Heath Miller

 

At approximately 3:50 a.m. on July 15, 2009, the Fauquier County, Virginia, Sheriff's Department dispatched units to investigate a reported motor vehicle accident on Bristerburg Road.

According to the official report, upon arrival the deputies located a deceased male subject in a ditch on the west side of the road. The individual was laying on his back, clad in a T-shirt and boxer shorts which were down around his ankles. There was trauma to his entire body. The deputies also reported that a Miller Lite beer can was laying on top of the dead man. Blue jeans found near the body contained a driver's license identifying the deceased as 19-year-old Heath Miller.

Further investigation led to a spot where Miller's vehicle, a 2002 Saturn, had left the road and struck a tree. The engine compartment separated from the car and remained by the tree. The rest of the vehicle had continued on, struck a fence and came to rest in an open field. A thorough search of the area by responders found no other victims.

Based on those observations, the officers determined that the car was traveling at a high rate of speed. When Miller tried to negotiate a curve the vehicle went into a skid and he lost control, resulting in the deadly chain of events.

Subsequent analysis of the Saturn's operational control module by the police showed that the car's speed was 101 miles per hour five seconds before the crash, and that the brakes were activated approximately two seconds prior to impact.

On the surface, Heath Miller's death appeared to be a tragic accident with human error as the main contributing factor.

But Sharon Miller, Heath's mother, isn't convinced of that. On the contrary, based on the results of her ongoing investigation she believes there was another vehicle on the scene that night. And that her son may have been fleeing from that other car.

Among her concerns about the accuracy of the police findings are the Miller Lite beer can. Her son did not drink and was anal about not drinking. That fact aside, if no one else was at the scene, how could that can have possibly ended sitting upright on his abdomen? In Sharon's mind, the can had to have been placed there by another person.

And what about Heath's boots? He was wearing a pair of Dickie Classic Boots that night. In spite of the thorough search of the scene, they were never found. But the boots weren't all that was missing. A white sock and his teeth disappeared too. Approximately 20 of Heath's teeth were removed below the gum line and never accounted for.

On top of that, an accident reconstruction specialist who examined the evidence said that some of the results cited by the police would have been impossible to have happened.

Sharon Miller is sparing no effort to get answers to these and other nagging questions. There will be no resolution for her until all the outstanding issues are explained to her satisfaction.

If you have any information on the circumstances surrounding Heath Miller's death, please contact Citizens Against Homicide at 1-209-728-2873.

Emails from Sharon Miller

One thing to keep in mind...according to Mary Beth Williams - "Heath was laid out to look like Jesus Christ on the cross", According the Fauquier Police they repeatedly told me that someone was with Heath, what they neglected to tell me was that the person had left before the first responder "Stafford- Rock hill Volunteer Fire & Rescue had shown up up, in short when the person saw the flashing lights of RHV Fire & Rescue, he left. No one knows who he was or where he came from, but keep in mind I saw the same antifreeze & water marks in two spots on the road..one at Heath's body, the other as a set-up car. Oh how sad. Thanks, Sharon

Oh, one more thing....there was a empty case of Miller lite. These guy's really thought that the box came from Heath's car, roughly 160 lf away????? Sadly enough the beer can was bleached by the sun, so it wasn't even a new can...Thank so much. Sharon

Heath was hit by an auto- they left the exterior mirror, and debris from the right passenger headlight. His jeans had rips caused by a license plate. I have witnesses for that. This auto was west bound on 616. Heath was in a monkey in the middle situation. There was a chaser car and a font car. The font car left a mixture of antifreeze and water in two places. It takes about 3 months for the water/antifreeze mixture to dissipate from pavement surface. The first was about 8' lft east of the tree the second was 15' East of where Heath's body was found. I have witnesses for that also. The car was running for the same amount of time. Oh by the way I have witnesses for all of my information. Each of my extended family was told what to focus on an aspect of the accident.