology records, about a month later, Connor reported that he stopped taking the medication because he was “feeling symptoms of depression.”
Connor Hilton: I was feeling real down … and didn’t really feel like doing anything.
But Bremner interviewed Connor at the defense’s request, and Connor told him that he wasn’t completely honest back then. He said that it was after he started on the medication that he began experiencing homicidal thoughts, too.
CBS News 
Tracy Smith: Did you tell anybody that you were having these thoughts? Did you try to get help? …
Connor Hilton: I was scared to tell people of my actual thoughts because I didn’t wanna go to a mental hospital and people think I’m crazy.
Connor told Bremner that when he stopped taking the medication, the thoughts subsided.
Connor Hilton: They slowly disappeared. … I was feeling more energetic, more like will to do stuff … but I was also in pain ’cause of the bumps. They got worse again because I wasn’t taking Accutane …
In January 2023, after several months of being off the medication, Connor’s dermatology records show that he went back on it. This time, he was given a lower dose than initially prescribed.
Tracy Smith: Were you at all apprehensive? Like, oh, this messed with my mind the first time maybe I shouldn’t go back on this stuff. …
Connor Hilton: The bumps were so painful. I — I just needed something to cure it because it was so un — it was just unbearable. …
Tracy Smith: Did the thoughts come back?
Connor Hilton: Yes, ma’am … slowly, but yes, it did, suicidal and homicidal thoughts. …
Connor told Bremner that the thoughts eventually became consuming.
Connor Hilton: It just amplified the longer I was on it.
But he never reported any issues to his dermatologist again.
Connor would continue taking the medication on and off for the next 11 months — up until the time of the shooting. Connor told Bremner that on that day, he took double his prescribed dose.
Dr. Doug Bremner: He said that he had missed the dose the day before. So instead of taking two pills, he took four pills. …
After pulling the trigger that night, Connor said he stopped taking Accutane and never experienced homicidal thoughts again. After speaking to Connor, and reviewing the evidence in the case, Bremner formed an opinion.
Tracy Smith: Why do you believe Connor Hilton shot his friends that night?
Dr. Doug Bremner: I think he became psychotic on Accutane, and he had recurrent homicidal ideation that he was not able to control …
Bremner is firm in his opinion.
Dr. Doug Bremner: These … thoughts did not occur before he took Accutane. … He went off the drug and those thoughts went away. And then he started the drug again and the thoughts came back. So that’s considered to be proof basically of a causal effect between a drug and a symptom. …
Tracy Smith: You know that people are gonna look at this and say, this is just a family looking for an excuse for the horrible thing that their kid did.
Dr. Doug Bremner: Well, I think that, you know, there was no motivation, there was no history whatsoever of conflict. … This person was psychotic. …
JG Pharma, the distributor listed on the box of Accutane that Connor Hilton was taking at the time of the shooting, did not respond to “48 Hours”‘ request for comment.
But Connor’s defense attorneys would build their entire case around Bremner’s opinion, even though they were unaware of any other homicide case in which an Accutane defense worked.
Adam Brown: You see this kid … you see how upset he is, you see how remorseful he is. … It’s not just some young man deciding, I’m just gonna go on this rampage. That’s not what we have here. …
But prosecutors wouldn’t be so convinced.
Kayla Allen: It’s not Accutane, he was evil.
What led Connor Hilton to kill?
In August 2025, just weeks before Connor Hilton’s murder trial was scheduled to begin, a hearing was held to determine whether defense expert Dr. Doug Bremner would be allowed to testify.
Rick DeToto: He’s the most qualified expert I’ve ever had on a case.
Defense attorney Rick DeToto had to convince a judge that the doctor’s testimony was reliable and relevant.
Rick DeToto: What we’re arguing is that through the expert … Connor … was in psychosis from the Accutane and he could not control himself. … Murder … has gotta be done intentionally and knowingly. … He could not control his behavior. And that takes out the element of intentionally and knowingly in murder. …
At the hearing, Dr. Bremner testified that it was his opinion that Hilton was suffering from a medication psychotic disorder on the night of the incident.
