Kimberly Hill and her family had been visiting their hunting and fishing camp in West Forks for years before Hill died early Sunday morning on U.S. Route 201.
Police say Hill, 33, of Wiscasset, may have jumped from a moving pickup truck driven by her boyfriend, Tyler Poland, 29, of Greene, in The Forks.
“They’re a very nice family. Our whole community really enjoys it when they’re up to camp,” said Brandon Berry, of Berry’s General Store in West Forks. “They’ve had a camp up here for quite awhile. They’ve been coming here for as long as I can remember. It’s always a pleasure when they come to the store.”
Hill’s parents, John and Sheila Hill, own the camp on U.S. Route 201 just north of the store, Berry said. A telephone number listed under the Hills’ name is no longer in service.
According to her obituary in the Boothbay Register, Hill, whom friends and family called Kimi, enjoyed time at the West Forks camp, “whether it was spending time around a poker table, telling stories around a fire ring, or searching for the perfect pond.”
Hill had two children, 9-year-old twins Macie and Brody. Neither of the children was in the 2016 GMC Denali pickup around 2 a.m. Sunday, when Poland called 911 to report she had been hurt after she somehow left the moving vehicle.
Berry said family members were always nice, polite and happy. They enjoyed fishing and hunting and came to West Forks most weekends, he said.
“They had a lot of fun up here; I’m sure they had a lot of good memories up here,” Berry said. “The grandchildren loved the camp. They were into outdoor stuff. This is obviously a very tragic situation.”
Joe Christopher, owner of Three Rivers Whitewater Rafting and The Inn by the River, both on U.S. 201, said he and his employees provided coffee and breakfast sandwiches early Sunday to police and emergency medical personnel at the scene.
“All I can say it was a very unfortunate accident that resulted in a fatality, and we did the best we could first-aid-wise and assisted the state police as best we could,” Christopher said. “It was right there near Three Rivers, by Kelly Brook. There was a couple different scenes to the accident. It was right there on 201 near Three Rivers.”
Hill’s family hasn’t been available for comment, but the obituary said that her children with Matthew Stiers, of Bath, were the center of her life and she “lived every day striving to ensure Macie and Brody felt loved, unique, protected and cherished.”
“Kimi could light up any room she walked into with her infectious smile. She savored every sunny day, every beautiful moment, every cherished memory. She found joy in life’s littlest moments,” the obituary said.
Hill and Poland had been dating for at least a year, Poland’s brother, Lance Poland, told the Portland Press Herald on Monday. He said he did not know how or why Hill left the moving vehicle.
Poland called 911 around 2 a.m. Sunday. Police said he put her body into the truck cab and drove south, asking first responders to meet him on the road. When they arrived, Hill was already dead.
State police detectives joined Somerset County sheriff’s deputies Sunday morning, and a section of the road was closed to traffic for a time as they gathered evidence. Hill’s body was examined by the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta.
Steve McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said Tuesday there was no new information on the accident.
“This will be a week of investigation seeking a number of answers,” McCausland said by phone Tuesday. “We will continue to consult with the medical examiner. We’re going to examine the truck, and there’s evidence that will be examined at the crime lab as well.”
McCausland said Monday that Hill’s body was found in the cab of Poland’s truck, not in the bed of it as initially reported by first responders.
Poland, 29, was driving south on U.S. 201, taking Hill to the nearest hospital, possibly Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, when first responders met the truck, McCausland said. Poland called 911 to report the incident just after 2 a.m. Sunday, according to McCausland.
Poland has a checkered driving record that involves several motor vehicle accidents, and he has served several short jail sentences for criminal convictions, according to state crash reports.
Poland crashed most recently in Lewiston on Jan. 30, when he fell asleep while driving at 5:11 p.m. and crossed the centerline on Alfred Plourde Parkway, striking a Cadillac SUV with his 2015 GMC pickup.
He also crashed in Greene last Sept. 23 while driving a passenger van on Quaker Ridge Road. Records show he cut off an oncoming car while trying to make a turn. Poland initially left the scene on foot but later came back and was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving injury.
On May 18, 2014, Poland crashed in Wiscasset at dusk when the vehicle in front of him turned from Bath Road onto Birch Point Road. Poland swerved off the road and into the side of the other vehicle after it had made the turn.
He was in another accident on March 8, 2013, crashing at 11:21 p.m. into a utility pole and the exit sign of a fast food restaurant in Auburn. Hill was in the passenger seat of the pickup truck when it crashed. The police report lists Poland’s condition at the time as “under the influence of medications/drugs/alcohol.”
Poland’s criminal record dates back to 2005, when he was first charged with operating under the influence by the University of Maine police in Orono. He was fined in that case and his license was suspended. In 2007 he was sentenced to three days in jail for a disorderly conduct conviction in Bangor.
And in March 2015, Poland was sentenced to 14 days in jail for convictions on a felony charge of assault on a police officer and a misdemeanor obstruction charge. He also was sentenced to a day in jail while that case was pending for a conviction on a charge of violating bail conditions.
Hill’s funeral is at noon Saturday at 150 Congress Ave. in Bath, at the former United Congregational Church. Visiting hours are 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at Daigle Funeral Home, 819 High St., Bath.
A fund has been been set up for Hill’s children, the Macie and Brody Benefit Fund, in care of her sister, Madeleine Hill, P.O. Box 28, South Freeport, ME 04078.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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