MI MI - MILLER, Donald Eugene, Serial Killer, East Lansing, Michigan 1976

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This case was the subject of a CBS 48 Hours story

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What causes someone to become a serial killer? And can such a person be rehabilitated? ...

Donald Miller was the quintessential boy-next-door. Growing up in a quiet middle class neighborhood in East Lansing, Michigan, Don seemed completely normal. Although he grew up in the mid-70s, when many of his classmates were growing their hair long and dabbling in drugs, Don was a clean-cut straight arrow. He served as a youth minister at his church. He went to the local college, Michigan State University, where he played trombone in the school marching band. He dated a girl who went to his church, Martha Sue Young.

But Don Miller wasn't the normal boy-next-door. He became a serial killer.

In the winter of 1976, Don and Martha, who also went to Michigan State, became engaged. Just a few days before New Year's Eve, Martha had a change of heart, and broke off the engagement. Don convinced her to stay friends anyway.

Two days later, Martha disappeared. Police suspected Don, but could find no evidence. Over the next 18 months, three other Lansing-area women disappeared. Two days after the last disappearance, Don attacked 14-year-old Lisa Gilbert and tried to kill her. When her younger brother Randy came home, Don tried to kill him. While Don was attacking Randy, Lisa ran out of the house and got help.

Don was arrested, convicted of rape and attempted murder, and sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison. He agreed to help authorities solve the four unsolved murders, in exchange for a plea bargain. With the help of the drug sodium amytol and skillful psychiatrists, Miller confessed to all four murders. In the end, that plea bargain ended up adding no time to his sentence. And with time off for good behavior, Don is due to get out after only 20 years in prison, at the relatively young age of 43...

Source:
The Killer Next Door, Beneath The Normal Exterior - CBS News

LINKI:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/01/06/48hours/main27268.shtml?source=search_story
 
Miller was convicted of manslaughter for killing his girl friend, and of assault and attempted murder for his attatcks on the two children. He was sent to prison and just before his parole hearing, he was found to have a weapon in prison. It was a sort of garrot that had been fasioned from shoe strings and buttons.

Convicted of that charge, his stay in the Michigan prison system was extended and parole will not be a possibility until 2018.

While his lawyers and possibly others are crying about his extended stay and how this model prisoner was denied his right to early parole, one has to wonder how many others did he murder or attack before he was finally caught. Could he be the key to solving some unsolved murders or disappearances?

Here is some information from the Michigan Inmate locator. His photo appears on the site.

MDOC Number: 157793

SID Number: 1007413T

Name: DON GENE MILLER

Racial Identification: White

Gender: Male

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Unavailable

Height: 5' 9"

Weight: 160 lbs.

Date of Birth: 12/28/1954 (54)


Assigned Location: Gus Harrison Correctional Facility


Link to Michigan Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS):

http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile.asp?mdocNumber=157793
 
Bumping case up. Anyone think he might be ready to return to society on parole?
 
Here are some links to more information on Don Gene Miller and his case.

2007 Article on Don Miller:

http://www.skcentral.com/news.php?readmore=2486


LINK to 1999 CBS special report on Miller:

http://www.skcentral.com/news.php?readmore=2486


Link to review of Book about Victim's mother and her efforts to put and keep Miller in prison:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Lethal-Friendship-Mothers-Put-Keep/dp/0595344224"]Amazon.com: Lethal Friendship: A Mother's Battle to Put--and Keep--a Serial Killer Behind Bars (9780595344222): Sue Young: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41mHZRwvfaL.@@AMEPARAM@@41mHZRwvfaL[/ame]
 
This killer will be elligible for parole in October 2018. He is currently serving time on a charge of possessing a weapon while in prison.

Don Miller was convicted of murder and other charges from the 1977-78 time frame when he was 23-24 years old. Could he have committed other assults and murders prior to that time?
 
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I wouldn't be surprised if the charge against him for possessing a weapon in prison was made up by authorities.
 
From the Michigan Inmate Locator and Offender Website:

Don Gene Miller
Current Status: Prisoner
Earliest Release Date: 10/06/2018
Assigned Location: G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility
Maximum Discharge Date: 03/24/2031

---------------------------------------------------------

Don Gene Miller probably won't be out playing his trombone with the MSU Alumni Band any time soon.

He only got only ten years for the murder of his girl friend (manslauter plea) and then 30 years for attacking and attempting to kill two young teenagers. Also sentences for other associated crimes. You can see specifics at the link below.

Most sentences to run concurrently. This was part of a plea deal in which he confessed to the murders of four other women/girls - for which he was NOT prosecuted.

When he was about to come up for early parole, a weapon (garrott made from shoelaces and buttons) was found in his cell. For that he was convicted and sentenced to a term of 20 to 40 years. He comes up for parole again 6 October 2018 - exactly five years from now. Be sure to let the Michigan Parole Board know your views on the subject.

Does anyone have the names of his victims and specifics regarding their cases?

