Deadly Dose

by Amanda Lamb

  Ultimately, Drew Planten, a chemist with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, had been linked to Stephanie’s murder through DNA. There was already talk that Planten might be a serial killer who had left victims in other parts of the country.

  Reporters called to congratulate Morgan. This was uncomfortable because he had to make it clear that he had played no part in solving the case. Instead, he gave the detectives, Ken Copeland and Jackie Taylor, their proper due, saying they had picked up the ball and run with it where he, Morgan, had left off. They solved the case, not him.

  Carmon Bennett also called Morgan and thanked him for everything he had done. Morgan reiterated that he had nothing to do with solving the case, but Carmon’s thanks were less about the arrest and more about the shoulder Morgan had offered to a grieving father over the years.

  Copeland called Morgan to say that he was sorry for not keeping him in the loop, but that he had been told to keep everything close to the vest because of the sensitive and high-profile nature of the case. He thanked Morgan for allowing him to work on the case. Morgan, in turn, said he wished Ken had been on the case from the beginning, because if he had, it might have been solved years earlier.

  At the end of all of the conversations it was still just Morgan alone with his tortured soul, tooling around the North Carolina State Fairgrounds on a golf cart under a perfect blue sky. For the first time in a long while he had a feeling of contentment, a feeling that all the arduous steps he had taken in his career had finally led to this day. Maybe things hadn’t turned out exactly the way he had planned, but either way there would be justice for Stephanie Bennett and Eric Miller.

  THE FINAL CHAPTER

  When Becky Holt called a few days later to say that Ann Miller would take the plea and spend a minimum of twenty-five years in prison, it was anticlimactic. Morgan had known from the day he met with the prosecution team in the grand-jury room that Ann Miller would never go to trial. It was a conclusion he had made peace with. Holt told him Ann would formally enter her plea and be sentenced at a hearing in November.

  At the same time Morgan learned that his son, Gregory, would be returning from Iraq. It was almost as if the stars were aligning for the first time in his crazy life. His boy was coming home and Ann Miller was going away.

  Holt and Willoughby asked Morgan to prepare a summary of the case to read in open court at Ann’s sentencing. Unlike his grand-jury testimony, Morgan knew this speech would not change the outcome of anything that happened in the courtroom. It was merely an opportunity for him to look Ann straight in the eye and tell her he knew exactly what she’d done and how she’d done it. He had known for years, and now the world was going to know as well.

  “I remember walking into court that morning certainly with mixed emotions,” Morgan says, still wishing in some ways that the journey to that day had ended in a trial instead of a plea.

  As always, it was Ann’s appearance that got to Morgan. Her hair was longer this time, straight and shiny, full of blond highlights. When she leaned forward, it obscured her delicate features. She was dressed like a stylish librarian in a black sweater that hugged her petite frame and a wool pleated schoolgirl skirt. As she entered the courtroom she looked down at her feet bashfully, more like a woman on her way to the gallows than on her way to make a deal. But at one point she turned back to look over her shoulder at her family with a sheepish and inappropriate grin, and that’s when Morgan saw the real Ann Miller. For a moment he’d almost been taken in by her demure appearance. Almost.

  “She didn’t look like she could hurt a flea, let alone poison her husband to death with arsenic,” says Morgan.

  “Mrs. Kontz, did you and Derril Willard conspire to commit the first-degree murder of Eric Miller by means of poison?” Judge Stephens asked Ann, who was now standing in between her attorneys, Wade Smith and Joe Cheshire, at the defense table in front of the bench.

  “Yes, sir,” she said barely above a whisper.

  “Ma’am?” he asked again, as if reading Morgan’s mind. Morgan wanted to make sure everyone in the courtroom heard her answer.

  “Yes, sir,” she said a little bit louder.

  “Mrs. Kontz, did you with malice, unlawfully, and intentionally participate in causing the death of Eric Miller?” asked the judge.

  “Yes, sir,” Ann said.

