48 Hours - Post Mortem | The Rx Defense

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

48 Hours correspondent Anne-Marie Green and CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith discuss the case of Connor Hilton. He was a 17-year-old in 2023 when he shot two teen boys and claimed his prescription acne medication drove him to kill. They dig into the science behind Hilton’s defense, his demeanor in interviews, and the survivor story of Benjamin Bliek, who believes that Hilton’s actions had nothing to do with his medication. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to postmortem. I'm your host, Anne-Marie Green. And today we are discussing the case of 17-year-old Connor Hilton, who shot two of his friends, Ethan Riley and Benjamin Bleak. After they arrived at his home in Texas for scheduled hangout on December 23, 2023. Ben miraculously survived. But when Ethan died in the hospital, Connor was charged with murder and aggravated assault. with a deadly weapon. And his defense, that he was on a prescription acne medication called Accutane that completely altered his thoughts and behavior. So joining me today to talk about this fascinating case at CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith. Tracy, thank you so much for joining us. Hi, Edmarie. Thanks for having me. I want to remind the listeners, if you haven't listened to this 48 hours episode, the audio version, head on over to your podcast feed. You can find the full audio version just below this episode in the feed, go take a listen and then come on back for this conversation. All right, Tracy, let us get into this very unique defense strategy.

Connor's defense team found an expert in isotretinoid, which is the generic version of acutane. And through this expert, Connor's defense team argued that Connor was driven to kill due to the side effects of acutane, which the expert says, caused Connor to have a recurrent homicidal ideation that he simply wasn't able to control. Now, I know that Accutane comes with side effects, and sometimes those side effects can be, you know, quite powerful. But I'd never heard of anyone being driven to kill because of it. Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either. If you look at the label, the label does warn of risk of depression, psychosis, suicide, and aggressive or violent behaviors.

And there have been other homicide cases that people have tried to use acutane as a defense, but none of those have been successful. As a mom, I know kids who've been on acutane, and it's a wonder drug for a lot of teenagers who struggle with acne. And a lot of people are on this drug and don't suffer any severe adverse reactions. And we did reach out to JG. Pharma about this case, and they did not respond to our requests for comment. They are the folks who distribute the acutane that Connor Hilton was on at the time of the shooting. So then let's talk about the science that the defense's expert presented. What do we know

about it? The defense's expert is Dr. Doug Bremner, and he's a professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory University School of Medicine. And Dr. Bremner says he's done extensive research on the drug isotone, which is the generic version of acutane. He showed these brain scans where he says you can see the difference between the brain without isot retinine and then the brain when someone is on isotretinoin. The scans show that there's less activity in part of the brain that regulates emotions when a person is on isotretnoin. And according to Dr. Bremener, there are a large number of people who have psychiatric effects when they are on isotretinoin. And he believes that in Conner's case, he was suffering from a medication psychotic disorder. at the time of the shooting.

And it's important to note that Connor told Dr. Bremener that on the day of the shooting, he took double the prescribed dose of his acne medication. Okay, so here's the thing, though. He had been taking this medication for a while. You spoke to his parents, and you asked them whether or not they had seen any red flags in terms of his behavior.

They didn't see any. Did anyone else see red flags? Yeah, they said they didn't, but the police spoke to his friends, I spoke to Ben, and his friends said that that gun was out at the house all the time. It was not locked up where it was supposed to be. And he also said concerning things.

There's one story that Detective McCandless and also Ben's mom, Shannon, told me that a week before the shooting, the 15-year-old who was hiding in the bathroom in the night of the shooting, a week before the shooting, Connor had invited all of his friends over to watch a movie, and the kids didn't want to watch a movie. this 15-year-old was sitting with Connor and Connor turned to him and according to the 15-year-old, Connor said, have you ever thought about killing one of your friends? There are also social media posts that Connor had made that showed a fascination with murder. And in fact, his school received two anonymous reports from the same person about eight months before the shooting about these social media posts, about murder. And they called in Connor's mother. They talked to Connor. They investigated and they determined that there was no threat. We dug in to the timeline a little bit just to try to figure out if this fascination with murder happened after Connor went on Accutane. And he did struggle with

anxiety prior to going on Accutane. He didn't want to go to school. But Connor said this fascination with murder happened after he was on Accutane. Now, does that mean that there's a cause and effect here? The prosecution says absolutely not. Acne medication has nothing to do with this horrific act that Connor committed. You know, Tracy, as I was watching the hour, that's kind of like one of the things that I was going back and forth with, right? I know that there can be experts to argue almost anything. But I believe this expert that, you know, perhaps Accutane could have had these dire side effects.

