THUGS MURDER DAD AND KIDNAP DAUGHTER CHASE (2006)
OCALA - Sheila Miller told investigators Monday she thought the men accused of killing her mother and wounding her father during a home invasion Friday would be bringing her a present when she gave them directions to her parents' home.She was acquainted with two of the three men, Marion County sheriff's officials said.The violence erupted within 90 minutes of their arrival at the Villages of Springdale home on Southeast 179th Wesley Street in the south Marion County retirement community. Sheila Miller told detectives during an interview Monday that she met Renaldo D. McGirth, 18, and Theodore C. Huston, 17, two years ago through an acquaintance. They had helped her move, sheriff's Capt. James Pogue said.She told detectives she hadn't seen or talked to them since. That was until Friday, when she received a phone call from one of the men, who was sympathizing about a recent car accident that left her in a wheelchair and wanted to bring her a gift.When the men arrived, detectives said, there was a third man, later identified as Jarrord M. Roberts, 20, whom she had never seen. She invited the men inside.Sheila Miller's mother, Diana Miller, was first shot in the chest and later, fatally, in the head. James Miller, who was also interviewed Monday, told investigators he felt his daughter knew the men and didn't feel threatened when he went to take a shower.When he got out, his wife was dead. One of the men shot him in the head and left him for dead. They kidnapped Sheila Miller and fled in her parents' Ford Windstar van, stopping at automatic teller machines in The Villages, Belleview and Gainesville, sheriff's officials said.In a surveillance video from The Oaks Mall in Gainesville, Sheila Miller can be seen being pushed around the mall as they tried to get more money out of ATMs, officials said. All three men were charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery, armed kidnapping and resisting an officer without violence. Investigators continue to investigate how Sheila Miller knew the suspects and whether she had prior knowledge of the robbery."We have no evidence at this time to indicate she had anything to do with it," Pogue said. Pogue said that, though Sheila Miller is listed as a victim, investigators are trying to corroborate her story. Considering Sheila Miller's criminal background, Pogue said, they will continue investigating her relationship with the men. "It's definitely part of the investigation to look at this (background) and take it all into consideration," said Pogue, whose news release states Sheila Miller was arrested in Roscommon County, Mich., on drug charges in 1990.She was also arrested last year on aggravated battery charges after she used her truck to strike her ex-boyfriend, Joe Carpenter, who was walking on the side of Southeast 44th Street near Belleview. Carpenter, who sustained minor injuries, later asked prosecutors to drop the charges, which they did.