"Truly Sorry for What I Did to Your Daughter": Joseph Daniel Miller's Taped Confession, 2016

Convicted in 1993 of two murders, Joseph Daniel Miller confessed to two more in 2016 and, on tape, told the families he was "truly sorry for what I did to your daughter".

Subject

Joseph Miller

Recorded

about April 13, 2016

Runtime

0:40

Content warning: Concerns the murders of women and a 1992 rape and attempted murder.

The Statement

In June 2016 Joseph Daniel Miller, sentenced to death in Pennsylvania in 1993 for two murders, pleaded guilty to the murders of two more women from the Harrisburg area: Kelly Ann Ward, who disappeared in 1986, and Jeanette Thomas, killed in 1990. PennLive posted this forty-second clip with its report of the plea. It appears to come from his recorded interview with investigators in April 2016, in which he addresses the families. He says he is "truly sorry for what I did to your daughter", that he "didn't really mean to do what it is", and that "sometimes when we're drinking" and have other problems, "one thing leads to another". He ends by saying it was "nothing personally". The clip ends as a second voice asks him to confirm that the facts he has given are true.

Historical Context

Miller was arrested in Harrisburg on August 6, 1992, after a six-hour standoff on the roof of an apartment building. The day before, he had raped, kidnapped and tried to kill a woman, who survived and later testified against him. In custody he confessed to two murders and led police to a landfill in Swatara Township, where the remains of Selina Franklin, 18, who disappeared in May 1987, and Stephanie McDuffey, 23, who disappeared in November 1989 when she was eight and a half months pregnant, were found. He later recanted. In March 1993 a jury convicted him of both murders and sentenced him to death. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the convictions and sentence in 1995 and again, on post-conviction appeal, in 2000. In 2002 his death sentence was commuted to life in prison on the ground that he was intellectually disabled, a ruling the state Supreme Court upheld in 2008, according to published reports.

Circumstances of the Statement

On April 13, 2016, Miller confessed on tape to investigators that he had killed Ward and Thomas. Prosecutors said he had not been charged with Thomas's murder in the early 1990s because he already faced the death penalty for other murders. Ward's remains had been found in 1997 at a former landfill in Swatara Township and identified in 2014. On June 24, 2016, he pleaded guilty before Dauphin County Judge Andrew Dowling and received two more life sentences, according to Local21News.

What the Statement Covers

Miller speaks for about half a minute. He says something happened in his life that caused him to do what he did (the words are unclear in the machine transcription), apologises for what he did to "your daughter", and points to drinking. A second voice then asks him to confirm that "all these facts are true", and begins to refer to what he gave a "Lieutenant Ryder" (spelling not verified).

What Makes the Recording Significant

This short clip records Miller, in his own voice, apologising to the families for two murders he admitted in 2016, decades after they were committed.

Archival Importance

The clip adds the 2016 cold-case pleas to the record of a case known until then mainly from the 1993 trial and the appeal decisions. It shows how cold cases can be closed when a prisoner already serving life sentences admits further killings.

Important Caveats

Miller's explanation, that drinking and his problems led to the killings and that it was "nothing personally", is his own account. Parts of his statement are hard to make out in the machine transcription and are bracketed in the transcript. The woman who survived the August 1992 attack is not named on this page. The clip appears to come from Miller's April 2016 interview with investigators rather than from the courtroom (Pennsylvania court rules generally bar broadcasting criminal proceedings); confirm the setting on viewing. Local21News reports that at the interview he said he was sorry for what he did to "your daughters"; the machine transcription of this clip has "your daughter". This Joseph Miller is not the Illinois murderer Joseph Robert Miller, who has a separate biography here.

Joseph Miller: [Clip begins mid-sentence.] ...clear. So just, right, you know, just to make sure, because we want to give the families [unclear: "the" / "that"] peace of mind, knowing [unclear: "that the matter, I was just saying" / "is the matter, I love good thing"], we know that it was not [unclear: "impossible" / "personal"], [unclear: "this thing" / "due to the things"] that happened in my life that caused me to do things that I did. You know, and I'm truly sorry for what I did to your daughter. And I didn't really mean to do what it is, but sometimes when we're drinking and [unclear: "we've got" / "that"] other problems in your life, that leads, one thing leads to another, and it's just [unclear: "no more than it's built in the instrument" / "go on this both in the history"], [unclear: "it just happened" / "if that just happened"], and [unclear: "I believe" / "was"] nothing personally.

Prosecutor Or Judge: [unclear: "So, Jerry," / "See,"] all these facts are true, right?

Joseph Miller: They're true.

Prosecutor Or Judge: That you gave Lieutenant Ryder... [clip ends] ---