JusticeWillBeServed
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Tiffany Miller was reported missing during the early morning hours of September 21st 1979. Her mother had put her to bed the previous night between 10:00 and 11:00. When she went to check on her at around 5:15, she discovered that Tiffany was missing. About a week later, her body was found in the Allegheny River and her death was ruled a homicide. She was located about five miles from her home. The yellow pajamas Tiffany was wearing have never been found.
Tiffany's parents were separated at the time of her murder and she lived with her mom, Gail. Tiffany was asleep upstairs while Gail was watching television downstairs and Gail's mother was washing clothes. An older news story reported that Gail fell asleep at around 3:30. They are not sure how Tiffany vanished from her home although it was reported to have been unlocked. The autopsy discovered no signs of sexual assault or beating.
Investigators received hundreds of tips but none worked out. The case remains unsolved and active. Her parents and family remain hopeful that they can one day learn the truth.
New Kensington 5-year-old girl's slaying in 1979 still unsolved
Police Hunting Killer of Girl, 5, After Death Is Ruled Homicide - October 1st 1979
Tiffany's parents were separated at the time of her murder and she lived with her mom, Gail. Tiffany was asleep upstairs while Gail was watching television downstairs and Gail's mother was washing clothes. An older news story reported that Gail fell asleep at around 3:30. They are not sure how Tiffany vanished from her home although it was reported to have been unlocked. The autopsy discovered no signs of sexual assault or beating.
Investigators received hundreds of tips but none worked out. The case remains unsolved and active. Her parents and family remain hopeful that they can one day learn the truth.
New Kensington 5-year-old girl's slaying in 1979 still unsolved
She would be in her 40s now, William Butler says. He wonders what she would be doing with her life.
What would his daughter, Tiffany Miller, be if her life not been taken from her at such a young age?
“I think about her all the time,” said Butler, now 62 and living in Penn Hills, wiping away tears that four decades can't dry. “I just want justice for her. She deserves that.”
“At first, I thought someone from my family had come and taken her, but no one had,” said Gail, now 58 and living in Pittsburgh. “I honestly don't know what happened. It's been 40-some years, and no one knows what happened.”
Even though Tiffany lived less than a quarter-mile from the riverbank, Butler says he knows in his heart his daughter would not have gone to the river on her own.
“She was afraid of water,” Butler remembers about his eldest daughter. “She wouldn't go anywhere near the water.
Theories have been thrown around over the years about what happened to Tiffany, but police have never been able to lock down the facts.
Butler, Tiffany's father, said he originally was a suspect but police ruled him out.
“It's unbelievable that they would have even suspected that,” Butler said. “It was just devastating to have an officer question you about the worst thing in the world.
“Who could hurt a little child like that?”
Rivera said she absolutely had nothing to do with her daughter's death.
“I think they're crazy,” Rivera said about those who speculate that she played some role in Tiffany's death. “She's my daughter. How could I hurt my own daughter?
Police Hunting Killer of Girl, 5, After Death Is Ruled Homicide - October 1st 1979