Mind of a Serial Killer

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48 hours.

We take you there.

Don was bright, responsible, religious.

He is like the boy next door.

Then he snapped.

First, his girlfriend mysteriously disappeared.

Oh my god, he's killed her.

Denise says, no, Dad, I didn't have anything to do with that.

Then, one by one, other young women vanished.

Could never imagine in a million years they could do this.

Don was the prime suspect.

I knew that he had to be caught because I knew that he would kill again.

But the police were powerless.

We could not put him in jail because we did not have a body to go on.

Until finally, he strangled me with his hands.

He was caught in the act.

I drew my weapon and pointed it at his car.

Aaron Moriarty.

Do you see anything that was a sign of problems down the road?

With a rare look inside the the mind of a serial killer.

It's a blinding fire,

blinds your reason.

He was an extraordinarily angry individual.

But now this killer could walk free unless the victims' families can stop it.

Why would you even take a chance that that could happen again?

Bill Lagatuda investigates.

He had precisely the same type of weapon that he used to kill women.

He's more dangerous today than he was then.

The killer next door.

Their names conjure up the dark side of human nature.

Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer.

Serial killers.

Their crimes always shock us.

Their inhumanity enrages us.

But can we unlock the mystery of what's in the mind of a serial killer?

Are killers born or are they made?

Does any killer deserve a second chance at freedom?

Tough questions the residents of one Midwestern town have been struggling with for years.

Their fight is to honor the loved ones they lost and to protect all of us.

We begin with Aaron Moriarty, in a place where things used to make a lot more sense, but then that was before there was a killer next door.

How well do any of us know anybody else?

How well do I know you?

How well do we know each other?

If you don't know what he has done, you can't tell that by looking at him.

You see his innocent side.

Those who grew up with Donald Miller in this quiet, middle-class neighborhood in East Lancy, Michigan, thought they knew him.

You know, he always was very clean-cut.

He usually had a nice smile on his face.

He was very religious at the time, too.

Could never imagine in a million years that he could do this.

And Christ is heart in me.

Gene and Elaine Miller saw their son come of age in the mid-1970s.

Now, is this when he was a youth minister?

Yeah.

While other teens grew long hair and dabbled in drugs, Don was all two parents could ask for.

Did he drink?

Oh, no.

No, absolutely.

Use drugs?

No.

He seemed like a nice guy.

Pleasant and accommodating and helpful.

Good sense of humor.

Don was a straight-arrow college student who played trombone in the Michigan State University marching band.

Went to church every Sunday.

He is like the boy next door.

So you can understand why 19-year-old Martha Suyong thought Donald Miller was the perfect boy to bring home to her mother Sue.

What could be safer than a boy from the neighborhood?

And the boy that you go to church with.

Martha's younger sister Kay

was 16 years old at the time.

What do you think when you see this picture?

You know how gorgeous she is.

She really is.

Martha was also at Michigan State, a junior majoring in French, when she became engaged to Don.

I think Martha was the first first girl that he really deeply loved.

But after only a few weeks, Martha had a change of heart.

She had broken off the engagement, but he talked her into just being friends.

Then just two days later, on New Year's Eve, 1976, Martha suddenly disappeared.

I awakened with this absolutely horrible, sick feeling

because I hadn't heard her come in.

And sure enough, her bed hadn't been slept in.

She had spent New Year's Eve with Don Miller.

And another horrible thing flashed through my mind and it was, oh my god, he's killed her.

Don's story only confirmed that fear.

He told me that he dropped her off at two in the morning and that she had sat down on our front doorstep.

In this horrible cold.

I mean, you know, this made no sense whatsoever.

Neither did Don's reaction.

He wasn't concerned about it.

There was totally no emotion.

Did he seem concerned that she had disappeared?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Gene Miller took time off from his job as a systems analyst for the state of Michigan to join his son Don in the search for Martha.

Did you at all suspect your son?

No.

Not at all.

But the East Lansing Police did.

Well, we know that he wasn't telling the truth.

Investigating Officer Rick Westgate didn't believe Don Miller's story from the start.

We knew Don Miller knew something about the disappearance of Martha Su Young.