  And then it was Morgan’s turn to get on the stand and read the findings-of-fact that he had prepared for this day. In his crisp white shirt and smart yellow tie, he felt like he was on top of the world, but his real feeling of power came when he looked over at Ann and realized she was looking down. She couldn’t listen to what he was saying. Morgan assumed it was shame, not guilt, that made his presentation so uncomfortable for her to hear.

  The following is the script that Morgan read from in open court that day:

  At 2:50 AM, December 2, 2000, Dr. Eric Dewayne Miller died at Rex Hospital in Raleigh. Dr. Miller had been taken to Rex Hospital in the early morning hours of December 1, 2000, for severe gastro-intestinal symptoms, (nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea). In the late afternoon of December 1, 2000, doctors treating Dr. Miller were informed of test results, from an earlier hospitalization at UNC Medical Center, which clearly indicated that Dr. Eric Miller was a victim of arsenic poisoning. Officials at Rex Hospital subsequently notified the Raleigh Police Department and Officer Ford was sent to the hospital. At the time of Dr. Miller’s death a homicide investigation was begun by the Raleigh Police Department.

  Eric Dewayne Miller was a 30-year-old post doctoral research scientist employed at the Lineberger Cancer Research Center at UNC Hospitals. Eric was married to Ann Brier Miller, also 30 years old, and employed as a research scientist at the former Glaxo Wellcome Company (now GlaxoSmithKline) at Research Triangle Park. The Millers had been married in 1993. They met while they were both students at Purdue University. They had one child, Clare, born in January of 2000. They were residing in a single family residence at 804 Shady Maple Lane in Raleigh.

  On November 16, 2000, Eric Miller went to the Rex Hospital emergency room, suffering from extreme nausea, cramping in the abdominal region, vomiting and diarrhea. The onset of his symptoms began after a bowling outing with three of his wife Ann’s co-workers at the AMF Bowling Center on Delta Lake Drive in Raleigh. He had gone home and his symptoms continued to worsen to a point where his wife accompanied him to the hospital in the early morning hours of November 16.

  During his hospitalization the cause of his symptoms remained a mystery to the doctors attending him. It was suspected that he had some sort of viral infection, but this could never be confirmed. His symptoms continued to worsen and he was transferred to UNC Hospitals from Rex after several days. Shortly before his transfer to UNC Hospitals, a heavy metals test was run on his blood, as one of the doctors treating him thought his symptoms might be as a result of exposure to arsenic. This testing was done at an out-of-state lab and the results were not communicated to the Rex lab until after Dr. Miller had been transferred to UNC Hospitals. The doctors at Rex did contact UNC Hospitals with the results, but a miscommunication resulted in the arsenic levels being understood to be urine levels, rather than blood levels. The reported levels in a urine specimen would not have been a cause for great concern. While at UNC Hospitals, Eric gradually began to improve. On November 24, 2000, he was discharged from UNC Hospitals and sent home to recuperate. Prior to his discharge, a urine sample was obtained from Dr. Miller and sent to an out of state laboratory for heavy metals analysis.

  In the following week Eric showed slow but steady signs of improvement according to his parents and doctors. Dr. Drossman at UNC Hospitals, who saw Eric Miller on the morning of November 29, 2000, described his condition as “much improved” from what he had observed of Eric’s condition during his hospitalization. Dr. Furman, Eric’s family physician, saw Eric on the morning of November 30, 2000, for a follow-up appointment, at which time Eric reported he was feeling better and his appetite was improving. Dr. Furman noted
that Eric had no complaints of gastro-intestinal symptoms at the time of this examination. By the afternoon of Thursday, November 30, he felt well enough to go out for a short walk around the cul-de-sac in front of his house with his father; this was his first walk outside in over two weeks. That evening at approximately 5:45 PM, Eric’s parents, who had been helping care for him, went out for dinner, leaving Eric at home with his wife Ann and their infant daughter Clare. Ann Miller later reported, in her only statement to Raleigh Police detectives, that she and Eric ate together that night and had a chicken and rice dish that some friends from their church had brought over. Eric’s parents returned to the home at approximately 7:15 that evening.

