other news sources say Hill's throat was slashed and that the Baron then strangled himself with his own suspenders tied to a bed post. News accounts describe the Baron as well to do. In 1949, he was said to have chased his bride to be and her father from his castle in Pléchâtel with a rifle the day before the planned marriage. The couple married three months later but divorced within a few months. Hill and de Laitre had registered at the Ritz as man and wife and were staying in Room 223. Hill's father, a policeman, described his daughter as secretive and said he had never heard of Baron de Laitre before. Hill's friends said she met de Laitre about a year before the murder-suicide A note was found when the bodies were discovered in the blood-spattered hotel room, but police did not reveal its contents. French police, upon learning of the event, believed Hill had threatened to jilt de Laitre.[43][44][45] French police later said de Laitre operated a hotel and bar in Dinard and that he also operated as a smuggler, using a motor boat to travel between France and Britain. French customs officials were demanding payment of £4,000 from de Laitre just prior to the fatal incident.