But when searches turned up no body, no witnesses, no evidence, the police were only left with their suspicions.

We could not put him in jail because we did not have a body to go on.

There was no question in my mind that the police were wasting a lot of time.

Don's parents hired attorney Tom Bankston.

The evidence was clear.

He didn't do it.

In the meantime, Donald Miller went on with his life.

This is graduation from university.

What was his major in?

Criminal justice.

And then, in October 1977, ten months after Martha Young disappeared, two hunters stumbled on something strange.

The clothes that Martha Sue wore the night she disappeared.

She had a winter jacket with a fur collar on it, had the blouse inside the coat.

The socks were inside the pants, and the shoes were at the end of the pants.

But they didn't find Martha.

They were laid out as if she floated out of the clothes.

Obviously that, you know, she was dead at that point, you know.

After the discovery of Martha Sue's clothing, there were no more leads, no more clues.

The case of the missing girl remained unsolved for a year and a half.

And then in June of 1978, another girl disappeared.

A little bit older than Martha Sue Young.

Marita Choquette was 26 years old.

But if you look at the pictures, maybe looked a little bit like Martha Sue Young with glasses.

Two weeks later, her mutilated body was found.

And on that very same day, another young woman, Wendy Bush, disappeared.

She was last seen walking on the MSU campus at night with an unidentified white male.

And then, just two weeks after that, yet another young woman disappeared.

You just don't think of anything like that happening.

Margaret and Ken Gusky's 30-year-old daughter, Christine.

She was your oldest.

She was our oldest.

But this time, there was a possible witness.

She saw something, but she couldn't recall, and they were going to use hypnosis.

She reported a male who appeared to be physically attacking the female.

And was able to come up with a license plate number and composite drawing, and the composite drawing matched Don Miller to a T.

And we could not bring in Don Miller for questioning.

Why not?

That is not enough evidence to convict or even arrest or bring somebody in for questioning.

Did it ever occur to you when you were hearing these news reports of these other girls missing that your son was the killer?

No.

No.

If that had been the case, I'd have been right to the police immediately.

There was no physical evidence connecting Don Miller to any of the missing women.

So police could only wait until the killer struck again.

I knew that he had to be called because because I knew that he would

kill again.

And then just two days after Christine Stewart disappeared, Donald Miller is caught in the act.

Next.

You know, it's a small town.

It seemed safe.

You don't think about murders happening in your town.

By mid-August of 1978, the city of East Lansing and its police department were facing a crisis.

The frustration level was beyond what any normal frustration level would be.

In the last two months, one young woman had been brutally killed.

Two others had vanished.

I think we pinpointed Don Miller to a T at that time and tried to say what can we do?

How can we do it?

But there was little Detective Rick Westgate could do without any evidence linking Don Miller to these three cases or to the disappearance of Martha Sue Young more than a year and a half earlier.

They just ran out of anything to investigate.

Until one August afternoon, just two days after the last disappearance.

Had you ever seen him before?

Nope.

When Don Miller walked into this house.

He looked innocent.

14-year-old Lisa Gilbert was home alone when Don Miller walked through an unlocked door.

No one knows why he picked this house.

How did he find you?

I don't know.

I don't have a clue.

Lisa's 13-year-old brother, Randy, was outside with friends.

It was at random.

That's what they finally figured.

It was just at random.

Their stepmother, Donna, was at work when Miller attacked and almost killed Randy and Lisa.

Have you two ever talked about it?

No.

Not to each other.

No, not to each other.

Why not?

I guess maybe a little denial.

I didn't want to know what happened to my sister.

You know, I...

It is too painful for Randy.

I can't talk about it.

Even 20 years later.

Can you stop for a minute?

Sure, of course.

With Randy out of the room, Lisa describes what Don Miller did to her that day when she was only 14.

He put his arm around me and had a knife holding at my neck.

Then he took me into the master bedroom and told me to face down on the floor.

He got knee-high stockings and shoved them in my mouth and tied my hands behind my back.

And then he sexually assaulted me and proceeded to attempt to murder me.

When you say attempt to murder you, what do you mean?

He, first of all, started strangling me with the belt that I had on my shorts and then that busted and then he strangled me with his hands.