  Later that night, at about 11:00 PM, Eric began having terrible cramps, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. He was again taken to the Rex Hospital emergency room around 4:00 A.M. on Friday, December 1, 2000. His condition continued to worsen during the day and into the evening. During the afternoon, doctors at Rex treating Eric were contacted by doctors at UNC Hospitals and informed that the results of testing done on the urine sample taken from Eric on his discharge from UNC Hospitals on November 24, 2000, had been received. The lab results showed Eric had extremely high levels of arsenic in his system at the time the sample was obtained.

  Doctors at Rex Hospital subsequently called the police and a very brief statement was taken from Eric, who was in a very poor physical condition. He was asked if he knew anyone who might be responsible for poisoning him, or if he had taken poison himself. He told the officer who interviewed him that he had not taken any poison and did not know of anyone who might have given him poison.

  Eric Miller’s condition continued to decline during the night of December 1, 2000. He was placed in intensive care and at 2:50 AM on December 2, he died. An autopsy was performed at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which determined that the cause of death was arsenic poisoning.

  Investigators began to investigate the circumstances of Eric’s death. On the evening of December 2, 2000, Ann Miller was interviewed at the Raleigh Police Department. During that interview she was asked if she knew of anyone with any motive to harm her husband, she mentioned that Eric had been involved in a minor dispute with a neighbor involving several other residents of their neighborhood over a fence; she could not provide any other possible reason for someone wanting to harm Eric. After that interview, despite numerous attempts to ask Ann Miller additional questions, she refused, through her father and then her attorney to answer any questions from the police department.

  On December 2, while at her parents’ house, Ann Miller announced her intention to have Eric’s remains cremated to Verus Miller, Eric’s father. She subsequently reiterated her intention to go through with the cremation at a meeting to discuss the funeral arrangements at St. Francis’ Church on the following day. On both occasions, Eric’s parents and sisters were shocked and objected, as the family had no experience with cremation in the past and the subject had never been a topic of discussion by Eric. Eric’s father actually offered to pay for all the expenses of a traditional funeral in lieu of cremation, but Ann Miller would not relent

  Eric Miller’s life was closely examined and it was found that he was very popular and well-thought of by his friends, neighbors, and co-workers at UNC. No one could provide any motive for someone to harm him. There was an extensive search conducted of the lab he worked in and no arsenic or arsenic-containing compounds were located. His e-mail, phone records, and office were searched and nothing suspicious was located. No evidence of any substantial conflict could be found in his life.

  During the investigation it was determined that Ann Miller did have access to arsenic in the lab she worked in at Glaxo Wellcome. Several arsenic containing compounds were used by her and her co-workers, and there was no system to track how these arsenic-containing compounds were dispensed.

  Ann Miller’s cellular telephone records were obtained through court order and it was discovered that there were a large number of calls to one of her co-workers, Derril Willard. Some of the telephone calls placed by Ann Miller to Derril Willard were late in the evening or very early morning hours and the phone records indicate that some of the calls were over thirty minutes in duration. These phone calls began on October 30, 2000, and ended on December 2, 2000.

  Derril Willard had been one of the three male co-workers of Ann Miller who accompanied Eric Miller on the bowling outing on November 15. The other co-workers, who had gone bowling with Eric, Randy Bledsoe and Tom Conselor, were interviewed. They both recalled that Eric had consumed part of a cup of beer that had been purchased and poured by Derril Willard, about an hour before he became ill. At the time he drank the beer Eric made a comment to the other men that the beer tasted “funny or bad.” Prior to consuming the entire cup of beer, Eric accidentally spilled it, according to Randy Bledsoe. Within two hours, while bowling, Eric Miller became very ill. He continued to bowl, but was so nauseated he kept a trash bag nearby to vomit in.

  Due to the large number of telephone calls between Ann Miller and Derril Willard, investigators attempted on numerous occasions to contact Willard during mid-December 2000. Mr. Willard did not return any messages left for him. Subsequent searches of Ann Miller’s work computer revealed numerous e-mails between her and Mr. Willard. These e-mails were of a flirtatious, intimate nature and were indicative of a romantic relationship between the two. It was discovered, however, in analyzing both the telephone records and e-mails that they started in mid-October of 2000, and ended, abruptly, after the death of Eric Miller.

