Neighbor describes double murder scene that sparked Mason County manhunt
Mar 27, 2026, 9:10 AM
Robert T. Child, 60 in custody. (Photo courtesy of the Mason County Sheriff's Office)
(Photo courtesy of the Mason County Sheriff's Office)
A Mason County neighbor is speaking out after finding himself at the center of a shocking crime scene that prompted a 24-hour manhunt.
According to investigators, Robert Child killed his wife and another man Tuesday night before going on the run.
The deadly shootings happened at a family home in the normally quiet Hoodsport. One of the victims’ trucks remains at the home days after the crime.
A neighbor told KIRO 7 he ran to the house seconds after the deadly shots were fired.
“I’ve been replaying that in my brain,” Caleb McGill, who lives next door, said. “Haven’t been able to sleep much because of it.”
Child is accused of shooting and killing his recently estranged wife, Anna Child, and another man, Jason Hilde. McGill got to the house seconds later and called 911.
“The things I saw, I’m going to be messed up for life,” he said.
McGill told KIRO 7 he lived next to Child for three years and considered him a friend.
He said Tuesday night, he heard half a dozen gunshots from his bedroom, just feet away from Child’s front door. He recalled dropping to the floor, then grabbing a gun and rushing outside.
He said he saw Child driving away in his truck when he got outside.
“I put my weapon down and I said, ‘Rob, what the f are you doing?'” McGill said. “He looked at me and said, with huge eyes, you could tell the adrenaline was pumping, ‘He pointed a gun at me so I had to kill him.’ I said, ‘What are you doing?’ And he drove off.”
McGill said he ran to the house and saw Jason Hilde dead in the doorway with a hysterical teenage boy standing over him.
McGill said he pulled a teenage boy out of the house and sent him to a neighbor’s home while he waited for deputies to arrive. He shared an image with KIRO 7 of a magazine-fed shotgun sitting near the home’s entrance.
“I saw the murder weapon right there, leaned up against the door,” he said.
Investigators spent the next 24 hours looking for Child and a pair of trucks connected to him.
According to Sheriff Ryan Spurling, deputies were tipped off that he was at a gas station near Shelton Wednesday evening and he was arrested without incident.
“I think he snapped and I think he’s probably really regretting things today,” McGill said. “I hope he is, anyway. I hope he’s talking to God and trying to figure things out, what he’s going to do next because he’s got some explaining to do.”
Child was in court Thursday. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and a count of burglary. His bail is set at $5 million.