And then that's when I blacked out.

Randy rejoins the interview and picks up the story.

I walked into the house.

I saw Don Miller come out of the master bedroom.

Then he walked around, grabbed me from behind, put a knife to my throat.

And we went into my room, and

then I started feeling him cutting at my neck.

And he started to strangle me with his bare hands.

When Randy blacked out, Don Miller began stabbing him again.

But meanwhile, downstairs, I heard Randy screaming.

Lisa had regained consciousness.

So I got up and then just ran right out in the street.

While a driver stopped to help Lisa, Don Miller was able to get away in his car.

But the driver saw Miller's license plate and with that information...

I drew my weapon and pointed it at his car.

The police finally had enough to arrest Don Miller.

Don Miller, in his very quiet tone, said, what's going on?

I've just been shopping at Meyers.

Why are you doing this to me?

What are you charging me with?

Miller was convicted of rape and attempted murder and was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison.

We finally got Don Miller.

But authorities still had the murder or disappearance of the other four women to solve.

There was no physical evidence to any of the crimes in Don Miller.

None.

Even without the bodies, prosecutor Peter Haupe went ahead and charged Don Miller with the murders of Martha Sue Young and Christine Stewart.

We met with the families and said, we believe the cases we have are not strong cases.

It was the agreement of all involved that we proceeded with the plea bargain.

It was a highly unusual plea bargain.

Donald Miller, who insisted he couldn't remember killing anyone, agreed to work with several psychologists to try and retrieve his memories.

If successful, he would lead investigators investigators to the missing bodies, but only under these conditions: that Donald Miller would be allowed to plead guilty only to manslaughter charges, and that no additional prison time would be added to his sentence.

In the end, the families felt they had no other choice.

We needed to know for sure.

There is always that hope against hope that they're alive.

If you don't have a body,

so in July of 1979, I didn't do nothing to him, psychologists tried to help Don Miller remember what he had done.

We were dealing with two levels of consciousness.

Dr.

Gerald Briskin injected Miller with a sedative called sodium ametol to relax Miller and help him remember his past.

Now open the door and let's see that other self.

It took time.

She's in the river, isn't she?

Who's in the river?

And perseverance.

Oh, no, I never did nothing to her.

But after several sessions,

Miller confessed to all four murders.

Let's start with Marie.

Did you kill Wendy?

It seems so.

Just like Martha, huh?

As agreed.

And where did you leave her body?

Miller then led authorities to nearby wooded areas where they found the three remaining bodies.

When you know that there is a body,

then you stop looking for them to one fine day walk through the door.

It finally brought an end.

At least to looking for her.

But now, 20 years later, the plea bargain that seemed to make so much sense has come back to haunt the victims' families.

At 43 years old, Donald Miller could be out of prison in just a few weeks.

He's more dangerous today, I think.

than he was then.

When we come back...

This is the case of the people of the state of Michigan versus Don Gene Miller.

The fight to keep Donald Miller behind bars.

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He should be locked away for life.

Although Donald Miller confessed to killing four women, Every parole hearing has said exactly the same thing, that he continues to be a threat.

And even though he's serving 30 to 50 years in prison for rape and attempted murder, he could get out in a few weeks after serving just 20 years.

It's not a matter of if he will kill again, but when.

Sue Young, whose daughter Martha was Miller's first victim, is working to pass a bill in Michigan which would keep Donald Miller and serial predators like him locked up in psychiatric facilities after they've served their criminal sentences.

Please give us a law which will quarantine killers who are due to be released from prison.

But there's little chance the bill will become law before Donald Miller is due to be released.

Prosecutors have found one more way to try and keep Donald Miller behind bars.

One small discovery that's bringing Miller back to trial here in this courthouse, where, if convicted, he could be given life.

What is this tiny new piece of evidence?

Believe it or not, it's a shoelace.

Well, this is the shoelace measured at 72 72 inches long.

It may not seem like a lot.

Those are the buttons or handles.

But Eaton County prosecutor Jeff Sauter thinks it's just enough to keep Donald Miller behind bars.

The nature of it's been changed.

It's now configured as a weapon.

