CT CT - Julianne Miller, 27, Old Saybrook, 21 Sep 1982

drbuzz0

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In1982, a woman went missing in Old Saybrook, CT. She is presumed to be dead, but no body has ever been recovered

Here is some basic info: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/miller_julianne.html

There is a 70 acre property in Deep River, CT, which was owned by the family of her husband. It is strongly believed that her body was disposed of on this property or in the adjacent state forest. Searches have been conducted, but it is a huge amount of ground to cover and it's rugged and wooded. Nothing has been found.

I am hoping someone in the area might be able to tell me where this property is, exactly. A map would be fantastic!

I have a way of potentially finding the grave site, if it exists, although it's not a 100% thing, it might be worth a shot. In the 70's and 80's, aerial photos were taken in Southern Connecticut for the Department of Agriculture an other organizations. I have some pretty good GIS software and access to some of the archives that contain these photos. It might be possible to find something like an area of ground that changed or looks disturbed from before and after the disappearance.

But of course, I can't do this if I have no idea where the property might be.
 
I wonder if there was any luck in getting the address or coordinates of this property. Great idea.

I don't know the answer to your question but the following link is to an article on this case from 2000;

http://articles.courant.com/2000-09-03/news/0009051779_1_disappearance-cottage-carl-miller

If you go to the second page you will find the statement that "Sometime this fall, investigators plan to make one more attempt to see if Julianne Miller's body could be buried in the woods behind the Miller house in Deep River. Once the leaves are off the trees they hope to use a special Army radar plane to scan the area." I do not know if this happened but it sounds like a similar process to that suggested.
 
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Demographics
Missing Age27 Years
Current Age64 Years
First NameJulianne
Middle Name--
Last NameMiller
Nickname/AliasJulieanne

SexFemale
Height5' 6" (66 Inches)
Weight110 lbs
Race / EthnicityWhite / Caucasian

Circumstances
Date of Last ContactSeptember 22, 1982
NamUs Case CreatedJuly 19, 2009
Last Known Location Map
LocationOld Saybrook, Connecticut 06475
CountyMiddlesex County

Circumstances of DisappearanceOn September 22, 1982, Julianne Miller disappeared. She left behind her car, her golden retriever and her purse. She has not been heard from since. Julianne Miller was a graduate student at the University of Hartford and was working part-time at a day-care center when she disappeared.
Physical Description
Hair ColorBlond/Strawberry
Head Hair DescriptionLong Blonde
Body Hair Description--
Facial Hair Description--
Left Eye ColorBlue
Right Eye ColorBlue
Eye DescriptionPossible blue eyes

R/O

upload_2019-11-19_11-48-40.png

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
 
I’ve just caught wind of this cold case today 7/10/21.
Through all the threads I’ve read on many sites there seems to be some confusion. The cottage they lived in on Clinton St is a residential beach community. I live very close to the address listed. But that property is not the 70acre property that they believe she may have been buried on. Deep River (A town) and the state forest is about 10 or so miles to the north on the river. What is this property in Deep River CT ? I’m hoping a family member, or someone with greater knowledge of the case can help me. And has anyone inquired “Necrosearch” ? This is a very hi tech group of folks with individual skills that help find grave sites using the most advanced tech, and people with particular skills. Regardless I would be grateful for any more info on this cold case to see if it can be warmed up.
 
The property is reportedly Cockaponsett State Forest. They could convict this guy without a body, the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming and the prescient has been set. Disgusts me.
 
Missing in Connecticut

2561_19427.jpg


  • Julianne Miller of Old Saybrook – Last seen September 29, 1982 at 27 years old
    • Julieanne was last seen at her home in the company of her boyfriend on Sept. 22. Police say she is presumed dead, but her body has not been recovered. The state is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case
 
  • julianne_miller_1.jpg
Miller, circa 1982
  • Missing Since 09/22/1982
  • Missing From Old Saybrook, Connecticut
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Date of Birth 07/18/1955 (68)
  • Age 27 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'6, 110 pounds
  • Associated Vehicle(s) Brown pickup truck
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, possibly blue eyes. Some agencies spell Miller's name "Julieanne."

Details of Disappearance​

Miller was a graduate student at the University of Hartford and worked part-time at a day care center in 1982. She lived with her boyfriend, James Clayton, in a cottage on Clinton Avenue in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The couple had been together since 1981 and shared a passion for karate, in which Clayton held a black belt.

Miller's father transferred ownership of the cottage to his daughter sometime in 1981; Miller then added Clayton's name to half of the property. But Miller picked up a quit claim deed on September 20, 1982 in hopes of having Clayton sign away his property rights. She apparently no longer wanted him to claim ownership.

