Donna Hylton is a criminal justice activist and author of Jamaican descent. For her part in the kidnapping, rape, torture, and death of New York businessman Thomas Vigliarolo in 1985, she was convicted at the age of 20 of murder in the second degree and two charges of kidnapping in the first degree. Hylton was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison and served more than 26 years before being released in 2012. Hylton obtained a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and a master’s degree in English from Mercy College after her time in jail, and she currently works with Mt. Sinai St. Luke’s as an activist, public speaker, and community health advocate. She is the author of A Little Piece of Light, a memoir.
Biography of Donna Hylton
On October 29, 1964, Donna Hylton was born. Hylton described the first 20 years of her life in her memoir, A Little Piece of Light (2018), as “adult hands injuring me instead of protecting me.” Donna Patricia Walden spent her early years in Port Antonio, Jamaica, with her mother, who was a follower of Obeah, a West Indian spiritual practice. “It was common for her to burn me with fire and cut me with a knife,” Hylton said, recalling how her mother, who may have been bipolar, used her as a “real-life voodoo doll.”
She went away to Philadelphia later that summer with a man who shared an upper flat with his mother. He assaulted her in a motel room while he was ten years older than Hylton. “Whatever part of me wasn’t damaged before is broken now,” she recalls. They stayed in Philadelphia for five months together.” He sits against the wall after rapping me and commands me to crawl around the flat on my hands and knees like a dog.
He gets up and pees on my skin, pressing the bright tip of a cigarette against my bare leg.” “I’m a man, and I do what I want,” he said after beating her. They returned to New York in January 1980, where Hylton realized she was pregnant. “No wonder you’re pregnant, you’re a whore!” the man allegedly exclaimed, stunned by the revelation. He allegedly knocked her down and raped her, according to Hylton. Hylton gave birth to a daughter in February 1981, when he was 16 years old.
Donna Hylton’s Married Life
Donna Hylton married George Belton, a rapper, in 1982 when he was nineteen years old. She married when she was only 18 years old. Her husband and mother-in-law pressured her to terminate the pregnancy when she found out she was pregnant again. Donna’s husband requested a divorce after she had an abortion.
What is the net worth of Donna Hylton?
Donna Hylton has been a social activist in the past. She has spent much of her life in prison, therefore she hasn’t had much of a working career up to this point. Donna’s estimated net worth ranges from $100,000 to $1 million.
Quick facts about Donna Hylton
| Full Name | Donna Hylton |
| Birth name | Donna Patricia Walden |
| Date of Birth | October 29, 1964 |
| Age | 57 |
| Nationality | American |
| Birth sign | Scorpio |
| Ethnicity | Jamaican |
| Profession | Author, Activist |
| Marital Status | Divorced |
| Children | Adrienne Hylton |
| Height | 5 feet 6 inch |