Finnis ‘Pete’ Hill charged with rape, murder of Cayce McDaniel

GIBSON COUNTY, Tenn.– After 23 years, charges have been brought in the case of a missing Milan teenager.

According to a news release from District Attorney Garry Brown, Finnis ‘Pete’ Hill was indicted by a special-called Gibson County grand jury with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated rape in the abduction of 14-year-old Cayce Lynn McDaniel.

Family members say Cayce McDaniel was last seen the night of Aug. 16, 1996, after she was dropped off at home by a chaperone after church. She was reported missing in the early hours of August 17.

In July of 2018, Milan Police Chief Bobby Sellers confirmed Hill was a suspect in the case. Hill is currently in federal custody on unrelated charges of coercion of a minor and attempting to engage in sexual contact with a minor, according to the release..

“District Attorney General Garry Brown would like to acknowledge and thank law enforcement for their relentless efforts in the pursuit of justice for Cayce Lynn, her family and the citizens of the State of Tennessee,” Brown said in the release.

Hill is charged with one count of premeditated first-degree murder, one count of first-degree murder in perpetration of felony rape, one count of aggravated rape resulting in bodily injury and one count of aggravated rape by the use of a deadly weapon.

Hill will be arraigned in Gibson County Circuit Court in Trenton. He is being held without bond.