CO CO - Elizabeth 'Beth' Miller, 14, Idaho Springs, 16 Aug 1983

[margarita25]

SEP 26, 2019
Colorado Cold Case (Beth Miller, Denise Davenport, Jonelle Matthews, Vicki Carpenter

​

(Thanks Pommy, just seeing this)

 

[PommyMommy]

Today Clear Creek County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert filed a petition seeking a grand jury investigation into the 1983 disappearance of a 14-year-old believed kidnapped while jogging near Idaho Springs.

"Our investigation is kind of stalled at this point and this seems to be the best route to take," Hurlbert said "Whether there's an indictment or not I think we should find the truth in this case." Beth Miller disappeared on Aug. 16, 1983. While her body was never found, she was declared legally dead 11 years later.

Grand jury sought in 1983 mystery – The Denver Post

Sounds like the sister suspects somebody. I hope the truth comes out during the grand jury proceedings.

From the article:

PUBLISHED: July 25, 2006 at 11:06 am | UPDATED: May 8, 2016 at 2:06 am

• Clear Creek Co DA Mark Hurlbert filed a petition seeking a grand jury investigation into Beth's disappearance.
  
• Her body was never found and she was declared legally dead 11 years later.
• Beth’s sister, former Georgetown Mayor Lynn Granger, and a variety of officials have long believed that those with knowledge were not forthcoming and could be compelled to testify if confronted with a grand jury subpoena.
• The petition must now be reviewed by chief district judge Terry Ruckriegle.
• Hurlbert said he couldn’t say who he might call before a grand jury.

 

[PommyMommy]

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/miller_elizabeth.html

So I guess the evidence was not linked to the case? I wonder what results the tests did show?

Updating Charley Project link:

Elizabeth Ann Miller – The Charley Project

Elizabeth Ann Miller

Elizabeth, circa 1983; Age-progression to age 41 (circa 2010)

• Missing Since 08/16/1983
• Missing From Idaho Springs, Colorado
• Classification Non-Family Abduction
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 07/27/1969 (50)
• Age 14 years old
• Height and Weight 5'3 - 5'4, 105 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description White jogging shorts, a faded blue t-shirt and sneakers.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Some agencies give Elizabeth's eye color as green or hazel. She has a mole over her right eyebrow. Her nickname is Beth.

Details of Disappearance
Elizabeth was last seen jogging at 10:00 a.m. on August 16, 1983 in her hometown of Idaho Springs, Colorado. She was last seen in a park near her family's residence.

Investigators believe that a male seen in the park at the same time as Elizabeth may have been seen speaking to her. The man was driving a small red 1975 or 1976 pickup truck with a white camper shell and out-of-state license plates. It has not been established if the man has any connection to Elizabeth's disappearance, but police are interested in identifying him and questioning him.

Elizabeth's sister says a man in a pickup truck had flirted with Elizabeth a few days before she vanished. The truck was red with a white camper shell, out-of-state license plates and blue or black lettering and a a brown stripe on the sides. The man was fair-skinned and about 175 pounds, with light brown collar-length hair parted on the side. He wore prescription eyeglasses with blue-tinted photo-grade lenses and had a generally neat appearance. He said his name was Claude. He became angry after Elizabeth refused to have a conversation with him.

Elizabeth disappeared shortly thereafter and has not been seen again. She did not have any cash or personal belongings with her on the day she vanished. She normally left a note for her parents if she was going away for any length of time; she did not do so on the day of her disappearance.

Elizabeth was a basketball player in 1983 and she jogged regularly to stay in shape. She is one of seven children and was a freshman at Clear Creek Secondary School. At the time of her disappearance, she baby-sat to earn spending money; her baby-sitting earnings were left behind at her house when she vanished.

An unidentified Ohio man has been under investigation for several years in Elizabeth's case. Authorities believe he may have been involved in Elizabeth's presumed abduction, but he has never been charged. In 1995, a serial killer from Mississippi claimed that he had killed Elizabeth, but police did not find his story credible.

Another suspect, a New Mexico man named Edward Apodaca, is deceased; he was murdered by his wife and mother-in-law in 1990. Two independent witnesses reported they'd seen Apodcada talking to Elizabeth three days before her disappearance, while they were sitting in a red or rust-colored pickup truck with a camper shell and New Mexico license plates. A license plate with some matching numbers was later found on Apodaca's property.

Apodaca's former girlfriend claimed she had helped him bury Elizabeth in the mountains near Idaho Springs. Three cadaver dogs indicated the presence of human remains in the place the girlfriend indicated, but police excavations turned up no evidence. Elizabeth's family believes, however, that Apodaca was in a fact involved in Elizabeth's case.

In 1995, a woman police picked up in Tampa, Florida claimed to be Elizabeth. Elizabeth's parents flew to Florida to meet the woman, but she turned out to be someone else. Possible evidence relating to Elizabeth's case was found in Empire, Colorado in 1994. Some bone fragments, a piece of fabric similar to canvas, and a single blonde hair was found buried near Interstate 70.

The bone fragments have never been identified; police do not even know if they are human. The fabric was very degraded and appeared to have been buried for a long time. In 2004, the police sent the hair to the FBI to test for mitochondrial DNA. They hope to conclusively link the hair to Elizabeth's case.

Elizabeth's family had her declared legally deceased in 1994. A grand jury investigated her disappearance in 2007, but the jury disbanded in November of that year without any indictments being handed down. Her case remains open and unsolved.

 

[PommyMommy]

The victim's sister, Lynn Granger, welcomed the possibility of a grand jury.

"It is so long overdue," she said. "I'm so relieved, it's hard to put what I'm feeling into words."

