CNN’s John Walsh To Highlight Ex-Cop Accused Of Goose Creek Murder, Molestation

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–John Walsh, who previously hosted “America’s Most Wanted” for more than 20 years, wants to catch every fugitive profiled on his new CNN show, “The Hunt,” including accused ex-cop Daniel William Hiers.

“I have been looking for Dan Hiers for over 10 years. I had the ‘John Walsh Personal 10 Most Wanted,’ and Dan Hiers is still on that list,” Walsh recently told CNN. “He gives cops a bad name.”

On Sunday night’s episode, airing at 9 p.m. on CNN, Walsh will highlight the Hiers case once again. Hiers is presently on the U.S. Marshal’s ’15 Most Wanted Fugitives’ list.

Hiers seemed to be a good cop, a faithful public servant for the city of Charleston.  But according to authorities, he betrayed his badge in the worst way, using it to gain the trust of a single mother with a young daughter, then allegedly molesting the 10-year-old child over a period of months.

On November 24, 2004, Hiers, 32, was arrested by the North Charleston Police Department for committing lewd acts on a child under the age of 16 and was released on bond. He was promptly suspended from the police force.
The Dorchester County, SC Sheriff’s Department subsequently filed additional charges against Hiers for first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Hiers was scheduled to surrender on those charges on March 15, 2005, but failed to meet his lawyer at the sheriff’s department. When Hiers’ mother looked for him at his Goose Creek house, he was nowhere to be found. What was found in Hiers’ bedroom was the body of his 24-year-old wife, Ludimila, killed with a gunshot to the head.

Neighbors observed Hiers leaving the house several hours before the gruesome discovery was made. On March 31, 2005, the Goose Creek Police Department obtained an arrest warrant for Hiers, alleging that he murdered his wife.

Despite an intensive manhunt, South Carolina authorities have been unable to locate Hiers, and requested the assistance of “Operation Intercept”, a U.S. Marshals-led fugitive task force. The U.S. Marshals Service has obtained a federal warrant for Hiers for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

“This is a coward, a child molester, and a brutal murderer of a woman who loved him so much,” Walsh stated. “He’s cunning, he’s smart, a former cop, and lucky. And someday his luck’s gonna run out.”

According to CNN, this episode will mark the first on-camera appearance of Hiers’ alleged molestation victim, now an adult. “I want him caught because he killed his wife. And because of what, you know, he did to me, but more for what he did to Mila,” she tells “The Hunt.”

Hiers is described as a white male, age 32, 6’03”, 210 pounds with blues eyes and blond hair. He has eleven years of police experience, is trained in the martial arts, and maintains a high level of fitness. He is believed to be armed with a .40 caliber Glock pistol and may possess a bullet-resistant vest. The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a reward for information directly leading to Hiers’ arrest.