June 21, 2023 • 41 mins
Theresa Lynn Morris was a Phenix City, Alabama mother of four who was found deceased behind a Piggly Wiggly in Ladonia, Alabama on April 28, 1994. There wasn’t much left of her. Her head was missing and it appeared the remains were likely scattered by animals. She had been missing since April 2nd before she was found deceased. She was only 21 years old when she died, but her entire life had been troubled. According to her daughter Danica Hovey, she had her first child at 15 and was sexually abused as child.
Theresa was born in California on October 18th, 1972. Her mother parents were Diane Pulaski and William Morris. Theresa was the middle child of three. She has an older brother named Kenneth and a younger sister named Melissa who recently passed away.
Unfortunately, other than a tiny newspaper article in an Alabama newspaper article there is no information about Theresa. Theresa’s story deserves to receive as much media coverage as anyone else’s. And since her case has been mostly forgotten, it reduces the chances her killer will ever be arrested.
Theresa was the mother of four children who lost their mother when they were young. So, none of them have any memories of spending Mother’s Day with her or even celebrating birthdays, holidays or even sitting around the family dinner table having a nice dinner together. Unfortunately, someone took her life and has denied her children of creating any memories with her.
For Theresa’s story, I spoke to her daughter Danica Hovey. This is the first half of a two-part story. Please be sure to listen to the conclusion next week. If you have any information about this unsolved homicide, please contact the Russell County Sheriff’s department in Phenix City, Alabama at 334-298-6535.
Please also visit my website for more information about my true crime and paranormal newspaper columns at www.themarcabe.com. You can also help support my podcast by purchasing a cup of $5 coffee every month. To help support the podcast, please visit https://www.buymeacoffee.com/catchmykiller. If you would like to contact me about this podcast, please visit my websites www.catchmykiller.com or www.themarcabe.com where you can submit a case.
Theresa was born in California on October 18th, 1972. Her mother parents were Diane Pulaski and William Morris. Theresa was the middle child of three. She has an older brother named Kenneth and a younger sister named Melissa who recently passed away.
Unfortunately, other than a tiny newspaper article in an Alabama newspaper article there is no information about Theresa. Theresa’s story deserves to receive as much media coverage as anyone else’s. And since her case has been mostly forgotten, it reduces the chances her killer will ever be arrested.
Theresa was the mother of four children who lost their mother when they were young. So, none of them have any memories of spending Mother’s Day with her or even celebrating birthdays, holidays or even sitting around the family dinner table having a nice dinner together. Unfortunately, someone took her life and has denied her children of creating any memories with her.
For Theresa’s story, I spoke to her daughter Danica Hovey. This is the first half of a two-part story. Please be sure to listen to the conclusion next week. If you have any information about this unsolved homicide, please contact the Russell County Sheriff’s department in Phenix City, Alabama at 334-298-6535.
Please also visit my website for more information about my true crime and paranormal newspaper columns at www.themarcabe.com. You can also help support my podcast by purchasing a cup of $5 coffee every month. To help support the podcast, please visit https://www.buymeacoffee.com/catchmykiller. If you would like to contact me about this podcast, please visit my websites www.catchmykiller.com or www.themarcabe.com where you can submit a case.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Hello, and welcome to the CatchMy Killer Podcast. Thank you for listening.
My name is Mark. For nearlyeight years, I've written a weekly
newspaper column about true crimes and missingpeople for the Claremont Sun newspaper in Ohio.
With the column and podcast, myobjective has always been to try to
(00:34):
bring attention to the cases that haven'treceived much media attention, if any.
This week's story involves a twenty oneyear old Alabama woman named Teresa Lynn Miller,
who was found dead and wrapped upin a blanket behind the Piggly Wiggly
store in Ladonia, Alabama, onApril twenty eighth, nineteen ninety four.
(00:55):
The young mother of four had vanishedon April second, nineteen four. Her
homicide has remained unsolved for nearly thirtyyears. This is the first part of
a two part story. Be sureto listen to the conclusion next week.
(01:23):
Teresa Lynn Miller was a Phoenix City, Alabama mother of four who was found
deceased behind a Piggy Wiggly and Ladonia, Alabama, on April twenty eighth,
nineteen ninety four. There wasn't muchleft of her once she was found,
and what did remain of her waslikely scattered by animals. She had been
(01:45):
missing since April second before she wasfound deceased. Teresa Lynn Miller was only
twenty one years old when she died, but her entire life had been troubled.
According to her daughter Danica, shehad her first child at fifteen and
was also sexually abused as a child. Teresa was born in California on October
(02:07):
eighteenth, nineteen seventy two. Herparents were Diane Pulaski and William Morris.