The shoelace was confiscated from Miller's cell in 1994 because prison officials thought it could be used as a strangulation device.

How would a weapon like that be used?

I'd take the two handles, run the string through my fingers, loop it around once or twice, approach a person from behind.

It's a purely offensive weapon.

So, Sauter is charging Miller with possessing a weapon in prison.

That's the felony that could keep him there.

Do you now view this as your last, best hope of keeping him in prison for a long time?

Yes.

Yes.

All right, please.

But the case might not even get to court.

Miller wants it dismissed.

This is the case of the people of the state of Michigan versus Don Gene Miller.

And today, at a pretrial hearing, he takes the stand for the first time ever and explains the shoelace was not a weapon, but just a drawstring from his winter coat.

I believe you also indicated that you had taken this out of your winter coat.

To repair the hem.

But then when you took it back out of your coat, you tied it back up together.

I didn't want to lose the buttons.

The judge is not convinced.

The court is going to deny the motion to dismiss.

The prosecutors get their chance to take the case to a jury, but they will have to convince that jury that this shoelace is not just a shoelace, but a weapon used to kill.

I'm looking at Don Miller's history.

I know he's killed two women and tried to kill a third with an improvised device like that.

He has a history of strangling people.

Right.

It's that history of strangling people that Prosecutor Sauter wants the jury to hear.

He's sick.

It just makes my skin crawl.

And he wants them to hear it from Lisa Gilbert, the woman Donald Miller attacked 20 years ago.

He used a belt on me to strangle.

He used his hands to strangle.

Not only me, but my brother.

This is where he's been since he's been arrested.

Tom Bankston, Miller's attorney, is just as anxious to keep that information out of court.

The jury would be terribly influenced against Don if that evidence came in and convict him because he's a bad person.

The judge deals a blow to the prosecution, ruling that Lisa Gilbert will not testify.

I think there's too much prejudice here to even admit it.

Not only that, the jury will not be told anything at all about Donald Miller's strangling or his serial killer past.

So they'll have to make their verdict based on just the facts of the shoelace in the cell.

That's correct.

And nothing else.

That's correct.

Is it possible that in this case a shoelace is just a shoelace?

If you're asking me, do I think that that's something other than a weapon?

No.

Is it possible the jury will think so?

Sure.

So will a shoelace be enough to keep Donald Miller from walking out of prison?

His fate and the fight to keep him behind bars hang by a thread.

Later on 48 Hours.

No, no.

Next, he was an extraordinarily angry individual.

It's a blinding fire, blinds your reason.

Inside the mind of a serial killer.

If you picture somebody who just is about ready to explode.

Should someone have seen the signs?

We didn't.

If you were searching for a serial killer in the making, exactly what would you be searching for?

Experts in criminal profiling say that there often are warning signs in childhood.

These include the destruction of property and cruelty or violence toward other children or to animals.

Perhaps our most disturbing image of a serial killer is from the movies.

Remember Hannibal Lecter?

He was the brilliant psychopath in Silence of the Lambs.

As for the real-life Donald Miller, he can only hope that he doesn't look the part.

He still has a chance to go free, even though he confessed to killing four young women.

Here again is Aaron Moriart.

Hannibal Lecter is an extraordinary character and people think, wow, isn't that a different kind of monster?

A census taker once tried to test me.

I ate his liver with some father beans and a nice cayandy.

But the truth is much more mundane.

Serial killers look just like anybody else.

That's what makes Donald Miller's possible release such a concern to psychiatrists like Park Deeds.

The issue here is that there's

Trying to figure out what didn't we do or what should we have done?

Yeah, an awful lot of that.

Donald's father, Gene, says he saw nothing in his son's past.

This is done, I think, in 1962.

That can explain his his more recent behavior.

If I did, I would tell you, but no, we didn't, you know.

Both Gene and his wife Elaine took parenting seriously.

We always went to church.

They raised Donald and his two younger sisters in a very strict...

Let's take a look at Proverbs 4.

Very religious home.

Listen, children, to a father's instruction and be attentive that you may gain insight.

Gene describes Don as a model child.

He only helped around the house.

He had a good work ethic and was never unkind to animals or people that I know of.

