PA - Helen Miller, 19, stabbed to death by sister, 14, Manheim Twp., Feb 2021

[Lusitana]

Just because both girls had a life outside the home, it doesn’t mean she wasn’t a caregiver to her sister. The key is at their time together at home.

 

[Shamrock1]

Having a sibling with special needs often places unique stressors on the other siblings. The stressor doesn’t have to be a caregiving role. It can be the anxiety of knowing your sibling can easily aspirate food, have a seizure, fall and suffer a concussion, etc. I’m curious about what her defense will be.

 

[Richrd]

Still Awaiting Next Court Date*
.

Defendant:
Claire Elaina Miller, Now 15

- Manheim Township,
Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania -
- 22 February 2021 -

11)) NBC News:
Attorney for Lancaster County teen accused of killing sister plans insanity or mental health defense

12)) Google™ Supplements & Updates:
Claire Elaina Miller - Lancaster, PA - Google Search

14)) Pennsylvania (Lower) Court Docket:
*https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/Report/MdjDocketSheet?docketNumber=MJ-02102-CR-0000057-2021&dnh=Uu1OQZZnPnnCj8BLJcwwJA==
via: Case Search

15)) Autopsy:
Cause of Death :: Stab Wound
Manner of Death :: Homicide
Mechanism of Death :: Exsanguination

16)) February 2021 -- Lancaster Online dot Com:
Read the criminal complaint: Lancaster Country Day School student charged with killing her sister
[GRAPHIC Text]

18)) Medium dot Com:
This 14-Year-Old TikToker Killed Her Disabled Sister
​

& = And - [AMP' err sand]
§ = Section / Silcrow - [SILL' crow]
§§ = Sub-Section - [Double-Silcrow]
™ = Trademark
Autopsy = Body Examination to Determine Cause & Manner of Death
CP = (Upper) Court of Common Pleas
C.S.A. = Consolidated Statutes - Annotated
DA = District Attorney
DP = Death Penalty - NOT Eligible for PA Juveniles
Exsanguination = Major Blood Loss
F/14 = Female / Age 14
F/19 = Female / Age 19
F1 = Felony-Grade Crime of the 1st Degree
Fratricide = Killing of One's Sister
GED = General Equivalency High School Diploma
LCP = Lancaster County Prison
LE = Law Enforcement
LWOP = Life With-Out Parole
ME = Medical Examiner
MJ = (Lower) Magisterial District Judge Court
Ms. = Female Form of Mr. / Mister
via = by-way-of
YOA = Years of Age

Our Support to All Domestic Violence
Survivors and Victims...​

[Contribution # 8072
Thread # 560437]
.

 

[Be the Change]

Or she was forced into a caregiving role.

Forced into premature CARETAKER ROLE as you mentioned is what my immediate response was- Especially when it was noted that WHITEBOARD of CLAIRE’S CHORES was among evidence investors gathered. If so, that’s an ENORMOUS BURDEN to have placed upon a child. Also noted was that parents remained asleep during all of this- Is this indicative of HOW IT WAS FOR young Claire? Tragic all around.

 

[Bradley Q.]

Kinda curious as to why it's been so long without any updates.

Forced into premature CARETAKER ROLE as you mentioned is what my immediate response was- Especially when it was noted that WHITEBOARD of CLAIRE’S CHORES was among evidence investors gathered.

Huh, I never heard about the whiteboard earlier. What article was that from?

 

[LizzyE]

Kinda curious as to why it's been so long without any updates.

Huh, I never heard about the whiteboard earlier. What article was that from?

I was able to find the information in this news article. Hope this helps.

The search warrant application listed several items police wanted to collect as evidence in the case, including DNA samples from the scene, the snow outside the home, and from Claire Miller's person, along with sheets, a blanket, a pillow, a stuffed rabbit toy found on Helen Miller's bed, clothing, several different knives, a whiteboard listing chores for Claire Miller to perform, and her cell phone.

Witness: Lancaster County teen charged in sister's murder was having 'suicidal, homicidal thoughts' | fox43.com

 

[MsBetsy]

Kinda curious as to why it's been so long without any updates.

Huh, I never heard about the whiteboard earlier. What article was that from?