According to her daughter Danica, itwas unknown whether or not William Morris was
actually her biological father. Teresa wasthe middle child of three. She has
an older brother named Kenneth and ayounger sister named Melissa, who recently passed
(02:30):
away. Unfortunately, other than atiny newspaper article in an Alabama newspaper,
there is no information about Teresa's death, and that is a major issue with
telling her story and many of thestories that I share. There are videos,
news coverage, and other information thatI can share about the victim's story,
(02:53):
and for stories like Teresa's, theseare the reasons why do this podcast.
Teresa's story deserves to receive as muchmedia coverage as anyone else's, and
since her case has been mostly forgotten, it reduces the chances that her killer
will ever be arrested. Teresa wasthe mother of four children who lost her
(03:13):
mother when they were young, sonone of them have any warm memories of
spending Mother's Day with her, oreven celebrating birthdays, holidays, or even
just sitting around the family dinner tablehaving a nice dinner. Unfortunately, someone
took her life and has denied herchildren of creating any memories with their mother.
Teresa's daughter, Danica his contacted lawenforcement and tried to find out what
(03:38):
happened to her mother nearly thirty yearsago. Over time, biological evidence was
discarded and she doesn't have many peoplewho can speak to her about her mother's
final moments alive, she was ableto connect with the man who found her
mother's body. Unfortunately, he wasn'table to provide any useful information for Teresa's
(04:01):
story. I spoke to her daughter, Danneka Hovey. This is the first
half of a two part story.Please be sure to listen to the conclusion
next week and now on with Teresa'sstory is told by her daughter, Dannika
Hovey. My mom was born inCalifornia October eighteenth, nineteen seventy two.
(04:27):
Her mother is Diane Pulaski and herdad is William Morris, although that'slictit on
her birth certificate. Paternity was neverestablished, so one hundred percent we don't
know if William Marph is her father. She is the middle child gather little
sister my aunt Melissa Melissa Culster,that passed away a few years ago,
and she has an older brother,Kenneth Coulster. I was three year old
(04:50):
when she died. I do notremember anything about her. My older sister
was four, and then my youngersister is eleven months younger than me,
so we were real little when shedied. So including you, your mother
had four children, is that correct? Yeah? And my little brother with
three month old when she died.Her body was found April twenty eight,
(05:11):
Noney four behind the pig Wiggly inLadonia. Now I'm familiar with what a
pigley wiggly is because I've spent timedown in the southern areas of the country.
So for people who live up northwho don't know what a piggly wiggly
is, can you please explain tothem. What exactly a piggly wiggly is?
A pig wiggly is a grocery storeby Lewis Jones or a Walmart shopping
(05:34):
that that are just for groceries.They're more Southern than they are northern.
But they're starting to close down asthe years go by. There used to
be a lot of them, butnow there's not so many of them.
Now. What used to be thepig wiggly if now a key bone they
call, so it is no longera piggwiggly anymore. I have been in
(05:54):
touch with the gentleman that found herbody. I'm going to respect his private
it not his name. He workedat Asilegally at the time. He was
the one that felled the foul odorand went back there and found her in
the wooded area, wrapped in ablanket. I just got in contact with
them a few weeks ago after ayear of thirsting for trying to contact people,
(06:17):
and by the grace of God,I got another incident report printed and
his number had updated on the incidentreport and I was able to contact him.
And he cried his eyes out whenI went out at of them,
because I looked just like my mom. So your mom was killed, or
at least her body was found inPhoenix City, Alabama. Is that correct?
(06:41):
Yeah? So where her body wasfound, and is that where you
and your siblings all lived at thetime, you all lived in Phoenix City.
Yeah, So the address that himthe death certificate and the address that
found all the paperwork, court documentsthat I found. She lived around twentieth
three, which I know Europe inon high and I'm in Georgia, but
it walking distant from the Pigligly,It's not too far, so we're talking
(07:04):
like three or fourth street between herhow or where she was staying and then
where her body was found. Now, at the time of your mother's death,
where was she living? Was shestaying with your dad, a boyfriend,
another relative? Can you tell meabout that? So my older sister,
Patricia has a different dad. SoPatricia's dad is Tommy. Me and
(07:28):
my sister Brandy have the same dad, Walter, and then my little brother,
his dad is Robert. At thetime, my mom was involved with
Robert. So on the day thatshe disappeared, did she have plans to
go to the Piggly Wiggly. Isthat what happened? She had either gone
there to shop or was it morelike someone chilled her and then just dumped
(07:53):
her body back there. She waskicked out of my aunt how on April
second, after she was staying withand she was last in April second,
and then she was reported missing onApril twentieth. Well, the missing persons
report was filed on the twentieth.They never stated if it was before that
or not, but the missing person'sreport was closed and never followed up on.