But that, says psychologist Gerald Briskin, was exactly the problem.

He was too good.

He was too controlled.

He was an extreme.

Dr.

Briskin says you can learn a lot about Donald Miller.

Just mostly relax.

By studying the videotapes he made back in 1979 while Miller was under the influence of sodium amatol.

It's a blinding fire.

It blinds your reason.

One thing that is, I think, very certain is that he was an extraordinarily angry individual.

I always try to keep this under control.

Miller would show one face to the world.

What kind of personality did he have?

Very kind.

While what he called his lower self felt something else.

Anger.

Lower self always feels anger.

It's primitive.

You know, he talks in terms of the good self and the bad self.

The other self is

ruled by pure emotion.

The evil part are these very, very hateful, rage-like impulses that he's had all of his life.

Don managed to hide it from nearly everyone, except Martha's younger sister, Kay.

He would get angry about something and we ended up going 130 miles an hour and driving like crazy.

To me, it wasn't normal.

If you picture somebody who just is about ready to explode, you know, who's so angry they want to just do something, you know.

And that's the way he seemed.

Briskin says he believes Donald Miller was mentally ill.

You know, that's the lay way of putting it.

He's crazy.

And really didn't remember killing anyone.

No, I never hit her.

No.

Is it possible that Donald Miller was faking it when he claimed he couldn't remember any of this?

Sure, it's possible.

That's the enigma, isn't it?

God, he'd have to be one hell of an actor.

That's exactly what psychiatrist Park Dietz believes.

And some people fall for this.

That Donald Miller is not mentally ill at all.

Just acting like he is.

Self is sick.

Self is sick.

We asked this nationally known expert on serial killers to review Donald Miller's case.

And you feel like you're in a limbo And his interviews on videotape.

He sold himself to various people as mentally ill.

This helps him with his family, helps him with his church, helps him with how the public sees him, because people can think, gee, he's a Christian gone sick.

That's not true at all.

He's a bad guy who's conned a lot of people.

According to Dietz, Miller and most serial killers like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, or Jeffrey Dahmer are not insane, but missing a key ingredient from birth.

What would be genetic is lack of anxiety about killing or lack of empathy, lack of conscience.

Those things probably have some genetic basis.

And while it is not clear how, the killer's early environment also plays a part.

It's not just born that way.

It's take what you're born with, take what your family gives you, what your environment gives you, and decide whether you're going to do it.

When you look back, do you realize that he was more troubled than you ever realized growing up?

No, I can't see it.

But there were signs, clear signs, that Donald was seriously troubled.

I have been told that Donald had incestuous relationships with at least one of his sisters.

Well, we were having some sexual fork play, which we both really didn't like, but we did know that

sometimes on her request and sometimes on mine.

Gene says his wife Elaine told him about the incident only after Donald had been arrested.

She didn't think it was of any big consequence.

Also, she knew that if I heard about it, that I would probably be a little more upset than she was with it.

Aren't those signs that those parents should have reacted to?

Those would be good clues, yeah.

But neither Gene nor Elaine, who declined to speak with 48 Hours, sought counseling for their son.

People don't want to see their children as disturbed.

It'd be a mistake to blame the parents for this young man's crimes.

It'd be a mistake to blame anybody but him for his character.

In fact, not even a professional can accurately predict that a child will grow up to be a killer.

In this case, Dr.

Dietz theorizes that Donald Miller may have accidentally killed Martha Su Young in anger and then continued to kill because he enjoyed it.

Donald Miller did receive a few years of psychological treatment in prison, raising the question, can he he be cured?

Treatment is excellent and very powerful for genuine mental illness.

Treatment for people who are just bad actors was put together like a picture puzzle or have bad character

is slow and not very successful.

So the odds of successfully changing what's actually wrong with Donald Miller are slim.

Just ahead.

I've made a loop and I'm pulling each side.

What was Donald Miller doing with that shoelace in his cell?

It was an innocent device.

It was a shoestring.

Precisely the same type of weapon did he use to kill women.

What the jury decides could help a confessed serial killer go free.

Nobody should have to go through life with what we have in our heads and our minds.

And that's what will happen if he's released.

