ST. LOUIS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Donald Gene Miller seemed like every suburban parent’s dream in 1970s East Lansing: clean-cut, religious, a trombone player in the Michigan State marching band. But beneath the Bible verses and bright smile he wore as a youth minister at his church was a ticking time bomb.
When 19-year-old Martha Sue Young called off her engagement to Miller, she vanished on New Year’s Eve 1976. Miller, then 22, was immediately suspected, but without a body, police couldn’t make an arrest. Then more women began to disappear. Miller – who ironically held a degree in criminal justice, like Idaho’s convicted killer Bryan Kohberger – was soon tied to several cases, including the murders of Marita Choquette (last seen going to breakfast with him), Wendy Bush (who vanished after accepting a ride from him), and Kristine Stuart (abducted, forced into Miller’s car, and stabbed repeatedly).
Arrested and a plea deal.
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Miller was finally arrested – not for murder, but for brutally attacking 14-year-old Lisa Gilbert and her 13- year-old brother Randy in their home. He sexually assaulted and tried to strangle Lisa with a belt and his bare hands. The siblings survived, and Miller was sentenced in 1979 to 30–50 years for rape and attempted murder.
Miller had entered a plea deal with the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office to resolve charges related to the murders of Young, Choquette, Bush, and Stuart. As part of the deal, he pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter in exchange for leading police to the bodies of Young and Stuart and providing details about the deaths of Choquette and Bush. He didn’t admit to killing Bush and Choquette until after the plea deal was already agreed on.
This plea deal resulted in a sentence of 10 to 15 years for the manslaughter charges, to run concurrently with his other sentences. The deal was controversial due to the reduced charges and relatively lenient sentence, given the severity of the crimes.
Under the plea deal, and according to MDOC (Michigan Dept. of Corrections) records, the now-70-year- old could be released in 2027 – just two years from now – if the parole board approves his application, which he’s eligible to file in August 2027. So far, thanks to strong opposition from victims’ families, prosecutors and others, all of his previous bids have been denied. Still, even without parole, he’ll be released in 2031 – just six years away.
Shoelace justice – the sneaky sentence extender.
Miller could have been eligible for parole in the early 2000s – but then came the shoelace trial. In 1994, guards found a 72-inch lace in his cell, tied in a loop, which prosecutors called a “garrote” potentially to be used as a strangulation weapon – the same method he used to kill the four women. Prosecutors jumped on it as their last best hope to keep him caged.
Despite defense claims that it was just a drawstring from Miller’s winter coat and not intended to be used as a weapon, the jury wasn’t buying it. In 1998, Miller was convicted of possessing a “weapon” in prison. That fourth felony meant he could now be sentenced as a habitual offender and he received an additional 20 to 40 years in prison.
Parole dates and public outrage.
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Miller is currently housed at Michigan’s G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson. His MDOC offender profile (#157793) lists his maximum discharge date as May 3, 2031 when he will be 76-years- old.
Until then, Miller remains behind bars. But the clock is ticking and either way he’ll be back on the streets in six years whether he is a threat to society or not.
According to a 2016 statement by the law firm Kronzek Firm, PLC, “There is a substantial number of people who are committed to keeping Miller behind bars for as long as possible.” The Committee for Community Awareness & Protection was formed in the 1990s with the sole goal of keeping Miller in prison indefinitely. The Committee includes law enforcement officers, current and former prosecutors, victims, and victims’ family members. In a previous statement, then-Ingham County Prosecutor and now Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer called Miller “uniquely dangerous” and thanked the parole board for recognizing the severity of his violent behavior.
A chilling confession and a lingering fear.
In a letter quoted in the book Killing Women, retired Eaton County Sheriff’s Sergeant and author Rod Sadler recounts Miller’s own words to his father: “Untreated, I could (like a blocked steam pipe) only stockpile so much anger, frustration, and over two to three years accumulation via repression. I exploded like a steam pipe on Martha Young, and wrongfully took her life.” Sadler told Michigan News Source that the rest of the letter included Miller saying that when Miller saw the three other girls, they reminded him of Young so he took their lives. There was no mention, however, in any of his five letters to Sadler about the 14-year-old rape victim.
Miller’s father, Gene, believes his son has been rehabilitated. But not everyone is convinced. Sue Young, mother of Miller’s first known murder victim, hasn’t forgotten. She’s become a leading voice in keeping Miller locked up along with others who have spent decades trying to keep the killer behind bars. As Sue once said, “I don’t think our founding fathers meant to have serial killers out walking our streets.”
Why a cop-turned-author is sounding the alarm.
It’s one of the reasons Sadler wrote his 484-page book. As he told Martha Sue Young’s sister Kay – and later repeated to MSU’s WKAR — “People have forgotten who Don Miller is, and people have forgotten what Don Miller did, and Don Miller’s going to get out of prison some day, and people need to know that.”
Rod Sadler didn’t work the Donald Gene Miller case personally – he was just graduating high school in 1978 when Miller’s reign of terror in East Lansing reached its peak. But years later, as a veteran Eaton County law enforcement officer, he couldn’t escape the echoes of crimes that had occurred so close to home. Many of the detectives, judges, and prosecutors involved in the case had become Sadler’s colleagues and friends. As Miller’s parole dates kept resurfacing, Sadler said it became clear to him that people had forgotten the full scope of what Miller had done – and that silence was dangerous. That realization became the driving force behind his book.
Sadler used his professional background and relationships to dig deep into the case. He interviewed key players, gathered rarely seen documents, and even developed a guarded but respectful relationship with Miller’s father. But it was the chilling letter from Miller himself – in which the killer described murdering his former fiancée, then targeting three more women who “reminded” him of her – that helped solidify Sadler’s belief that Miller’s release poses a real risk.
When Sadler asked Miller’s own longtime defense attorney, Thomas Bengtson, if he believed Miller was still a danger, the attorney’s answer wasn’t reassuring. “He said, ‘I don’t know,’” Sadler recalled. “That tells me he’s probably still a danger.”
Though Miller will be 76 when he’s released, Sadler isn’t convinced age alone is enough to keep the public safe. Sadler told Michigan News Source, “The big fear among law enforcement is, yeah, Don Miller will be 76-years-old when he gets out of prison and he probably can’t take down a full grown 25-year-old female but will he go back for teenagers and young girls?”
Sadler added, “So do I think Dan Miller is, will still be a danger? Absolutely. There’s no question in my mind.”