(08:15):
But on April twenty eighth when theyfound her body. So d fact
actually hacked custody of me and mysister. She had lost custody of my
older sister and she had lost custodyof my younger brother d fact, because
my dad was in and out.My mom really didn't want my dad any
of the dads involved, so mydad didn't know that his kids were in
(08:37):
the system. So when my dadfound that out on March tenth, he
went down and filed the cool custody. On March seventeenth, they had a
court date set up for April sixand she never showed. She was in
court on March twenty third for thecustody hearing from my little brother and was
supposed to go back April eighteenth toget custody back. Of course she didn't
(08:58):
show so there was an eyewitness whichI believe he had passed away the thing
with Abrat Miller, that had seenher on April four at the Zippy Mark
by my aunt's house where she waskicked out. So between April four and
April foot when she didn't show upfor court, something happened to her.
We don't know if she was parting, We don't know if she had friends.
(09:22):
The thing is she only got toa gray education. She was effectually
abused. Ifunt tell she the thirteenth, she had been in trouble. I
found out that there's a child crueltycase. She beat my older sister because
my sister trying to push me offthe bed. She went to jail for
it. They put her on probation, but then she got in trouble a
year and a half later for shotwith him from Kmart and she was supposed
(09:45):
to serve time in jail, butnever did. So my mom was in
a little bit of trouble. Shedidn't live a perfect life. She was
epileptic, she was on two differentfeasire medicine. She was very troubled mental
illness. It runs real deep onmy mom out of the family every generation.
The aid thought. She did attemptthrough if out A few times.
She was in a treatment finner afew times in a few different places.
(10:07):
I know Fort Payne, Alabama withone play. The Bradley Finner was another.
She went to the medical thinner.So she did have suicidal tendency.
And I don't know if she wasever medicated for any of that. I
don't know if she ever got theproper help. I don't know if she
ever got the proper help for thesexual assault. So all of this at
a young age developed into problems whenyou're an adult. So her kids ended
(10:31):
up suffering. Not only did wehave different dads, but our dads weren't
allowed to be involved in our livesbecause I'm pretty sure she was scared of
men per se. Didn't stop herfrom being curious and reproducing with people.
But she was nineteen when she hadher fourth kid. Mind you, there
is an extra kid. I havea sister that passed away when she was
(10:52):
born. She was full term,and this was between Brandy and Stephen,
so there was to be a fifthkid, but she died. We don't
know the cause, but I havedone that what kind of set off the
downward spiral. I lost the kidwhen I was sixth month fragmant, and
that's a pain that it's very hardto live with. So along with the
(11:15):
mental health not being taken care of, all the abuse, losing a kid,
getting in trouble for child cruelty.She went to jail for shoplifting.
She was leading this life and introuble, and a lot of it fell
back to Robert Bush. He isStephen's father from the story I've been told,
he actually went to jail for beatingher. Their eyewitnesses to the result
(11:37):
of the beating broke bones in herfaith. He was charged with that and
his last word to my mom beforehe went to jail back to jail was
I will get you be at hThat was his last words to her.
He was in jail from February twentyfifth until April four. She was last
seeing April four. According to Danica, one of Teresa's exes threatened to harm
(12:00):
her before he was incarcerated. Theirrelationship involved domestic violence. We will take
a brief break in return with Dannika'sthoughts on what happened to her mother after
she disappeared on April fourth, nineteenninety four. And what can you tell
(12:31):
me about Robert, her ex,the one she was involved with the domestic
abuse relationship? Is he still alivetoday? He is, and he lived
close to me. Have you evercontacted him or does your brother keep in
touch with his dad? I hadnever nobody has ever had any contact with
(12:54):
him after my mom went missing andthen when they found her body. But
Stephen quote mom that adopted him,that was who had custody of them at
a time because she kept custody aftermy mama found So Stephen had his set
of parents. My dad got us, and then my grandmother ended up getting
my oldest sister, Patricia, andwe kind of lived separately except for me
(13:16):
and Brandy. We will all liveseparately. So we didn't know each other
until we got older. So Iwant to say between thirteen and fifteen,
Tricia became a part of our life, and then it wasn't until my brother
was twenty three twenty four when hebecame a consistent part of my life.
So we were all grown or gettinggrown before we actually got to know each
(13:39):
other. Me and Brandy grew uptogether, so that was the only sibling
I ever had grown up. Ofcourse, my dad had a son with
another woman. Are you when yourthree siblings close today? We are.
We grew apart. We didn't reallyget along so much when we were growing
up. But that's my sister.I'll go to bat four any day.
(14:00):
And now, your mom, shewas threatened before she was found dead,
isn't that correct? I mean she'sthreatened and then she turns up dead shortly
after. Yeah, so what isyour mother's official cause of death? What
did the coroner rule? There isno cause of death. It's listed as
(14:20):
undetermined circumstances. I read the coroner'sreport. She was decapitated. Her head
was not attached to her body.She was missing her shoulder on the left
side down, her whole armor gone. There was thirty two and a half
pounds of her left when they foundher. That's how long she was out
there. The corner's report says fourto sixth leaks. She was out in
(14:41):
the woods and eating upon by animalsand decomposed. And all of this I've
done read at all. I don'thave a picture of them on painted anymore.