More than 20 years have passed since Donald Miller strangled and nearly killed Randy Gilbert and his sister Lisa.

Sometimes it sickens me to even think we're at this point.

Yet today, Randy and his stepmother, Donna Irish, are revisiting the past.

I just prayed that he'll be found guilty on these charges.

Because after 20 years in prison, serial killer Donald Miller is back on trial.

And without a guilty verdict, the man some experts say cannot be cured could end up back on the streets in just a few weeks.

I don't know if this is like last chance to keep him in as long as we can, but it is a chance.

I got it.

Don has done his time.

He should be released.

Attorney Tom Bankston represented Donald Miller 20 years ago.

Do you think that the prosecution has something out for your client?

It's overly aggressive on the part of some to prosecute this case.

Overly aggressive, according to Bankston, because this case isn't about serial murder.

It's about a shoelace.

He had used it as a drawstring on his coat in the past.

It was an innocent device.

It was a shoestring.

The prosecution team says the shoelace was actually a strangulation device found in Miller's prison cell four years ago.

He had precisely the same type of weapon that he'd used to kill women and attempt to kill a woman.

And here is why prosecutors believe one shoelace is their last best hope of keeping Donald Miller behind bars.

If he's found guilty of having a weapon in his cell, that would be his fourth felony conviction.

Under Michigan law, he would then be considered an habitual offender, and he could get the sentence of life.

The charges are unfounded, and I think it's very unfair.

Donald Miller's parents, Gene and Elaine, have come to the courthouse to support their son.

Why do you think it's unfair?

Well, because shoelace was sold.

inside the institution.

It was not used in any bad way that I can perceive.

Was Donald Miller allowed to have the shoelace in his cell and could it be used as a weapon?

That's what the jury members will decide and the judge has ruled they will make that decision without knowing Miller's history of strangulation and serial killing.

As far as the jury is concerned, this is just a matter of a shoelace in a jail.

Routine

weapon in prison.

Do you think the jury will convict on that alone?

That's the scary part.

I really don't know.

And for those who know Donald Miller's Miller's past, the stakes are high.

He's a murderer.

He's a serial killer.

I don't feel that he's fit for society.

I don't want him hurting anybody else.

How can a person like that just change?

People do change.

They are productive after they've done murders.

I think he could do well on the outside.

So, prosecutor Pat Shannon introduces the shoelace without tying it to Miller's criminal past.

What did you find in the box, if anything?

Presenting testimony from the prison guard who found the shoelace in Miller's foot locker.

It went through my mind automatically as a weapon that could be used to strangle someone or seriously hurt them.

Immediately, Defense Attorney Bengston attempts to cast doubt that the shoelace could have been a weapon.

Would you have the jury believe that because the shoelace was tied, that it wasn't authorized anymore?

It was an altered state, which no longer makes it a shoelace.

Prosecutors then call on an expert to demonstrate the shoelace's lethal capacity.

I've made a loop and I'm pulling each side away from one another.

Bengston fires back with an expert of his own.

Is the object depicted in these photographs a weapon?

No, sir, it is not.

Something of this length, trying to wrap it around a second time would lose all elements of surprise.

Not surprisingly, the jury never hears from the one person who knows exactly what the shoelace was to be used for.

Don't you implement Donald Miller?

It's got to be a weapon

or other implement I mean I got a belt I got a tie I got all kinds of things that doesn't translate to it being a weapon because if you made that conclusion then we got the prison store selling weapons to inmates that's crazy that's not going on this is a bootlace this is a weapon remember the testimony And use your common sense.

The jury's decision might be obvious if it knew Donald Donald Miller's violent past, but it doesn't.

And all the uncertainty is taking its toll.

We're just a bundle of nerves.

We'll all stand by the jury.

The jury's verdict coming up next.

It's scary.

It's really scary.

The jury is out on Donald Miller.

It's kind of hard to go through all this.

Could the confessed serial killer soon leave prison a free man?

It's scary.

It's really scary.

Just trying to hold on until we get that verdict.

All rise, please.

After two hours of deliberation, the moment finally arrives.

Members of the jury, have you agreed upon a verdict?

We, the jury, find you guilty.

