Who was Amber Hilberling? Mum who hanged herself after being jailed for pushing her husband to his death from 25th floor
Michael Hansen
Published Sep 10, 2026
AMBER Hilberling, 25, from Oklahoma, features in an episode of Channel 4's documentary, Women Who Kill, after she was found guilty of pushing her husband to his death from the 25th floor.
But what happened to the mum-of-one who maintained she acted in self-defence? Here's everything you need to know...
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Who is Amber Hilberling?
Amber Hilberling is one of the three women featured in Channel 4's 2017 documentary, Women Who Kill, which investigates what pushes women to murder, features chilling CCTV footage from investigations and reveals what happened to these women once they were behind bars.
In 2013, Amber was convicted of killing her Air Force veteran husband, Josh, by shoving him out of their high-rise apartment when she was seven months pregnant.
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During the programme, Hilberling claims her husband attacked her after they argued about breaking up.
During her trial, Hilberling claimed the death was an accident caused by “unusually thin” windows in the couple's high-rise apartment.
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She told the court she acted in self-defence after Josh grabbed her by shoulders during a heated row.
His body was found crumpled on the roof of the garage.
Amber’s mum, Rhonda Whitlock, suggested at the time that her 5ft 5in daughter, who was 19 and heavily pregnant, could not have pushed the 6ft 6in military man to his death.
What happened to her?
Amber was found dead in an apparent suicide in her prison cell at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in Oklahoma in October 2016.
Her death came five years after she was convicted of killing her husband Josh.
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In the interview for Women Who Kill, which was filmed before her death, Hilberling says that while her and Josh's marriage was feisty, she always thought they would have a happy ending.
“We were both young and we were both selfish in our emotions because we were young,” she said.
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“I think if it had happened later on in life when we were both a little bit more grown up, I think it would have been happily ever after.”
Rhonda Whitlock was also interviewed for the new documentary and said her daughter was painted as an “aggressor”.
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But Amber conceded in the documentary that she never tried to make herself appear weak because “it wasn’t like that”.
“I've never tried to make it sound like he is the big bad wolf and I'm little Red Riding Hood that is running for her life, it wasn't like that,” she told the documentary.
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