CONNOR HILTON (bodycam | night of shooting): (Wails) Why did I do this? (stomps feet)
He pointed to a study he conducted which found that isotretinoin, the generic version of Accutane, impacts a part of the brain that regulates emotion.
Dr. Douglas Bremner 
DR. DOUG BREMNER (at hearing): There’s the brain on the left before treatment; and then, after three months of treatment, you can see there’s a — a visible decrease in function in the upper part of the brain.
A slide from Bremner’s study shown at the hearing(pictured above), shows a reddish area on the brain on the left that’s not on the right. Bremner says that illustrates the brain on Accutane has less activity.
RICK DETOTO (at hearing): Why is that important to what we have been talking about?
DR. DOUG BREMNER: Because we know that that part of the brain is involved in depression and also impulsivity.
Ben Bliek and his mother were in the courtroom.
Ben Bliek: It is a bunch of horse s***.
Shannon Bliek: It was very convincing listening to that gentleman speak. … And then once questions were asked on the prosecution side … It just fell apart.
PROSECUTOR SHAWN CONNALLY: Have you ever performed a brain scan of Connor Hilton?
DR. DOUG BREMNER: No.
Tracy Smith: What was your reaction when you heard that their defense was going to be that this acne medication caused psychosis?
Kayla Allen: Well, I thought it was ridiculous. …
Kayla Allen is the lead prosecutor on the case.
Kayla Allen: I don’t think a jury was going to buy the Accutane … made me do it defense.
At the hearing, prosecutors argued Bremner’s testimony should be excluded. And they introduced a more recent study that found that: “… isotretinoin users do not have an increased risk of suicide or psychiatric conditions …” For Allen, the case is simple:
Kayla Allen: I think that he just wanted to see what it felt like to kill someone.
Tracy Smith: And that had nothing to do with the acne medication he was on?
Kayla Allen: I don’t believe it did. No. …
She argues Connor was in his right mind at the time of the shooting and points to that statement he made on scene as proof.
Kayla Allen: He tried to make a statement … That … one of the boys had come at him.
CONNOR HILTON (bodycam): We got into an argument …
CONNOR HILTON (bodycam): Ethan … he tried to come at me, and … he — he — he — he tried to grab for my throat. …
Kayla Allen: He’s working a self-defense argument right from the beginning. … Someone … who’s insane at the time they’ve committed a crime can’t automatically start forming a defense for themselves. … By the time he got to the police station, it was like, look, I’m sorry, I lied to you. I’m not gonna lie to you anymore. I’m gonna tell you the truth.
And Allen says Connor’s police interview is also key.
Kayla Allen: He told police officers that he had been planning it.
He had acknowledged that he knew right from wrong, too.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): I need to do the punishment. I know what I did was wrong …
Kayla Allen: He knew by loading that gun … and putting it up to someone and pulling that trigger that he was going to kill them. … That’s what he wanted to do. …
Tracy Smith: These were his friends.
Kayla Allen: Yes.
Tracy Smith: Why would he shoot them?
Kayla Allen: I don’t know. …
Tracy Smith: Because there’s no clear motive in this case, doesn’t that support the defense’s argument that Connor went into some sort of a psychosis?
Kayla Allen: I don’t think it does. … There’s just people that are evil and do evil things.
Allen argues Connor Hilton is one of those people.
Tracy Smith: Had you ever seen Connor pull out this gun before?
Ben Bliek: Yeah.
Neal Hilton 
His friends told detectives about things he’d said in the months leading up to the shooting.
Kayla Allen: He would say, one day I wanna be important. … I wanna leave a legacy. And he would make comments about killing people.
And detectives also pulled Connor’s online activity. On YouTube, he downloaded numerous videos about murder. His social media posts referenced it as well. Connor’s friends reported this post was made just hours before the shooting — it contains the lyrics, “Murder one, better run … Killing plenty is so fun.”
J.L. Carpenter: That’s chemically induced …
Connor’s defense attorneys argue Connor became obsessed with murder after he went on Accutane.
Tracy Smith: So, all of that can be blamed on the acne medication?
J.L. Carpenter: Absolutely.