Miller was last seen at approximately 10:00 p.m. on September 21, 1982 in the living room of the cottage. One of the two tenants she and Clayton had at the residence reported that Miller and Clayton were sitting on the living room couch watching television together at that time. The tenant stated that they seemed to be having an argument and tension was palpable in the air. Miller was never seen by anyone other than Clayton afterwards.

A witness told police that the furniture in Miller's cottage had been rearranged after her disappearance. Some couch cushions were missing. Clayton told the witness that he had sent the cushions to the dry cleaner's.

The official date listed as Miller's disappearance is the following day, September 22. Clayton did not report her missing to the authorities; Miller's father returned from a vacation on September 29 to discover she was nowhere to be found and called police. When questioned, Clayton claimed that he didn't want to cause trouble for Miller by reporting her as missing. He stated that her father requested she remain at the cottage during his trip and keep an eye on things.

Clayton claimed that he last saw Miller enter a brown pickup truck driven by an African-American male on September 22, 1982. The authorities found his statement odd, given that Clayton is African-American and owned an identical vehicle.

Miller left her car, dog and purse at the cottage. Investigators found the quit claim deed for the residence inside her purse, but Clayton had not signed it. Many believed that the couple had an argument the night Miller's tenant last saw her and the fight revolved around the property.

Clayton reportedly began calling Miller's parents late at night for months after her disappearance. Her father never mentioned what was discussed during the conversations, but other relatives said that her family was frightened.

Clayton requested that the two tenants move out of the cottage a few weeks after Miller vanished. Police administered polygraph tests to both tenants and they passed. Clayton refused to take a lie detector test.

Blood was discovered on the cushions and springs of the living room couch in the Old Saybrook cottage, but DNA testing was not available in 1982. Investigators were unable to determine if the blood matched Miller's type at the time. Clayton told them the blood was from a dog. Portions of the living room carpet had white spots present, signaling the possibility that someone had cleaned the spaces with a bleaching product to remove stains.

Miller's family reported that her grandmother's wedding ring was missing, along with several other pieces of fine jewelry. The ring was recovered at a pawn shop in New Haven, Connecticut several months after Miller's disappearance. Clayton's brother reportedly sold the item.

Authorities named Clayton as the prime suspect in Miller's disappearance before the end of 1982, but he was never charged in connection with the case. They believe he murdered Miller at the cottage, then buried her body somewhere on the property, which extends near the Deep River and borders the Cockaponset State Forest in Connecticut.

In May 2002, Clayton was convicted in military court of attempted murder and sentenced to five years in prison. He was a captain in the Army medical corps and was stationed in Schofield Barracks in Honolulu, Hawaii in November 2001, when prosecutors say he fractured a military officer's skull with a hammer during a robbery attempt.

Clayton says he blacked out and could not remember the incident. He is currently incarcerated in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

After his conviction, investigators began again to try to link Clayton to Miller's disappearance. They re-interviewed witnesses and began re-testing the blood on the couch for DNA. He has not been charged in connection with her case, however, and it remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency​

  • Old Saybrook Police Department 860-395-3140
  • Connecticut State Police 860-685-8000

Source Information​

Updated 4 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated September 3, 2006; date of birth, height and weight added, distinguishing characteristics updated.
 
Any idea where the supposed river goes? Instead of it being on the property, couldn't he have just thrown it into the river?
The Connecticut River flows into Long Island Sound, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean. if she was thrown into the river (and her body was not trapped on the shore), she would probably be in Long Island Sound or the Atlantic Ocean.
I'm not sure why investigators are confident that she was buried on the property. Maybe they have some evidence that they haven't made public...70 acres of land in that area would have been ridiculously expensive. It is not surprising that a dispute had been the reason for the murder.
While it definitely seems clear that James did it, I'm not sure the police had enough evidence to prove that he did it in court. They never discovered a link between blood and Julianne. there is no other physical evidence involved with the case. no one. only two people in Connecticut have previously been charged with a murder without a body... They probably didn't want to take the case to trial without enough evidence, ruining their only chance to accuse James.
how terrible that almost her entire family has passed away without getting answers or closure....poor julianne
either way
rest in peace
 
Why did the police find it odd the bf said he last saw her in the brown pick-up with a black man? He knew he could have been sighted in the days following that night in the cottage and was giving a pre-alibi. Her body, if on the 70 acre property, has to be close to a 'road' or trail. Those 70 acre must have a few trails/paths that could at least fit and support the pickup. He just needed to then get far enough off the trail by foot. I think a marshy area would be the easiest. But even a shallow grave is likely to not show signs of disruption years later, and necro dogs would be a reach. The link from the Courant is dead, does anyone have the map?
 

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