LINK:

http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis...cNumber=157793
 
Kristine Stuart was a unique person, her husband said, a beloved Lansing science teacher, a well-known community member.

And then she was gone.

Thirty-year-old Kristine Stuart went missing while walking on Fairoaks Court near Coolidge Road in East Lansing on Aug. 14, 1978.

She was the fourth known victim of serial killer Don Gene Miller who — more than 37 years after her murder — is up for parole.

The 61-year old Miller, who then-Eaton County Assistant Prosecutor G. Michael Hocking called “Michigan’s version of Ted Bundy,” will meet with a member of the state parole board next month.

Miller's first chance at parole since 1997 has reopened old wounds and fueled fresh fears.

Miller’s earliest release date was supposed to be in October 2018, but a Court of Appeals decision last year has pushed up his timeline for parole, Michigan Department of Corrections Spokesman Chris Gautz said.

Much more:
http://www.wzzm13.com/mb/news/local...-keep-local-serial-killer-in-prison/278928077
 
Katiebalamucki the charges were not "made up", Miller did have a garrote. I know the Corrections Officer who found it. I also know what a "" Miller is. He locked on B-2 at KCF for years. I dealt with him several times. He used to make me sick with his holier than thou bible thumping attitude and monotone voice. A prisoner who locked with him once told me "don't ever let him out. He's gonna kill again every chance he gets." Also the last time Miller went to the parole board at KCF the parole board member a female asked him point blank if he would like to kill her? His response was yes I would like to kill you. Here is an idea Katiebalamucki. If the state does let Miller out why don't you let Miller live with you so when he kills you or some other person you can ask if the charge "was made up by authorities".
 
Miller came up for parole again this past September but was turned down, basically because it was felt by many that he would indeed kill again. He will come up again for parole in about 60 months.
 
With a dirt bag like this, one wonders how many other people he killed or attempted to kill.
 
Don Gene Miller's earliest release date is in October 2018. Hopefully authorities will decide to keep him until his Maximum time.

A guy like this would kill again as soon as he is released. How many others did he kill in the 1976-78 time frame before he was caught?
 
DON GENE MILLER Image Date: 11/15/2018

ProfileImage.aspx

MDOC Number: 157793
SID Number: 1007413T
Name: DON GENE MILLER
Racial Identification: White
Gender: Male
Hair: Gray
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 160 lbs.
Date of Birth: 12/28/1954 (64)
 
East Lansing serial killer Don Miller focus of Sadler's latest book, 'Killing Women'
Rachel Greco
Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING - It's been four decades since Don Miller murdered Martha Sue Young, a 19-year-old French major at Michigan State University, but her sister, Kay, wasn't going to talk with Rod Sadler until he explained why he wanted to write about her.

636045154965200767-Donald-Miller-p9.jpg


What Don Miller did shouldn't be forgotten, Sadler, a retired Eaton County Sheriff's Office sergeant turned true-crime author, told her when he asked for an interview.

"There's a couple generations between when this occurred and today and people have forgotten who Don Miller is," he said. "People have forgotten what Don Miller has done and Don Miller is up for parole next year."

From January of 1977 to August of 1978 Miller, a graduate of East Lansing High School, killed four women. He also raped a 14-year-old girl and attempted to kill both her and her 13-year-old brother.

If Miller, now 65 and a prisoner at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson, serves his full sentence he would be released in 2031.

Sadler's book about his life, crimes and conviction, "Killing Women," will be released Sept. 22, about a year before Miller is next expected to be considered for parole. His next hearing is scheduled for August 2021.
The book is Sadler's third about true crimes in mid-Michigan. It includes insight from one of Miller's victims, Randy Gilbert, who was 13 when Miller tried to kill him, and Gene Miller, Don Miller's father, who believes his son has been rehabilitated....

... There are also perspectives from then-Eaton County Assistant Prosecutor G. Michael Hocking, who prosecuted and secured a conviction against Miller for rape and attempted murder, and Peter Houk, a retired Ingham County Circuit Court Judge who was an Ingham County prosecutor in the 1970s. He was the assistant prosecutor when Miller agreed to plead guilty to two counts of manslaughter in exchange for leading police to the bodies of two women he killed.

Then there are the words of Miller himself, who wrote Sadler three letters from prison. You can read one of them in "Killing Women."

Sadler spent 18 months researching and writing about Miller. It's an account of the serial killer's crimes and convictions, "from the beginning to the end," he said...

... In advance of Miller's scheduled release from prison in 11 years, Sadler said, he hopes readers ask themselves some questions when they finish the book.

"Is that something that society wants? Is that something society can live with?"

A string of murders

Miller was in his 20s, a graduate of Michigan State University where he majored in criminal justice working as a security guard at a local company, when he killed four women in just over 18 months in the late 1970s...

The first, Young, had been engaged to marry him. She ended her engagement to Miller just before she disappeared...

636051390814334982-MillerMugs.jpg


Miller - Still smirking...

LINK:
//www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2020/08/31/east-lansing-serial-killer-don-miller-focus-new-book-killing-women/5633655002/
 
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