  As investigators looked further into the activities of Ann Miller and Derril Willard, it was discovered that they had both traveled to Chicago, Illinois, on November 11, 2000. Ann Miller had told Eric she had to travel to Chicago on business for Glaxo Wellcome; this was reported to Eric’s parents who he talked with by phone frequently. A check with officials at Glaxo Wellcome revealed that neither Ann Miller, nor Derril Willard, made the trip to Chicago for a business purpose. They [the company] had no records showing them being sent there or asking for reimbursement for the trip. A check of airline records showed roundtrip tickets purchased on Flight 1300 to Chicago on Southwest Airlines for November 10, 2000, and returning November 12, 2000, in the names of Ann Miller and Derril Willard. The tickets had been purchased at the same time and paid for in cash. A short time after their flight arrived in Chicago, Derril Willard checked into a room at the Chicago Ritz-Carlton, he signed the registration for the hotel room, listing Mr. and Mrs. Derril Willard as the occupants of the room.

  Subsequent interviews with Mrs. Yvette Willard revealed that she had not gone to Chicago the weekend of November 10, 2000. She had been in Raleigh that weekend. She did remember her husband making the trip. He had told her he was going to reunite with some friends from college for a weekend outing.

  Ann Miller and Derril Willard flew back to Raleigh from Chicago on Sunday, November 12, 2000. A check of the records for the room rented at the Ritz-Carlton showed a room service bill for several in-room meals. This trip was the weekend prior to the bowling outing where Eric Miller was first poisoned.

  Among the e-mails and other documents recovered in a search of Ann Miller’s work computer were a large number of e-mails and other documents relating to her relationship with a Mr. Carl Mackewicz, who is a research scientist with the University of California in San Francisco. These e-mails and documents dated back to 1997. The content of them plainly showed the existence of an intimate, romantic relationship between Ann Miller and Mr. Mackewicz stretching from mid-1997 until the time of Eric Miller’s death. Investigators were sent to San Francisco, California, to interview Mr. Carl Mackewicz. He initially denied any romantic relationship between them, but when confronted with the e-mails recovered from Ann Miller’s computer he admitted they had been involved in an extramarital affair for some time. At the time Mr. Mackewicz was divorced. He admitted that they had sexual relations on several occasions when Ann Miller traveled to the west coast for job-relate
d seminars and other reasons. Mr. Mackewicz told investigators that he had traveled to New York City in December 1998 for a rendezvous with Ann Miller, where they spent several days together in a hotel, sightseeing and attending Broadway shows. He also stated that he had traveled to North Carolina and had spent several days at the Outer Banks with Ann Miller in May of 1999. He stated that this was the last physical encounter where the two had been intimate, but they had remained in contact with each other by e-mail and telephone. Mackewicz was questioned about the cost of these trips and informed detectives that Ann Miller had paid for them, including his airfare from California and all lodging expenses. He emphasized that had Ann Miller not paid for these trips he would never have gone on any of them. Mr. Mackewicz stated that he had last spoken to Ann Miller on Thanksgiving Day, 2000. He called her in response to an e-mail she sent him requesting that he call.

  Dr. Thomas Clark of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Eric Miller. His report clearly indicates that Eric Miller received multiple doses of arsenic during the summer of 2000, based on the analysis of hair samples taken from Eric Miller. These doses started as early as mid-June of 2000, and continued into the fall of 2000. The amount of arsenic ingested, based on the hair analysis and clinical record, suggests that the doses during the summer of 2000 were small and not sufficient to induce acute symptoms. Dr. Clark addresses the proximate cause of Eric Miller’s death in his autopsy report, saying: “Death is due to arsenic poisoning, with the first dose being prior to the first hospitalization. Laboratory findings are most consistent with the administration of at least one additional dose of arsenic during the prolonged hospitalization. It is possible, based on the clinical history, and supported laboratory studies, that a third dose was administered as well, leading to the final hospitalization.” In addition to Dr. Clark, several other experts have consulted on this case. With some variations, these experts substantively agree with the findings of Dr. Clark as outlined above.