There's all just facts. So you'retelling me that you don't know if
her killer actually decapitated her or ifher head was removed because of animal activity.
(15:03):
I guess you really don't know,do you, And neither does the
coroner. Nope. They seem tothink that maybe somebody slid her throat and
that's where the animals started. Theycan't prove that because she was out there
for so long. But of coursea body out in the wood, especially
with a changing seasons, it's notgoing to take much time at offer.
Animals to be at tried to smellwhatever it is. So we don't exactly
(15:28):
know how long she was out there. The corners of for it says four
to six weeks, but I alsoread a little investigator notice it said a
week. So we're looking at oneweek versus four to six. But that's
a huge gap. Yeah, thatis most certainly a large gap in time,
and it doesn't make any sense.And I can never understand how you
(15:50):
can say one week and then yousay four to six. It has to
be one or the other. There'sa different, a huge difference in one
of the other Absolutely at Lee andwho reported her missing, they will not
give me a copy of the missingperson's report. But if I'm not mistaken,
my aunt Melissa is the one thatreported her missing. She was supposed
to come get her stuff because MattMissa kicked her out. I don't know
(16:12):
why she was kicked out, butshe was supposed to come to get from
her stuff and she never did it, just sat on most of the front
port. And after a few weekswent by, is when they knew something
was wrong. And when she didn'tshow up report for her kid, that's
when they knew if something was wrong. And your aunt Melissa the one you
(16:33):
were able to lean on. She'snow deceased. Is that correct? Yeah,
she passed away a few years ago. Okay, And what kind of
a relationship did you have with youraunt Melissa? Sounds like you had a
great relationship with her too for clothes. As soon as she was able to
get into my life, I clungon to her like there was no other
(16:55):
person. She was the closest thingI had to my mom. That was
the closest connection. I'm not closeto my grandmother. I really prefer not
to call her my grandmother. Hername is Diane. But my Analyssa was
a saint. She was just anupbeat, bright person. And I'm sure
that you probably had a lot ofquestions about your mom. For your aunt,
(17:17):
Melissa, based on your aunt's thoughtsabout your mom, how did she
describe her mom? Tell me aboutthat fearless, She loved life, she
loved her kids. She wasn't theperfect person. She never painted a picture
of her mom being perfect. Butshe did say that my mom made mistake
but she did love her kids,She loved life, she was adventurous,
(17:40):
she had a big heart. Imean, just a lot of good things.
But she did make sure to embedin my head that she did make
mistakes. She was human and shewasn't perfect, and she did learn from
a lot of her mistakes. Youknowing, It just doesn't only sound like
your mother really had much of anopportunity to really live. She was only
(18:04):
twenty one when she died, correct, I mean twenty one. That's fairly
young. One twenty one. Thatmeans that her life was essentially over before
it even began. I wouldn't evenreally call it much of a life,
would you. Nope. You know, here's something that I've learned about life.
(18:27):
When you're young, you make alot of mistakes we all do,
but fortunately for a lot of us, like me, for example, I
was able to somehow survive a lotof stupidity. I did a lot of
stupid things in my past, andI look back and sometimes I wonder how
(18:48):
the hell I'm even alive today.I mean, I've said that to my
best friend. He and I usedto do really stupid stuff when we were
youngsters, and we're both in ourfifties now, and we've both somehow made
it. I have no idea howwe were able to overcome being such idiots
back in the day, but wesomehow managed, because I can honestly say
(19:11):
I've really done some stupid, recklessthings in the past where I could have
easily gotten killed, but somehow,by the grace of God, I'm still
here. Yeah. You know,it's always been said that to grow old
and wise, you have to beyoung and stupid, and that's true because
(19:33):
you learn from your mistakes. AndI realize that your mother, she did
make some mistakes when she was young. But what makes me feel bad about
her story is that she never gotan opportunity to overcome them. She didn't
get the opportunity to learn and getwise from her mistakes and then straighten them
(19:56):
out, and had she overcome herissues, that she would have had an
opportunity to get to know her fourchildren and get to know her grandchildren.
But she was denied that chance becauseof someone else's selfishness in taking her life.
I find that truly sad and troubling. Oh yeah, By this time,
(20:18):
you've heard Dannika discuss the hardships thather mother experienced during her youth.
She was sexually abused and gave birthto her first child at fifteen years old.
She had also gotten into trouble forabusing one of her children and for
shoplifting. We will take a finalbreak and return with Danica's final thoughts about
(20:41):
her mother for this episode. So, listening to you describe your mother's story,
it sounds like she really had atraumatic life. She was sexually abused,
(21:03):
she got pregnant at a very earlyage. She had her first child
when she was fifteen, and thenby the time she was twenty one,
she already had four children. Andthat can be really rough on someone.