It was mentioned in the beginning that a list of chores was one of the things taken from the home. I don't think that necessarily means Claire was her sister's caretaker, though. Most teenagers have chores and many parents make a list.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Did they have an aide come in every day to bathe Helen, clean her, feed her, dress her and get her into her special wheelchair?

I doubt both parents worked unless they had hired a daily caregiver to be with Helen.

The specific forms of cerebral palsy are determined by the extent, type, and location of a child’s abnormalities.

Helen was nonverbal.

Did she have seizures, hearing loss, ongoing infections?

Was she able to feed herself? Did you have to watch her carefully when she ate due to food aspiration?

Could Helen get to a bathroom on her own? Perform her own transfers, dress and undress? Perform her own hygiene?

If Helen needed something in the middle of the night how did she communicate her needs? A monitor in her bedroom?

 

[Dancemom1]

I am almost sure Helen could not get to the bathroom herself. She wasn't ambulatory.

 

[HM99]

My adult daughter has a friend with CP. This woman spends all her waking hours in a wheelchair but can use the bathroom on her own. In fact, she attended college away from home and lives entirely on her own. She doesn’t drive, but does have a job as a counselor in a medical facility. That is not to say that Helen could do the things this woman does, just that she may not have been totally helpless. There are varying degrees of abilities in people who have CP. moo of course

 

[realanastasia]

Did they have an aide come in every day to bathe Helen, clean her, feed her, dress her and get her into her special wheelchair?

I doubt both parents worked unless they had hired a daily caregiver to be with Helen.

The specific forms of cerebral palsy are determined by the extent, type, and location of a child’s abnormalities.

Helen was nonverbal.

Did she have seizures, hearing loss, ongoing infections?

Was she able to feed herself? Did you have to watch her carefully when she ate due to food aspiration?

Could Helen get to a bathroom on her own? Perform her own transfers, dress and undress? Perform her own hygiene?

If Helen needed something in the middle of the night how did she communicate her needs? A monitor in her bedroom?

She attended a residential school for students with CP; it’s in West Philadelphia, a fairly long ride away from Lancaster where the family resided. Not sure if Helen boarded there like some students, or if she was a day student and commuted in every day. She was 19, which is slightly older than what we expect in K-12 schools but this particular school appears to offer a supportive living program to students who are 19-20. The school’s website is HMSSchool.org.

I was wondering if Helen typically stayed at school during the week and just came home on weekends, and perhaps the pandemic put an end to that (school was forced to close per PA state regulations, as explained in the school’s 2019-2020 annual report on its website). I believe both parents are employed outside the home in some capacity, but would have to go back in the thread to see where this question was previously asked and answered to point you to a source that supports my recollection. In short, though, Helen suddenly living at home full time (if she previously had not) would likely have changed the family dynamics under that roof, IMO. This would be especially true, I think, if Claire was suddenly ALSO at home doing online school due to the pandemic and if the parents were out of the house for some of the day, working.

 

[MsBetsy]

Having a sibling with special needs often places unique stressors on the other siblings. The stressor doesn’t have to be a caregiving role. It can be the anxiety of knowing your sibling can easily aspirate food, have a seizure, fall and suffer a concussion, etc. I’m curious about what her defense will be.

Yes, for an insanity defense I would think they would have to prove that she did not know what she did was wrong at the time of the murder.

She called police right away and was reportedly hysterical, crying that she had just stabbed her sister, which implies that she knew what she did was wrong.

It will probably be much clearer when we find out the results of her psychological evaluations. I'm curious if her preoccupation with violence and murder themes will play a role. Imo

 

[Lusitana]

I think saying that Claire didn't take on a caretaker role for her sister is a bit naive. I'm sure Claire did help her sister with daily things, there's no way she didn't. Everyone in that home was Helen's caretaker.

 

[MsBetsy]

I think saying that Claire didn't take on a caretaker role for her sister is a bit naive. I'm sure Claire did help her sister with daily things, there's no way she didn't. Everyone in that home was Helen's caretaker.

Oh I'm sure she helped out in caring for her sister. I just haven't seen any evidence that she was "forced into a caretaker role" or that it was so much of a responsibility that it placed too much pressure on her. Her parents were likely the primary caretakers throughout Helen's life, and Claire helped out just like any other sibling would be expected to do. Imo

 

[Shamrock1]

Maybe I’m over-thinking this, but I just don’t see the parents paying for prep school (which usually require a lot of extracurriculars) only to saddle her with caregiving responsibilities.