Granger, a former sheriff's deputy in Clear Creek, has worked with state investigators for more than 10 years. She said she is certain there will be an indictment.

Granger said the lead suspect confessed to witnessing and taking part in the murder to two different police departments in the mid-1980s.

The suspect, who Granger would not name, recanted her statement, Granger said. There are two other suspects who the grand jury would investigate, Granger said.

Sister pushes 1983 case – The Denver Post

Noting:

There are two other suspects who the grand jury would investigate, Granger said.

A grand jury would have the power to subpoena witnesses who could corroborate the suspect’s confession, she said.

 

[PommyMommy]

Apodaca was a former cop...

Insiders believe the case hinges on Edward Apodaca, a politically connected former cop who was slain in 1990, and his girlfriend, Viola Moya, who twice confessed being involved with Miller's disappearance to investigators but later recanted.

’83 Miller case to be reopened – The Denver Post

Noting:

August 28, 2006

• Judge Terry Ruckriegle granted approval on Friday – the first time in over 40 years that a grand jury has been approved in the 5th Judicial District.
  
• “I believe she was there when Beth was killed … There’s too much there,” Granger said, noting that Moya also failed a polygraph examination.
• Both Granger and Larimer Co Sheriff Jim Alderden, who formerly worked on the case as an investigator with the CBI, have acknowledged their suspicions that Apodaca killed Miller and, along with Moya, buried her near Empire, where a shirt identical to the one she was wearing later was found.
• “Despite (Moya’s) protestations of her innocence, she never did sit down and consent to be interviewed by me or any of the other investigators,” Alderden said. “It would have been nice if she had sat down and talked to us and refuted some of the things that pointed us to her.”
• Granger and Alderden contend that a badly conducted investigation botched the case, and subsequent political meddling – including being called off the case by then-Clear Creek Co Sheriff Bob Cahill – stymied any subsequent progress.
• They now hope to get answers from people such as Anne Louise Apodaca, Apodaca’s widow now serving life in prison in New Mexico for his murder.

 

[PommyMommy]

Beth Miller, a high school student on summer break, went out for a morning jog on a bright August morning more than 15 years ago and never returned home.
The 14-year-old left her home in Idaho Springs, Colorado, around 10 a.m. on August 16, 1983. When she wasn't back that afternoon, her family called police.
Miller normally jogged in a nearby park. Investigators say she may have been seen last talking with a man who was behind the wheel of a red pickup truck with a white camper top and out-of-state license plates.
Immediately after Miller's disappearance, many red pickups were stopped but none could be linked to Miller's disappearance.
Miller was not carrying any cash or personal belongings. Family and friends say she always left a note for her parents if she planned to be gone long.
More at link..
Colorado teen never returned from morning jog - CNN.com

Bump for beth. Nothing on the DNA test at all?

Can anyone cpnfirm whether they were able to extract mitochondrial DNA from the bone fragments?

Yeah, what is going on with the DNA. IS Viola in jail? Did Edward patrol the area where Beth lived?

Colorado teen never returned from morning jog - CNN.com
Bone fragments, deteriorated cloth and a single blond hair were found in Empire, Colorado, in 1994. These items could not be identified. When newer forensic techniques were developed along with DNA testing a decade later, police sent the evidence to the FBI lab.

"Those results were inconclusive and the bone fragments were identified as animal, not human remains," said Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert. "It is an open investigation, and with help from the public or tips, we may still be able to solve this case," Hurlbert said.

Miller's family members say they believe the theory that Edward Apodaca murdered Beth with the help of his girlfriend. But there is no corroborating evidence besides the statement of Apodaca's girlfriend.

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Beth...this week is 37 years.

 

[Hockeyfan158]

She hasn’t been ruled out but there is a ten year window so i have some doubts unless she ran away or was held somewhere or sold into Prostitution does anyone think she might 1993 Elko County Nevada Jane Doe?

She’s not ruled out on Namus

Elko County Jane Doe

Demographics

Sex
Female
Race / Ethnicity
White / Caucasian
Possible First Name
--
Possible Middle Name
--
Possible Last Name
--
Nickname/Alias
--
Estimated Age Group
Adult - Pre 30
Estimated Age Range (Years)
25-27
Estimated Year of Death
1993
Estimated PMI
6 Days
Height
5' 7"(67 inches) , Measured
Weight
144 lbs, Measured

Found On Tribal Land
--
Circumstances of Recovery
Decedent was found northbound side of Interstate 80, near the Utah border. The site of the body found lies on the edge of a vast and desolate desert bisected by one of the nations busiest highways. Victim was shot twice with a small caliber weapon and beaten.

 

[Hockeyfan158]

I know they have had a guy under investigation for years with this case but anyway Richard William Davis might have been the man in the red pickup truck?

 

[Appie]

I apologize if this comparison has been made before on here, and I’ve missed it. But does anyone know if “Baby Girl” in Campbell County TN has been looked at as a match?

482UFTN

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A girl saw Miller jogging on Aug. 16, 1983 and waved to her. That witness told investigators that she saw a red pickup truck drive by Miller near the same area where search dogs eventually lost her scent, according to McLaughlin.

When McLaughlin confronted the sheriff, she was told she "would be charged with interfering with an investigation, with trespass and a list of charges" if she "ever went back to that site again."

"That was the end," she said.

In 2006, a grand jury was called to investigate several witnesses over the course of 10 months.

Sister of Colorado girl who went missing at 14 became investigator in already bungled case

Beth Miller, 14, went for a run on Aug. 16, 1983, and never returned home. Her sister became an investigator in her case years later in an effort to find answers.

news.yahoo.com