I mean, being so young andhaving to take her four children. So
(21:25):
she really had a whole lot ofthings going on in her young life,
and it sounds like she really didn'tget a chance to really get a taste
of life. No, she hadher first kid fifteen, so she didn't
even get to go through her teenageyears. Really, I mean, she
(21:45):
didn't get a chance to grow up. She was forced because of the fixture
abuse up until the ague was thirteenand she started acting out. She dropped
by to school in eighth grade.She had her first kid fifteen, so
that's the beginning of her life rightnow. Wait a minute, I just
thought of something. You said thatshe had her first child when she was
fifteen. That means she was pregnantmost likely when she was fourteen. Is
(22:11):
that right? Yes, she hadturned fifteen dot October and my sister was
born in December. Okay, Sohowell was the dad? Was this consensual?
Was he also a teenager? Wasthis statutory rape or what was the
situation at the time. I amnot one hundred percent sure how old he
(22:34):
is, but I know it wasconsensual. I know they were actually a
couple like together, and he didshe did love Tricia's dad. Still,
even if it's consensual, a childcan't give consent. Oh I know,
Yeah, I live in Ohio,where the consensual age is sixteen, and
I imagine that's probably what it isin a lot of other states. Same
(22:57):
here. Well, my mom wassixteen when my dad was with her,
so I mean that me and mysister, she was over fifteen whenever she
had me and my sister. Butat getting pregnant at fourteen and having a
kid at fifteen, like, itmakes you wonder, It really does,
but that's the life that she wasused to. Well, yeah, and
(23:18):
I can remember growing up back inthe day when I was pretty young at
the time, I had a coupleof friends that were I believe we're probably
both about fifteen, and I thinkshe got pregnant around that time and may
have had her first child when shewas fifteen or sixteen, but they were
both under age. They were bothteenagers, so there was never any issue
(23:41):
with that, and they got married. It just got me thinking when you
told me that your mom had herfirst baby at fifteen, and that tells
me that she was probably pregnant atfourteen, So I was wondering if this
was something that would have been legallyconsidered statutory rape. But then I don't
know how old the father was.But you said, it was something that
(24:03):
she was used to, and ifshe was being sexually abused at an early
age, maybe this was something thatshe had accepted as a fact of life
or a fact of her life.But it was just something that I was
just really curious about. It wasnever reported as inappropriate or rape or anything
(24:26):
like that. What I'm hearing orwhat I've heard, it was her doing.
You know, all the relationships werethrough her brother except for my dad.
She met every man that she hadbeen with through my uncle, which
has messed up. All these menwere older than her. She was born
in seventy two, my dad wasborn in sixty nine, so they're not
too far apart in age. Butthe only person that my mom didn't meet
(24:51):
through her brother was my dad.My dad was the only outside person and
didn't associate with anybody, didn't associatewith Kenneth or Robert, nobody, So
it was kind of weird. Sotell me about I know your brother and
your sisters probably have conversations about yourmom, and I would guess that you
(25:12):
all probably have a general idea ofwho may have killed her. Have you
all come to a consensus on this? Is there somebody that you all think
may have harmed your mother. Afterasking Danica about a potential suspect being involved
and killing her mother, she toldme that her and her siblings have an
(25:33):
idea that they know who did this. However, the police have never officially
named anyone as a suspect, soI have bleeped out the name for privacy
reasons. Yes, the people thatI talked to, close family, people
that knew her, every single personbelieved it was that killed her end up
(25:55):
her body. She was killed ata residence and her body was dumbed.
And at this point, I don'tcare who hears this. Well, it's
a known fact that whenever someone getsmurdered, most of the time it's not
by a stranger. It's often aboyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or some
type of significant other that committed thecrime. I mean that during investigation,
(26:21):
I know that law enforcement usually startswith the family and then works its way
outward. What I find interesting isthat I have spoken to so many different
people. I mean easily over ahundred people that I've interviewed, and a
(26:41):
lot of times when I talk tothem after I'm done with the recording.
I'll talk to people after we're donerecording because I don't want to put those
private thoughts on the podcast. Thoseare just something that I share with that
individual. And one of the questionsthat I'll ask is does the family have
an idea of who committed this crime? In a lot of times, the
(27:03):
family will most of the time,you know, unless it's a hit and
run or something along those lines,the family will basically just say, yeah,
we know who did it, andthe cops know who did it.
The only problem is we can't proveit. Otherwise that person would be in
prison right now. So I findit more surprising when a family tells me
(27:23):
that they don't know who did itthan when they tell me they do know
who did it. Oh really.The messed up part is so she was
found and closed. She didn't haveany hand towear on. She had a
braw a T shirt and panton.She was wrapped in a blanket and that
with a jacket that was located nearher but wasn't like on her person.