Members of the jury, listen to your verdict as recorded so do say upon your oaths that you find the defendant guilty say you all members of this jury just wanted to hug the whole jury

he just was not aware that they could take a shoelace and make this big of an issue out of it but for the jury do you feel that this was a shoelace or a weapon a weapon it was clearly more than just an innocent shoelace could it be used as a weapon yes it could be used as a weapon and that's what we went on.

At this point, you still don't know what his record is.

No, just a few bits of pieces of the picture.

The judge found out.

So we filled in some of the details.

He killed four people?

Yes.

I almost feel offended.

We could have set him free without the necessary knowledge to make an informed decision.

If you had known, wouldn't you have been immediately prejudiced?

I suppose.

I suppose.

But what if he would have

received his parole in February and in March strangled somebody else?

This case should have never even came to this point because that man should have been in prison for life anyways.

But I found this factor.

A life sentence is exactly what Randy Gilbert and his sister Lisa hoped Donald Miller could finally be facing.

He does not deserve to be out.

Now living with her boyfriend in another state, Lisa has stayed away from the courtroom.

I still have the fear.

I'm still scared to see him face to face.

So, six weeks later, she waits by the phone as both sides return for the sentencing.

This is the day, I think, of

the past 10, 11 years that I've been living for.

Judge Nicholas Lambrose can sentence Miller to anything from a slap on the wrist to life in prison.

The 50th Circuit Court's now in session.

We're going to ask the judge to consider somewhere in the area of two to five years.

Miller's attorney, Tom Bengston, asked the judge not to focus on Miller's past.

I mean they absolutely, Your Honor, ignore the super job that Don Miller has done for the last 20 years while incarcerated.

He's tutored his fellow inmates.

He's caused no problems.

So he's trying to make right of a terrible, terrible situation that he created while he was mentally ill.

Then, as Bengston goes on to talk about Miller's family.

He has the loyal support of his mother and father.

It evokes a rare show of emotion.

And when the time comes for Don's release, the family has resolved to participate further with psychologists who might be able to help Don as he makes the adjustment back to society.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Paxton.

Prosecutor Jeff Sauter.

I'm going to ask for at least 40 to 60 years.

Makes the case for a tough sentence.

He took their life without mercy.

He left their bodies to decompose in remote fields.

And he reads a letter from Lisa Gilbert.

Your Honor, we were two innocent teenagers going about their everyday life enjoying their summer.

Then on August 16th, 1978, at the age of 14, I was sexually assaulted, strangled, and left for dead by Don Miller.

My brother Randy, at 13, was stabbed, strangled, and left for dead by him.

My life for the past 20 years has been a roller coaster ride.

I don't want Donald Miller to ever get out of prison because I'm scared he will find me and try to kill me again.

I don't want to live my life in fear or have him hurt or murder others.

And finally, Mr.

Miller, is there anything you'd like to say to you?

The last of each other.

Yes, Your Honor.

What I did 20 years plus ago, I wish I could undo.

And I apologize to the families.

I apologize to the surviving victims.

I apologize to my parents that are here.

I've been trying to get my life together in a very meaningful way.

I never knew it would be construed as a weapon.

With my education in criminal justice, I would not place something dangerous in my own footlocker.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Miller.

Thank you.

Now, Judge Lambrose must make his decision.

There is nothing in your history, Mr.

Miller, which gives this court any confidence to expect you are truly reformed and that the public has no more to fear from you.

Indeed, your latest conviction compels the opposite conclusion.

It will be the sentence and judgment of the court, Mr.

Miller, that you be delivered into the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections, the maximum of which the court in its discretion will now set at 40 years, and the minimum which will be set by this court in its discretion at 20 years.

It is 20 to 40 years, at least 20 more years, before Donald Miller can even dream of leaving prison.

We would be in our 80s at the time he got out.

And with a parole board in control for 20 years after that, there's a chance Donald Miller will not live to see his freedom.

He's going to be in there for a long, long time.

Would you be happy if you never have to worry about him again?

Yes, I would.

Well, you'd never have to worry about him again.

You just sit back and you relax the rest of your life.

20 to 40.

Life without parole sounds much better, but I'm thankful he got what he got.

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