What I wasn't sure of was whether or not that was. could be a defense. And the prosecution, it sort of basically argued that too. In fact, they argued against the science. In court, the prosecution introduced a more recent study that found that I saw retinine, generic acutane, that those users actually do not have increased risk of suicide or psychiatric conditions. And then the lead prosecutor told you that this case is simple. What she believes is that it's not a side effect for medication that some people are just evil. You sat down with Connor for an interview. I'm curious.

I mean, how did he come across to you? You know, we talked to him right before he took the plea. At that point, when we spoke to him, he thought he was going to trial. So he, at the advice of his attorneys, didn't talk a lot about what happened that night. But I feel like we really did get a sense of who he was. And one of the things that stuck out to me was he was almost unnerving. polite. He would say, yes, ma'am, and no ma'am. At one point, he actually kind of stopped the interview to ask if I was feeling okay. I actually have a clip of that. I had asked him about his

friends who he shot, and this is what he said. Can you tell me anything about your friends, about Ethan and Ben? I'm sorry. All I'm going to say is that they were very good friends to me. That's all I'm going to say. didn't have any disagreements with them? I never hated them. I never hated them. There was no argument? No, ma'am. How do you explain what happened?

I don't know. I mean, I just need a water break. Of course. Just a water break. Of course. I'm sorry. It's okay. Are you okay? Am I not like freaking out or anything? No, of course not. And it's understandable why you would get emotional. I'm just worried about you. Like, are you okay? I'm fine.

He's worried about you. Yeah, I'm just worried about you. Like, I don't know about you, Ann Marie, but I've never had someone say that to me in an interview before. Absolutely not. Clearly, you're asking him a very uncomfortable question, a question that he's struggling to answer. And so I'm trying to figure out if that response is, you know, kind of authentic interest in what's going on with you, or if it is a kind of a stalling, tactic, but it reminds me a little bit of him in the police cruiser when he asks like the officer about how his Christmas is going. Yeah, are you having a good Christmas? I mean, every time I see that,

I gasp. It's just, it's so unusual. And the detective said when they brought him down to the station right after that, it was the same sort of thing, this yes, sir, no sir, this remarkable politeness. Welcome back. Let's talk about the victims. After entering Conner's home, a police find 18-year-old Ethan Riley and 19-year-old Benjamin Bleak. They're lying on the floor. Each of them have gunshot wounds to the head, both miraculously still alive when first responders arrive at the scene. But Ethan later dies in the hospital. It is Christmas Eve. Yeah, I mean, the timing of this is just heartbreaking. Connor was released on Bond for the first time the same day that Ethan died. So it's hard to fathom what's going on here at Christmas time with these families. You have one family who has their son at home, the son who shot these two boys, and those two boys' families are in the hospital. I want to talk about Ethan just a little bit.

his parents described him as handsome, athletic, bold, good-hearted. They said he could carry a conversation with anyone. And it was interesting. It struck me that both his father and Ben, in describing him, used the word light. His dad said in court that he was full of love and light. And Ben, when he was talking about Ethan, to me, he said that this is the kind of guy who always looked at things in a positive light, that he was just this outstanding guy. And we learn, actually,

this is sort of like almost the highlight in the hour, is that Ben survives. And the way he's revealed as he sort of walks around the corner, it was shocking and thrilling. And, I mean, if you've got to have like something kind of positive to hang on to, there he was. Yeah. I mean, walking miracle, right?

Yeah. And just, I feel like, I feel like, also lucky to be able to sit with Ben and his mom and to see his remarkable recovery and also his sense of humor, as I'm sure you got watching this hour. He has this astonishing sense of humor. A quick story that his mom shared with me. When Ben couldn't talk, she had his friends put together a playlist of his favorite songs, and she would listen to that when she was with Ben. And a song from Toto, you know, I guess it rains down in Africa. Toto comes on. And Shannon, his mom just, out laughing. Like, this is ridiculous. And she looks over at Ben and he has a smile on his face.