(27:45):
Before the full Corners report came back, before the toxological report came back,
before that even came back, theyhad sent all the evidence with her body
to the funeral home, and then't home disposed of it because it was
biohazard. So they don't even haveany evidence to test for DNA anymore because
(28:07):
they got rid of it before thecase was even closed. Well now it's
pending. They can't give me astraight answer if it's open, closed or
pending. I've gotten three different answersfrom three different people. That must have
been a major blow to the case. And there's a high probability that there
was DNA or fingerprints or some typeof genetic evidence on your mom's body or
(28:33):
the clothing. And without those piecesof evidence, then it definitely would have
hindered the police's investigation. And hadthey stored it properly and kept it,
they could have tested that. Withthe way technology have come now, they
could have taken that out of evidenceand test it to see if there was
DNA on it. But now theycan't. And I didn't know that.
(28:56):
I just found that out. Ithought they had this evidence walked away somewhere
and we could pull it out andI know it might take some time,
but get them to retest it.And then I find out. I read
the report and everything was signed overto the funeral home. So I called
McMullan, which is a local funeralhome here. I called them to see
if they could pull the report becauseit said that if the clothes were sent
(29:18):
with her in the body bag,that it would have been buried with her.
I was going to pay to gether body exumed, to get that
stuff out of there and to getit tested. Yeah, I was going
to ask you about getting her exumed. So maybe there is some type of
evidence that remained behind, or doyou think there's a chance that there's anything
(29:40):
that could be useful. It wouldn'thelp her. There wasn't enough of her
left to get a rape kid orI mean, there wasn't enough of her,
And that's the messed up part.I think that's really a shame.
But I think back in ninety fourthat DNA was still in the stages of
early development, So I'm not thinkingthat a lot of police departments were thinking
(30:07):
about storing things and instead they justfound it easier to just dispose of evidence.
I don't really know how it worksout with different police departments, but
I've heard stories that some kept itemseven back from the eighties because they figured
there might be some type of advancesand technology, while others just went ahead
(30:30):
disposed of the items. I don'tthink there was a set standard among every
police department in the country, asyou know. I don't think there ever
has been. I think they justall do whatever it is they do.
Yeah, but if you're going tosay you're investigating something of a murder,
common sense would tell you we needto hang on to this because this case
(30:51):
is a murder investigation, not asuicide or an accident. Why keep it
open all these years? Well,you'd be surprised how uncommon common senses these
days, not with just law enforcement, but just people in general. You
ain't never lied. And where areyour mom's remains today? You said she's
(31:12):
buried. Do you live near thearea where she was buried? So the
state paid for her burial. Sheis buried in town. I have not
been to her grave have a markeron it. It doesn't have a headstone
or anything. I wouldn't see thepoint if those things were buried with her,
I would seriously look into getting herbody boomed and getting that evident out
(31:36):
of there. But since they disposedof it, there's no point. I'm
not going to disturb what left ofher to try to prove a point when
it's not going to do many good. Now, how did you find out
about the evidence being disposed of?Did law enforcement tell you this or did
you learn this from the funeral home? The police report that I read stated
(31:59):
that they signed it over and thenI called McMullin. They poured her file
and it says that they disposed ofher stuff because it was considered a biohazard.
So to me, it really soundslike you're truly stuck behind the proverbial
eight paul in your mother's case becauseyou don't have any evidence. You don't
have anything, so you really don'thave a good starting place to find out
(32:22):
what happened to your mother. ButI would suggest that even though you don't
have that much to go on,that you still keep up with the police
and see which you can find outon your own. I can tell you
one of the very first interviews thatI ever did when I first started this
podcast several years ago, the younglady I interviewed was trying to get justice
(32:45):
for her brother because her brother's deathwas ruled an accident, if I recall,
and she told me several years ago, I'm not gonna let this go
until I find out what happened tomy brother and his killer goes to prison
while low and behold. She justput up a recent post that the person
(33:07):
who shot her brother to death hasbeen arrested and charged with the murder of
her brother. So she's never letgo, and she told me several years
ago she's going to keep going tillshe gets justice. So it's taken her
while to have this success because it'staken her years because her brother's been de
ceased for a while. So ifyou're really determined to find out what happened
(33:31):
to your mother, then I thinkit's just something that you're gonna have to
stick it out no matter how longit takes, because it could be a
very lengthy process for you to everfind out what truly happened to her.
But she was your mother, andI'm sure to you it's worth it to
wait. Whatever time you spend andtrying to find out what happened to her,
(33:55):
it will all come down to beingworth it if you're able to get
the truth. That's them me.For the past three weeks, I had
an appointment with the sheriff over MurphallCounty, which is in Alabama where her
death happened, and I sat downwith the guy from the DA's office,
and I was explaining to them myquestions, my concerned dates that didn't match
(34:22):
up. So there's one piece ofevidence less somewhere unless it's been crushed or
disposed of whatever. But there's acar out there somewhere that was reported that
was driving and could have possibly beeninvolved with her murder. And I actually
(34:43):
had to get with my sister tofind this car because nothing would come back
on the VEN number. And mysister actually found the rest of the VIN
number that the police couldn't find.And when I went and had this meeting
with the sheriff and the guy fromthe d office, I said, y'all
are missing a number on this then, which is why nothing ever came back
(35:04):
on it. And I told himI was black. There should be a
four at the end of that.And both of them looked at me,
like, what are you talking about. I said that then number that y'all
are trying to search for the carthat y'all are trying to find. I
said, y'all have the wrong VENnumber. I said, you'll have all
of it but one number, whichis why it's coming back invalid or not
registered. And they wrote down theflour on both of their papers, like
something that is that's simple that y'allmissed. But I'm thirty two years old.
