KILLING WOMEN: The True Story of Serial Killer Don Miller’s Reign of Terror

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Will A Serial Killer Soon Walk The Streets Again?

Don Miller was quiet and reserved.  As a former youth pastor, he seemed a devout Christian.  No one would have ever suspected that the recent graduate of the Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice was a serial killer.

However, when Miller was arrested for the attempted murder of two teenagers in 1978, police quickly realized he was probably responsible for the disappearances of four women. Offered a still-controversial plea bargain, he led police to the bodies of the missing women.

Now, after forty years in prison, Miller has served his time and is due to be released into an unsuspecting population. In KILLING WOMEN, author Rod Sadler examines the crimes, the “justice” meted out, and the impending freedom of a man nationally renowned psychiatrist Dr. Frank Ochberg wrote:

“… is a member of a small, deadly, dangerous population: murderers who stalk, capture, torture and kill; murderers who derive sexual and narcissistic gratification from their predation; murderers who maintain a ‘mask of sanity’ appearing normal and harmless.”

“Rod Sadler takes us through the twisted world of a serial killer, in a labor of love that pays respect to those lives the monster destroyed and reminding us why they should never be forgotten and he should never be free.” – Dave Schrader, host of Darkness Radio and True Crime Tuesday, and host of The Travel Channel’s ‘The Holzer Files’

From The Book:

Tom Bengston was the last in the line of twelve men walking along the two-track trail.     

When his client stopped and told the men where her body was, he was pointing to a small animal trail running perpendicular to the trail they were on.  Since the line of officials had already passed it, they turned around, and Bengston was now leading the line.  He started making his way down the trail.  After twenty-five yards or so, he quickly changed direction and began heading back in the direction he had just come from.  “She’s over there,” he said.  Ironically, the defense attorney representing the man who had killed Martha Sue Young was also the first person to see what was left of her body after two-and-a-half years.  Her skeletal remains were scattered in a small area near a large oak tree.  It was 11:30 a.m..

Under police escort, Bengston and his client were quickly taken back to the three cars parked along the two-track.

The killer had agreed to lead police to the bodies of two women, but this was only the first.  The deal wasn’t complete.  

The investigators who stayed with Young’s remains stood in a heavily overgrown area of the park.  Her skeleton was lying on a downward incline sloping toward a marshy area.  Her feet were pointed down the incline in a northeasterly direction.  Her skull and arms had become dislocated from the rest of her remains, and several of her teeth were missing from the skull. 

East Lansing Police Lt. Dean Tucker had worked tirelessly for the previous two and a half years trying to find the young coed.  He had become close friends with Martha’s mother Sue, and he kept her updated at every turn in the investigation.  As he stood over the remains of Sue Young’s daughter, he couldn’t contain his emotions anymore as tears welled in his eyes.

Accolades For KILLING WOMEN:

“Rod has written a well-paced and accurate accounting of the investigation and prosecutions of Don Miller.  What the book cannot fully portray, but does touch upon, is the depth of fear in the community and the profound sense of loss and hurt of the victim’s families. Should Donal Miller be released in 2031? We live in a challenging time when the rule of law is under stress. Absent a change in the law, he will have served his sentences and thus be released. My view is that it would be a mistake to think that Don Miller, who will be about seventy-five when his sentence is served, will be a harmless old man.” – Hon. Peter D. Houk (ret.)Former Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney

“Serial killers are often portrayed in television fiction and in block buster movies.  We think we know all there is to know about their profiles and about the tools professionals use to catch a killer. We don’t. Rod Sadler takes us into the real world of ‘law and order.’ We get a good sense of evidence collection, of courtroom procedure, of burdens of proof, and of the way that mental illness is assessed to determine criminal culpability. He also paints a realistic portrait of Don Miller. We aren’t told by the author that Miller is psychotic or psychopathic; that he is reformed or deadly.  We are, instead, able to judge for ourselves as we read the testimony of others. Read it to learn how deadly a smart serial killer can be. Read it to question your own assumptions about evil. Read it to appreciate how lawyers and detectives and doctors and citizens can work together to protect a community. And if you live in my hometown, read it to brace for the day when Don Gen Miller will return.” – Dr. Frank Ochberg, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Michigan State University Chair, C-CAP (Committee for Community Action and Protection) Former Director, Michigan Dept. of Public Health

“Killing Women is a true-life horror story of crime and the dogged fight by law enforcement to bring the killer to justice. Rod Sadler tells the story with exquisite and sometimes haunting detail. Far more than a ‘whodunit’, Killing Women focuses on answering other complex questions; How? Why? And most importantly, how do we remove a killer from our streets?  Killing Women is riveting; exhaustively researched and told in a spare writing style that befits a crime investigation. There is nothing lurid or sensational in Sadler’s telling of a serial killer in our midst. The plainly told horror of the crimes speaks for themselves.” – Mark Nixon, Michigan journalist and author of “Journal of Our Times”

“Like all serial killers, Don Miller should never live free again.  Killing Women is the singular comprehensive repository for all things ‘Miller.’  It should be required reading for every criminal justice school, police academy, and police officer.” -Hon. G. Michael Hocking (ret.)Former Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney”

“Rod Sadler tells the incredible story of serial killer Don Gene Miller, the four women’s lives he brutally ended the plea deal with the devil, and the courageous sister and brother who saved each other’s lives. Brilliant!” – Dan Zupansky, host and producer of True Murder-The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History and author of Trophy Kill: The Shall We Dance Murder