And they say the police investigation supports their case, because several of Connor’s friends told police they noticed a change in him during sophomore year, which was after he went on the drug.
Tracy Smith: And when you say they noticed a change, what are they saying?
J.L. Carpenter: He was starting to isolate. He was getting more involved into true crime. He wanted to be a homicide detective. …
But Allen insists Connor’s behavior had nothing to do with Accutane.
Kayla Allen: That’s just what the defense wants the community to believe because it gives them an excuse. … He was having problems already before Accutane was even introduced in his life about not wanting to go to school …
In fact, Connor was prescribed the antidepressant Prozac months before he started on Accutane. But Connor says he was only struggling with normal teenage anxiety then.
Connor Hilton: I was a freshman. I was nervous. … Do I fit in? Do I not? …
Tracy Smith: And during that freshman year, did you have suicidal, homicidal thoughts?
Connor Hilton: No, ma’am.
But after that hearing to determine whether Bremner would be allowed to testify, the judge dealt the defense a blow and ruled Bremner would only be allowed to testify during the punishment phase of the trial, if necessary.
J.L. Carpenter: So, in Texas, we have two phases, guilt/innocence, and then if there’s a guilty verdict, the punishment phase. …
Tracy Smith: So, what will you do during the first phase of the trial, the guilt/innocence phase, if you can’t present your expert? …
Rick DeToto: There’s not much you can do. You just have to sit there and take it and wait ’til you get to punishment. And then we put on an aggressive case regarding the Accutane.
There was still a lot on the line. Because in Texas criminal court, Connor Hilton was considered an adult, and a jury could sentence him to as little as five years in prison all the way up to 99 years — or life.
Tracy Smith: How high are the stakes here?
Adam Brown: I don’t think you get much higher
J.L. Carpenter: It’s a kid’s life.
Survivor faces his shooter in court
Two weeks before Connor Hilton was set to stand trial, there was a big development. Prosecutors offered him a deal: 50 years in prison if he pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He would also have to waive his right to appeal.
Neal Hilton: We know … Connor would’ve never done this if it wasn’t for the Accutane. …
Tracy Smith: So, you didn’t wanna take the plea deal?
Neal Hilton: I didn’t.
Tracy Smith: You didn’t wanna take the plea deal?
Johnece Hilton: No. No. …
Tracy Smith: But Connor?
Neal Hilton: Well, he did. …
Tracy Smith: What did Connor tell you?
Johnece Hilton: I don’t want the families to have to go through that. (crying)
They say their son didn’t want Ethan Riley’s family and Ben Bliek and his family to have to suffer through a trial. And he also didn’t want to risk receiving a life sentence.
Neal Hilton: He was trying to get us on board with it … And I said, “Bud,” I said, “it’s just a long time.” (emotional)
But ultimately, the decision was Connor’s and he chose to accept the deal. Connor’s defense attorneys say they didn’t counsel him one way or the other, but they believe he made the right call.
Rick DeToto: I think the consensus between the three of us was there was a very strong possibility that he would get life. … That bodycam video walking in the house … It’s a very difficult bodycam video to watch.
But while Connor Hilton and his defense team had worried about the possibility of a life sentence, prosecutor Kayla Allen had worried about the opposite.
Kayla Allen: My main concern was he was a young kid. … And I think that at times it hurts jury’s hearts to sentence a young kid to life. … We did not plea the case because we were worried about the Accutane … It was more his age. …
She says she offered the deal only after confirming the victims’ families were on board.
On Sept. 2, 2025, a plea hearing was held.
JUDGE REBECCA MILLO: It’s my understanding you’re here this morning to enter a plea on both of these charges. Is that correct?
CONNOR HILTON: Yes, your Honor. (crying)
JUDGE REBECCA MILLO: How do you plea to each of these charges?
CONNOR HILTON: Guilty.
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Ben Bliek: He was crying because he was going to prison. And not because —
Shannon Bliek: He felt bad for what he did. …
Tracy Smith: Do you think that Connor’s acne medication played any role? …
Ben Bliek: No.