(35:29):
I don't have any experience in this. And me and my sister put
turns you together and found the lastVIN number on a car that y'all should
have been searching for thirty years ago. So tell me more about this car.
What's the significance of it? Soit's the card that owned when my
mom went missing, and when shewas found dead, he was driving this
(35:50):
car. It is believed to bethe card that she was transported in when
she was killed. The way thatshe was wrapped in the blanket, it
had a hole in it and partof the it was a twin five blanket,
and the blanket had a hole init, and part of the blanket
would poured through that hole. Likeit was used to tote her in from
one location to another. It wasn'tlike she was wrapped in it and Toby
just dumped her. This was likeused as a support thing to tote her
(36:15):
body. And they believed the DodgeDaytona was used to transport her body from
wherever she was killed to wherever shewas dumped and law enforcement has been looking
for the car supposedly. Supposedly,yes, until I gaped him the last
number on the vent. So Idon't know where the car is now.
(36:35):
It's not registered, but I don'tknow if it's been crushed or if at
the junkyard or whatever. But thatwould be our last piece, because you
can clean a car and you canget the blood stain out, but she'll
never get rid of the trace ofthe blood. Well, and this one
nineteen ninety four, So if thebody was transported in this car, then
I'm sure the person who was doingit was really thinking about cleaning the car.
(37:01):
I mean, I'm sure the personwill think about cleaning it, but
knowing that there's DNA, people tryto be a lot more careful about not
leaving trace evidence behind. Yeah.Well, if I'm not mistaken, cars
from the eighties and nineties had velvetin a lot of their cars anyways,
(37:22):
And I'm pretty sure it was likea burgundy dark red velvet or carpet whatever
it was. But I'm pretty surethe color kind of blended with the blood.
So even if you were to tryto spot clean it or to clean
it real quick. Yeah, Soin other words, you're not going to
get all of the blood out becausethe blood's actually going to leave a stain
(37:43):
that you can't remove. Yeah,but that's the last piece of evidence that
would connect him to the murder.And we don't know where it's at.
I'm at the sheriff wanted to look. I'm sure they could locate it,
but as near the pavilion, wecan't locate it. And I'm guessing that
if whoever possibly killed your mother andtransported her, if it was done with
(38:07):
a car, I'm sure that ifthis person got rid of the car,
he probably didn't go too far awayto get rid of it. If he
didn't sell to someone, he probablyjust got rid of it somewhere local,
a local junkyard or scrapyard, I'msure. And this concludes the first half
of Teresa's story. Please listen tothe conclusion next week. Who killed Teresa
(38:30):
Lynn Miller? Nearly thirty years ago, she never had a chance to truly
be a mother or create any memorieswith her children. She had the first
of her four children at fifteen.She would eventually be found dead behind a
Piggy Wiggly store in Ladonia, Alabama, on April twenty eighth, nineteen ninety
(38:50):
four. Unfortunately, her four childrenhave no memories of their mother. Teresa's
daughter, Dannikahove, has stepped updecided that she wants to find out who
killed her mother and why. Therewas biological evidence left behind at one time
most likely, but it wasn't maintainedand eventually discarded. Danica faces an uphill
(39:14):
battle in her quest. There isno evidence, as she has said that
law enforcement won't provide her with anyuseful information. Do you know who killed
this young mother of four back innineteen ninety four? If you have any
information about this unsolved thomicide, pleasecontact the Russell County Sheriff's Apartment in Phoenix
(39:36):
City, Alabama at three three fourtwo nine eight six five three five.
I will also be sure to providethis information in the case story notes.
And if you are a parent,law enforcement official, friend, or relative
seeking justice for an unsolved thomicide case, please visit my website and complete the
contact form. You can also contactme through Facebook. Thank you for listening.
Hello, and welcome to the CatchMy Killer Podcast. Thank you for listening.
My name is Mark. For nearlyeight years, I've written a weekly
newspaper column about true crimes and missingpeople for the Claremont Sun newspaper in Ohio.
With the column and podcast, myobjective has always been to try to
(00:34):
bring attention to the cases that haven'treceived much media attention, if any.
This week's story involves a twenty oneyear old Alabama woman named Teresa Lynn Miller,
who was found dead and wrapped upin a blanket behind the Piggly Wiggly
store in Ladonia, Alabama, onApril twenty eighth, nineteen ninety four.
