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Background: Stephen Miller Sr. appeared on the news after claiming his wife went missing (WDHN). Inset (left): Stephen Miller Sr. (Dothan Police Department). Inset (right): Gloria Miller (Dothan Police Department).
An Alabama man pleaded with the public and appeared on the local news seeking help after his wife of 30 years went missing. Police now say he admitted to killing her.
Stephen Miller Sr., 64, first reported his wife Gloria Miller, 57, was missing on Feb. 24, according to a press release from Dothan Police. In the following days, the seemingly concerned husband appeared on local news, pleading for help and taking gut-wrenching phone calls in front of TV cameras. But behind the scenes, police said his story started falling apart. In a press conference on Feb. 26, the Dothan Police Department announced that Stephen Miller had been charged with murder after allegedly admitting to strangling his wife.
Stephen Miller initially told police that he had not seen his wife since Feb. 22, when he said that she “suddenly disappeared” from the couple’s home. Gloria Miller was reported as a missing person on Feb. 24, and her husband took to the airwaves to ask for the public’s help in finding his wife. He was joined by her family, who were seemingly baffled by her disappearance. Her brother, Sidney Whitaker, told WDHN, a local ABC affiliate, “This is not normal at all. She hangs around the house, she doesn’t venture away from the home, she pretty hangs around the house all the time.”
As the investigation into Gloria Miller’s disappearance began, investigators reportedly suspected foul play early on. Authorities stated that before Stephen Miller officially made the report, investigators found some of his wife’s personal property in the parking lot of a shopping center in their hometown. According to the police, “The investigation revealed Stephen was the person who placed the property at that location just hours before it was found and turned into one of the local businesses.”
When police questioned Stephen Miller about his wife’s whereabouts, he “admitted that on [Feb. 22] he and Gloria had a physical altercation during which time he admitted to manually strangling her until she was lifeless,” authorities said. According to Dothan police Lt. Ronald Hall, Stephen Miller then allegedly “loaded her body in the bed of his pickup truck, he took her down the road a few miles where he concealed her on the edge of the roadway.”
Hall said that Stephen Miller’s admission came about when “his facts were not adding up, and he basically knew that he had no choice.”
After Stephen Miller’s alleged confession, the body of Gloria Miller was found on Feb. 26, dumped in a dry creek bed in Alabama’s Geneva County.
Court records obtained by Al.com revealed a history of domestic violence complaints by the couple, including a Protection From Abuse (PFA) request by Stephen Miller in July 2024 that his wife had made threats against him and his family. He filed a second (PFA) request against her in January. Both requests were ultimately rescinded.
Stephen Miller was arrested and charged with murder. He is being held in the Houston County Jail on no bond.