Shannon Bliek: No. … We know a lot of people who’ve taken that medication.
Tracy Smith: And they don’t have homicidal tendencies?
Shannon Bliek: Correct. …
Tracy Smith: Why do you think Connor pulled the trigger?
Ben Bliek: Because he wanted to murder somebody.
After Connor Hilton formally accepted the plea, Ben got the chance to make a victim impact statement. He made it clear to Connor how he felt.
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BEN BLIEK (in court): First of all, stop sniveling. Stop crying. You did this to yourself … Secondly, the grief you have caused the Rileys, and my own family, I will never forgive you. …
Shannon addressed the court next. She turned her attention to Connor’s mother.
SHANNON BLIEK (in court): We are all living this nightmare because a mother chose not to tell her son no when he asked her to buy a gun … This mother put the gun in the hand of a child who should not have had it … Shame on you.
Remember, Connor had told police his mother bought him the gun.
CONNOR HILTON (police interview): I convinced my mom to buy that gun for me …
And in the hours after the crime, Johnece also told that to police.
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS (police interview): What was the reason for buying the gun?
JOHNECE HILTON: He wanted to get it.
DETECTIVE MCCANLESS: OK.
But when we interviewed both Connor and Johnece Hilton, they denied that the gun was purchased for him.
Johnece Hilton: I purchased that for myself …
Tracy Smith: Why did you tell the police that you did buy it for him?
Johnece Hilton: I have no idea. I — I don’t even remember that — they showed me the interview. (crying) I don’t have — I have no memory of that. …
Tracy Smith: Do you think you were covering for him? Why would you say that?
Johnece Hilton: I have no idea. I have no idea. (crying)
Johnece Hilton has not been charged with any crime in connection with the case. And even though she bought the gun less than two months before the crime, she insists she had no idea her son was homicidal.
Tracy Smith: There were these social media posts that he made about murder cases.
Johnece Hilton: Mm-hmm.
Tracy Smith: He watched a lot of murder videos.
Johnece Hilton: Yes. …
Tracy Smith: Weren’t these warning signs?
Johnece Hilton: No, I didn’t think so. …
The Hiltons continue to blame the acne medication.
Tracy Smith: You bought the gun in November. You didn’t see any effects of the acne medication, psychologically, that would lead you to think I shouldn’t have a gun in the house?
Neal Hilton: I didn’t.
Johnece Hilton: I didn’t, no. …
Still, Johnece says she lives with an enormous amount of regret.
Johnece Hilton: And I’m so sorry that this happened, and — and I do feel responsible. (crying) … I wish I could go back and change everything. … I wouldn’t not have purchased the firearm. I wouldn’t have made him take the acne medicine. (crying)
The last person to address the court during Connor Hilton’s plea hearing was Matthew Riley, Ethan Riley’s father.
MATTHEW RILEY (in court): I sit here with so much love—love in my heart for my son, Ethan Matthew Riley.
Ethan’s mother, Tara Riley, stood behind him. They declined “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview.
Ethan Riley obituary 
MATTHEW RILEY (in court): He is a beautiful soul, full of love and light … You could see that light in his eyes and hear it in his laughter … (emotional)
After that, Connor Hilton was taken into custody. We spoke to him inside the Galveston County Jail the next day.
Connor Hilton (in jail): Just the feeling of loneliness yesterday was unbearable. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I did it to myself. I’m the reason why I’m here. But it — it just — it sucks. …
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For Ben Bliek, everyday life remains a challenge. He plays pickle ball and basketball to help restore his mobility — but he says one person has helped him the most.
Ben Bliek: My mom. (Mom becomes emotional) … She’s always there for me. …
Tracy Smith: Can you explain how difficult this has been?
Ben Bliek: It is very difficult, but pouting about it is not going to get Ethan back. (crying) So —
Shannon Bliek: You just gotta keep going.
Ben Bliek: Yeah. …
Connor Hilton will be eligible for parole in August 2050. He will be 43 years old.
Produced by Stephanie Slifer. Gary Winter and Doreen Schechter are the producer-editors. Jenna Jackson is the development producer. Emma Steele is the field producer. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
