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Officials believe Scottsdale man didn't act alone in slayings
March 4, 2006
By NICK MARTIN and KRISTINA DAVIS
TRIBUNE
William Craig Miller, who for days has denied any involvement in a Mesa quintuple homicide and claimed he had an alibi, was arrested Friday night in the shooting deaths of the five people, including two children.
"Investigators are confident that Miller did not act alone in these homicides," said Mesa Sgt. Chuck Trapani. "We are still actively searching for additional suspects in this case."
Publication info
This story originally ran March 4, 2006 in the East Valley Tribune in Arizona.
Mesa detectives waited for Miller, 28, and his wife to finish dinner at Fleming's Steakhouse in Scottsdale before putting him in handcuffs outside the upscale restaurant at 8:45 p.m. Friday.
He will be booked on suspicion of five counts of firstdegree murder, one count of weapons violation and one count of burglary, police said.
Miller spoke to the Tribune by phone minutes before his arrest, saying he was having dinner with his wife, who had just returned from a short stay in New York. "Hopefully they're going to find the person who did this," Miller said.
He had been at the restaurant for more than two hours. Police said he appeared surprised when detectives in six unmarked cars pulled up to the restaurant to arrest him.
The arrest comes two days after Mesa police searched Miller's Scottsdale home, where detectives said they found evidence that further linked him to the slayings. Scottsdale police also searched his home Monday after Miller reported his home had been burglarized and his bed shot up.
Neighbors reported hearing gunshots and screams from a rented Barrington Estates home in east Mesa at 2:41 a.m. Feb. 21. Police discovered the bodies of Tammy Lovell, 32; her boyfriend, Steven Terrence Duffy II, 30; Lovell's two children, Cassandra Lovell, 15, and Jacob Lovell, 10; and Duffy’s brother, Shane Donovan Duffy, 18.
Tammy Lovell's sister, Luhanna Chesley of Chandler, said police called about 9:15 p.m. Friday to tell them about Miller's arrest and they called the rest of the family.
"We're very thankful to the Mesa Police Department for being so diligent in their efforts," she said.
Chesley said the family is eager to hear of further arrests. "We're grateful, but we want answers," she said. "Five people is a lot of people to kill. A lot of people with loud voices."
Police who announced the arrest at a news conference late Friday would not give specific details about a possible motive for the killings because the case is still ongoing. "Our people have been working around the clock to try to bring some sense of closure for these families and the citizens of our community," said Mesa interim Police Chief Gregory Fowler.
Tammy Lovell and both Duffy brothers worked for Miller's water and fire damage restoration company, Puroclean of Scottsdale. Lovell and Steven Duffy also were informants in an arson case against Miller, court records show. Miller told the Tribune on Thursday he had friends who gave sworn testimonies to lawyers vouching for his whereabouts at the time of the killings. He refused to release the documents.
One of those friends, Seth Ladner, 21, told the Tribune he was with Miller and another man at Miller's house that night as part of a night of heavy drinking. Ladner, however, said he passed out about 2 a.m., too early to know where Miller was at 2:41, the time neighbors first heard the shootings and screams. The Tribune could not locate the other person named by Ladner.
Since the Feb. 21 killings, Miller's demeanor changed numerous times over multiple conversations with the Tribune. As recently as Monday, he spoke mostly off the record with reporters. But as the week progressed, he seemed more relaxed and spoke candidly at times. "On a case like this, every day that passes, the likelihood they arrest somebody goes down, doesn’t it?" Miller said Wednesday.
Miller said earlier in the week he had no motive for the killings. The killings of informants Tammy Lovell and Steven Duffy would only hurt his defense in the arson case, he said. "I worked to build a case against (Lovell and Duffy)."
He claimed he had hired several "high-priced" investigators and lawyers to help clear him of the arson charges. As the past week went on, he said other investigators were working on the homicide case in which he had only been named an investigative lead. “If I beat these arson charges, I’ll go ahead and cooperate with the cops on this murder investigation,” Miller had said.
The homicide was slated to be featured on tonight's "America’s Most Wanted" Fox network program. Earlier Friday, before he was arrested, Miller told the Tribune, "I may try to catch it."