And she just knows, like, my son is back. Like, that sense of humor is intact. You know, he has no memory of what happened that night. But Ben is very crystal clear about why it happened. And he says it has nothing to do with the acne medication. In fact, he called it, he called the defense horses. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's, yeah. He doesn't. Vince Ward's. It's a little bit of his humor, too, there. You know, I wonder if it's a blessing that she, that he actually can't remember the details of that night. I wonder if it's actually helped him in terms of his recovery. Was Ben close to Connor? Ben wasn't super close to Connor, but he was friends with Connor through Ethan, because Ben was super close to Ethan.

And Conner's house was kind of the hangout house. So they would hang out as a group at Conner's house. Ben was a little bit older than the other guys. He was already taking college classes. And that's another part of this tragedy is that he was so independence, you know, really starting his life. And his mom said it was like having a baby again, that she just had to redo everything with him. He had to learn to walk, talk, swallow again, just starting it all over. So, you know, we learn about the defense that's coming, right? This side effect of this very common medication. But then two, weeks before Connor Hilton is set to stand trial, he ends up taking a plea deal. Prosecutors offered him 50 years in prison if he pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Can you talk a little bit about that? Because when I heard 50 years, I actually thought that didn't seem like much of a negotiation. That's, you know, it's a pretty hefty sentence. I suppose it could have been worse. It could have been life. Here's the thing. When we were talking with Connor, the attorneys had just gotten

the plea deal. And so as we're, as I was leaving, they went into a conference room to talk about this plea deal. And yeah, it's a little surprising. In Texas, a defendant gets to choose if they want the jury to sentence them. And the sentencing guidelines for murder are pretty broad. They're between five and 99 years or life. So you figure if he rolled the dice, he could, and he came off as this polite, sympathetic kid, maybe he could have gotten a lighter sentence. So, So in this plea deal, he's eligible for parole in 25 years. If he would have rolled the dice and gotten a life sentence, he would have been eligible for parole in 30 years. So it's a difference of five years.

So it is kind of surprising that he took the deal. And his parents told us that after sentencing, he called them and said he regretted taking it. But he agreed to this. He signed something saying he understood what he was doing. He waived his right to a trial. He waived his right to an appeal. Ben gave a victim impact statement at the plea hearing, and he told Connor that he was never going to forgive him for the grief that he caused his own family and for the Rileys. He came across as very, very strong, but it's clear that this has had quite an impact on Ben.

I know you asked him how he was doing, and I want to play some of that sound. Through this all, you've managed to show such perseverance. You've been so strong through all of this. What has kept you going? I want to get back to where I was. What do you mean by that? What do you want to be able to do? I know it sounds dumb, but I want to dunk a basketball. That doesn't sound dumb.

That basketball was so important to you. You could dunk before. Yeah. So you want to be able to dunk again. You know, Tracy, sometimes we can be. be distracted by a person's presentation, right? His speech is a little slower. It's a little tougher for him to move his body. We can see in the hour. But when he speaks, and I obviously never knew, Ben, until, you know, watching this, but you can almost see who he was before this when he

speaks, you know? Oh, yeah. I so agree. I so agree. And getting out and playing pickleball with him really gave me a chance to see who he was, that strength. I mean, he absolutely kicked my rear end in pickleball. And it's funny, like that of all sports for this young guy to be into, but he started it in rehab. They had this group of other people who had suffered spinal injuries, brain injuries, and they would all get together to play, and he really took to it. So he's kept playing, and he and his mom have actually joined a group of older people playing pickleball, and they joke that the older people beat them all the time. But my guess is that's not going to be for long. No, definitely not. You know that I have a teenager at home. And in watching this hour, it really made me think,

you have to be on your teenagers all the time. And I certainly have been guilty of, I don't know, everything that my kid looks up online. I'm constantly surprised by her awareness of things in the world. And when I ask her where she got it from, she says social media or YouTube. But I just hope when parents watch this, they realize like, it is okay to be nosy. You know, get up in that, get up in that computer and see what your kid is looking up and what they are writing on social media. That rings for me. I have teenagers too. And that idea that we need to be on them and we need to sometimes be the parent and not the friend and say no has stayed with me. Yeah. Well, I hope that this is one of the messages that people get when they watch the hours. I'm glad that the victim's

families and Ben did not have to go through a trial. But I would have been very interested in hearing the argument and counter argument and whether or not it would hold up as a defense. It's a very unique case, Tracy. Thank you so much. Oh, my pleasure. Thanks for having me. If you like this episode, please rate and review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.