Monday, November 14th 2016, 11:54 am
Monday, the parents of Amber Hilberling went on the Dr. Phil Show to talk about their daughter's death.
A jury convicted Hilberling in 2013 of pushing her husband, Josh, out of their high-rise apartment, killing him.
She received a 25-year sentence for 2nd-degree murder but died in jail on October 24, 2016. The Medical Examiner ruled her death was suicide by hanging.
10/24/2016 Related Story: Medical Examiner Rules Amber Hilberling's Death Suicide By Hanging
The interview is pretty shocking. The family said they don't believe their daughter died the way the jail said she did.
It was a controversial and emotional interview with Dr. Phil McGraw as Hilberling’s mother and stepfather, Rhonda and Bryan Whitlock, talked about her death in prison.
McGraw: “Just a few weeks ago we got an alarming text from Amber's mother, it said Amber is dead."
Rhonda: "To me, the world killed her. I mean, everything in this was wrong."
Hilberling’s mother was distraught in the interview and claimed her daughter was wrongfully convicted and said her daughter did not kill herself.
Rhonda: "Of course she's sad. She's wrongly accused of murdering her husband, she's away from her child, but she, she wasn't suicidal."
Bryan: "The stories are different.”
Rhonda: “None of them add up.”
Bryan: “It sounds like somebody is trying to cover something up. We don't know what that is."
Rhonda Whitlock claims someone from the Mabel Bassett Corrections Center called her work phone and left a message for her to call the jail.
When she did, she said it took hours to hear, “It was just, ‘She's dead. She is dead.’"
In the interview, both parents say no one would give them any information about Amber's death and that at one point they were told to "Watch the news."
McGraw: “And what did you learn on television?”
Rhonda: “We found out that she hung herself on the news."
Both parents said they're still pushing for answers in their daughter’s death.
At the end of the interview, Hilberling's parents said they don't hate anyone after what's happened, they just want less hate.
After the Dr. Phil episode aired, we reached out to the victim advocate for Josh Hilberling’s family but never heard back.
November 14th, 2016
October 28th, 2024
October 17th, 2024
August 30th, 2024
October 31st, 2024
October 31st, 2024
October 31st, 2024
October 31st, 2024