However…
This was February 2021. I’m guessing that Helen’s in-person care (school & in-home care) was drastically reduced or eliminated due to covid. If the parents both worked, they wouldn’t exactly be alone in struggling to put in a full work day. I'm just a SAHM of neuro-typical, healthy kids but I've found myself giving my oldest extra responsibilities when a fully WFM spouse needs quiet for important calls because I only have two hands and can't have a toddler interrupting a call while I'm changing a diaper, and I can’t exactly take my unvaccinated kids to the aquarium or museum like we used to. I can empathize with a stressed parent who is trying to keep it all together. It’s very hard.

If the parents did assign some caregiving to Claire, I get it. It’s not fair, but I get it. What were their options? Quit work and lose the house? Before you say "hire someone!," please remember that Helen was likely particularly vulnerable to covid and the parents might have decided that it was safest to have Claire temporarily handle her sister's needs. I know I continue to make decisions that prioritize my family's physical health to the detriment of their mental health, like very limited playdates. They may have prioritized Helen's physical health over Claire's mental health.

This is just a sad thing for everyone.

JMO.

 

[Richrd]

.
27 June 2022 Court Date

Lancaster Newspapers™

Hearing will determine if Manheim Twp. girl charged with killing sister will be tried in adult or juvenile court

Claire Miller, the Manheim Township teenager charged with stabbing her older sister to death last year, will appear in court Monday so a judge can determine whether to move her

lancasteronline.com

.

 

[realanastasia]

Mental health struggles revealed in court for Manheim Twp. girl charged with killing sister

The parents of Claire Miller, the Manheim Township teenager charged with stabbing her older sister to death last year, each told a Lancaster County judge on Monday that they would

lancasteronline.com

*****
“The parents of Claire Miller, the Manheim Township teenager charged with stabbing her older sister to death last year, each told a Lancaster County judge on Monday that they would like their daughter to eventually return home to them.

“I so don’t want to lose both my daughters,” Mark Miller said Monday during a hearing to determine if Claire Miller’s case should remain in adult court or be moved to juvenile court.

Mark Miller said he thought his daughter could contribute to society by telling the story of her struggles with mental illness.

Marie Miller, who goes by Marel, said, “I know Claire did not want to do this. …We lost Helen and I don’t want to lose Claire, too.”

*****
Very interesting article and definitely a thorny situation for the parents, who describe Claire as having a very “Type-A”/perfectionist personality, but also as being empathetic to her peers and kind and attentive to her older sister. Apparently Claire was struggling with depression, gender identity issues, and experienced bouts of psychosis that had her conversing out loud with the voices in her head and hallucinating to the point that she claims to have thought she was stabbing one of her psychosis-induced delusions while she was actually murdering her sister.

Given how intelligent the accused daughter is and how desperate her parents seem to have their only living child released back into their custody, I have to admit there’s a part of me that wonders if perhaps the remaining family members all agreed to tell this story to the judge/court, even if it’s not the whole truth. I hope this is not victim-blaming—I surely do not intend it to be read as such—but the whole scenario seems designed to depict this as a tragic aberration from a good-hearted but psychologically-troubled daughter whose parents simply didn’t know of her mental health issues, and whose failure to address said issues is therefore understandable, although it permitted Claire’s ultimately-violent bouts of psychosis to persist.

 

[scriabina]

I agree with your assessment.
It will be helpful to know if psychiatric records back up the family's claims of hallucinations and psychosis-induced delusions. What medications was she on and how closely was she being monitored?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Bouts of psychosis? What was her actual diagnosis, and when was she diagnosed? (I can't access the lancasteronline article.) IF she was having delusions that night, that's a game-changer for me, but did she say anything about that to LE that night? How quickly could someone having a delusion come back to reality?

 

[Lusitana]

The parents were aware of those "bouts of psychosis" and did nothing to help her? Is that what they're saying? It really does seem like she was going through some pretty serious stuff and her sister ended up to pay the price.

I don't think I would feel the same way her parents feel. She needs a lot of help, if what's being told is true, I believe there's a pretty high possibility of her spending the rest of her life in a care facility versus at home.