Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 20, 1993 TAG: 9301200130
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
PLAN TO MOVE MURDERER STIRS FEARS
Kenneth G. Miller vowed to kill again if he ever got out of a state mental hospital.The schizophrenic killer wrote threatening letters to police officers, lawyers and the family of his wife, whom he shot three times in their Roanoke County home in 1974.
"I don't believe people fully appreciate the seriousness of my threat," Miller said during a 1987 court appearance.
Miller, now 53, says malice is no longer in his heart.
"Please forgive me if you were worried for your Kenneth G. Miller Killed his wife own sake," Miller wrote in an open letter dated Nov. 9, "and remember I have no intention of doing any harm to anyone anymore."
His psychiatrist believes that Miller's condition has improved to the point that he should be transferred from Central State Hospital in Petersburg, where he has been held in a maximum-security unit for the better part of 18 years.
News of Miller's possible transfer to a less secure mental hospital has outraged a handful of Roanoke County residents, who still live in fear of his eventual release.
"He's just as dangerous now as he was 18 years ago," said one woman who received death threats in the 1970s.
Skip Burkhart, the Roanoke County Commonwealth's Attorney, is skeptical about Miller's avowed transformation.
"I'm not a psychiatrist, but I certainly have my doubts," Burkhart said.
Miller was convicted of gunning down his wife, Carolyn, as she sat sipping coffee in the living room of their Penn Forest home on the morning of Sept. 5, 1974.
"I just killed my wife," Miller said moments later to a Roanoke County dispatcher. "Send a hearse."
Sentenced to 20 years in jail for second-degree murder, Miller began firing off threatening letters.
"Will take care of whole family, buy tombstones!" he wrote to his wife's sister in 1979.
In 1987, he was charged with threatening to kill former Roanoke County Sheriff O.S. Foster. He was never tried because he was ruled incompetent.
A forensic psychiatrist testified in 1989 that Miller would pose a danger to society if he ever were released from custody.
"He still verbalizes his desire to wipe out mankind," Dr. Miller M. Ryans said.
The state corrections department released Miller on mandatory probation in September 1987. Burkhart's office lost jurisdiction last fall when the 5-year statute of limitations expired on the death threat charge.
Miller is now held on a civil commitment order, having been deemed mentally incompetent.
"It's strictly in the hand of the psychiatrists," Burkhart said.
Last month, Dr. Lisa Berman informed Burkhart that she had recommended that Miller be transferred from Central State to confinement in another mental hospital.
Berman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Burkhart said that several hospitals have refused to accept Miller because of his violent record.
In his letter, a copy of which was sent to Burkhart and was addressed "To Whom It May Concern," Miller apparently seeks to allay fears of the community, especially those who received death threats.
"I, Kenneth G. Miller, have no malice in hurting anyone else whatsoever. Since the killing of my wife, I have been a broken man with not much in my life to look forward to."
Those who still fear Miller say it's impossible to reconcile the letter with the cold killer who once said his wife "got her brains blown out because she deserved it."
"I didn't believe a word of it," said one woman, who has received threats in the past and did not want to give her name for fear that Miller will stalk her.
"I just want to live the rest of my life in peace. If they let him out, I'll have to be looking over my shoulder all the time," the woman said.