Missing
Margaret R. Dash
Dash, approximately 1974; Cleveland Hill in 1989
Date and time person was reported missing : 06/14/1974
Missing location (approx) :
Clearwater, Florida
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
Black
DOB : 12/13/1935 (85)
Age at the time of disappearance: 38 years old
Height / Weight : 5'6, 142 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A black and white checkered pantsuit, white sandals, and a white gold ring set with one large diamond surrounded by several smaller diamonds.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Some Age at the time of disappearance: ncies give Dash's first name as "Sharon." Sharon is, in fact, her daughter's name, and Dash never used that name herself.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Dash was last seen on June 14, 1974, when she left her residence in the 1100 block of Wildwood Street in Clearwater, Florida to buy medicine for a sick relative. She has never been heard from again. Her husband reported her missing the next day. He passed a polygraph in connection with her case and was ruled out as a suspect.
Dash had borrowed her teenAge at the time of disappearance: daughter's car when she left home. The vehicle, a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass with the Florida license plate number 4W50436 and a missing left front hubcap, was found abandoned in a parking lot in St. Petersburg, Florida a month after she was last seen. She left $8,000 behind in her checking account.
Authorities believe Dash's case may be related to the disappearances of Donyelle Johnson and Retha Hiers. All three women had been dating Cleveland Hill Jr., a married asphalt contractor and a former minister at the Dash family's church, when they disappeared.
Hill had told Dash's husband about the affair and apologized, but the relationship continued for months afterwards. Dash eventually decided to end it, but she told her husband that when she tried to tell Hill their relationship was over, he threatened to kill her.
Hill served a prison sentence for two accounts of assault after he shot his wife and mother-in-law in 1968, and in 1992 he was convicted of drug trafficking. He was released from prison in 2008 and now lives in Virginia.
He has never been charged in connection with any of the missing women's cases and he maintains his innocence. A photo of Hill is posted with this case summary.
The missing women did not know each other and authorities have found no connection between them other than their association with Hill. Foul play is suspected in all three cases, which remain unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Clearwater Police Department
727-562-4080
September 2021 updates and sources
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
The Tampa Tribune
Clearwater Police Department
The St. Petersburg Times
Tampa Bays 10
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
