A 64-year-old Alabama father, Stephen Miller, appeared to be devastated by his wife's disappearance, even calling a local TV station to plea for help in finding her. However, Miller would later confess to having strangled her to death following a physical altercation, according to police. He has since been charged with murder.
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According to a Dothan Police Department press release, Stephen Miller reported his wife, Gloria Miller, missing on Monday, February 24. He stated that Gloria disappeared on Saturday, February 22. Miller, desperate to find his wife, even called WDHN-TV, a local TV station, becoming emotional as he pleaded for help in finding Gloria.
As police began investigating her disappearance, however, many details caught the eye of authorities, finding "several indicators of foul play."
Police found Gloria's belongings, including her purse and phone, in a Dothan shopping center's parking lot. They found out that Stephen Miller had placed his wife's belongings there, just hours before they were found and delivered to one of the center's businesses.
Eventually, however, Stephen confessed to murdering his wife, according to police. He would state that he and Gloria had a physical altercation, prompting him to strangle her until she died. Police would find Gloria's body "in a dry creek bed underneath a bridge," located on Geneva County Road 68. An autopsy will be performed by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Montgomery.
Stephen Miller was arrested and charged with one count of murder. H is currently being held at the Houston County Jail on a $1.5 million bond.
Gloria's Family Reacts
Following Miller's alleged confession, Gloria's family members were left in shock, calling Stephen Miller a monster. Among them is Sidney Whitaker, Gloria's sister, who was heartbroken when Gloria was reported missing.
"There's a monster underneath him and I didn't realize that monster was in him," Whitaker said, according to WDHN. "For him to come over to my place, after he had already committed this crime and me having no knowledge of it, he was very deceptive."
Whitaker also talked about Stephen Miller's actions following Gloria's disappearance. Withaker believes Miller attempted to frame Gloria's disappearance as an abduction. To her, that's why Miller placed Gloria's belongings at the shopping center's parking lot.
"There was no other reason he would have took her personal items up to porter square mall and dropped them off to make it appear that she lost them there or had been abducted from there," Whitaker said.
WDHN revealed that Stephen Miller filled two separate protection orders against Gloria Miller. Reportedly, Stephen claimed that Gloria threatened to "destroy him" as well as kill him, their son, and their son's ex-wife. Both of these protection orders were dismissed on Stephen's request.
Black Excellence