(00:55):
The young mother of four had vanishedon April second, nineteen four. Her
homicide has remained unsolved for nearly thirtyyears. This is the first part of
a two part story. Be sureto listen to the conclusion next week.
(01:23):
Teresa Lynn Miller was a Phoenix City, Alabama mother of four who was found
deceased behind a Piggy Wiggly and Ladonia, Alabama, on April twenty eighth,
nineteen ninety four. There wasn't muchleft of her once she was found,
and what did remain of her waslikely scattered by animals. She had been
(01:45):
missing since April second before she wasfound deceased. Teresa Lynn Miller was only
twenty one years old when she died, but her entire life had been troubled.
According to her daughter Danica, shehad her first child at fifteen and
was also sexually abused as a child. Teresa was born in California on October
(02:07):
eighteenth, nineteen seventy two. Herparents were Diane Pulaski and William Morris.
According to her daughter Danica, itwas unknown whether or not William Morris was
actually her biological father. Teresa wasthe middle child of three. She has
an older brother named Kenneth and ayounger sister named Melissa, who recently passed
(02:30):
away. Unfortunately, other than atiny newspaper article in an Alabama newspaper,
there is no information about Teresa's death, and that is a major issue with
telling her story and many of thestories that I share. There are videos,
news coverage, and other information thatI can share about the victim's story,
(02:53):
and for stories like Teresa's, theseare the reasons why do this podcast.
Teresa's story deserves to receive as muchmedia coverage as anyone else's, and
since her case has been mostly forgotten, it reduces the chances that her killer
will ever be arrested. Teresa wasthe mother of four children who lost her
(03:13):
mother when they were young, sonone of them have any warm memories of
spending Mother's Day with her, oreven celebrating birthdays, holidays, or even
just sitting around the family dinner tablehaving a nice dinner. Unfortunately, someone
took her life and has denied herchildren of creating any memories with their mother.
Teresa's daughter, Danica his contacted lawenforcement and tried to find out what
(03:38):
happened to her mother nearly thirty yearsago. Over time, biological evidence was
discarded and she doesn't have many peoplewho can speak to her about her mother's
final moments alive, she was ableto connect with the man who found her
mother's body. Unfortunately, he wasn'table to provide any useful information for Teresa's
(04:01):
story. I spoke to her daughter, Danneka Hovey. This is the first
half of a two part story.Please be sure to listen to the conclusion
next week and now on with Teresa'sstory is told by her daughter, Dannika
Hovey. My mom was born inCalifornia October eighteenth, nineteen seventy two.
(04:27):
Her mother is Diane Pulaski and herdad is William Morris, although that'slictit on
her birth certificate. Paternity was neverestablished, so one hundred percent we don't
know if William Marph is her father. She is the middle child gather little
sister my aunt Melissa Melissa Culster,that passed away a few years ago,
and she has an older brother,Kenneth Coulster. I was three year old
(04:50):
when she died. I do notremember anything about her. My older sister
was four, and then my youngersister is eleven months younger than me,
so we were real little when shedied. So including you, your mother
had four children, is that correct? Yeah? And my little brother with
three month old when she died.Her body was found April twenty eight,
(05:11):
Noney four behind the pig Wiggly inLadonia. Now I'm familiar with what a
pigley wiggly is because I've spent timedown in the southern areas of the country.
So for people who live up northwho don't know what a piggly wiggly
is, can you please explain tothem. What exactly a piggly wiggly is?
A pig wiggly is a grocery storeby Lewis Jones or a Walmart shopping
(05:34):
that that are just for groceries.They're more Southern than they are northern.
But they're starting to close down asthe years go by. There used to
be a lot of them, butnow there's not so many of them.
Now. What used to be thepig wiggly if now a key bone they
call, so it is no longera piggwiggly anymore. I have been in
(05:54):
touch with the gentleman that found herbody. I'm going to respect his private
it not his name. He workedat Asilegally at the time. He was
the one that felled the foul odorand went back there and found her in
the wooded area, wrapped in ablanket. I just got in contact with
them a few weeks ago after ayear of thirsting for trying to contact people,
(06:17):
and by the grace of God,I got another incident report printed and
his number had updated on the incidentreport and I was able to contact him.
And he cried his eyes out whenI went out at of them,
because I looked just like my mom. So your mom was killed, or
at least her body was found inPhoenix City, Alabama. Is that correct?
(06:41):
Yeah? So where her body wasfound, and is that where you
and your siblings all lived at thetime, you all lived in Phoenix City.
Yeah, So the address that himthe death certificate and the address that
found all the paperwork, court documentsthat I found. She lived around twentieth
three, which I know Europe inon high and I'm in Georgia, but
it walking distant from the Pigligly,It's not too far, so we're talking
(07:04):
like three or fourth street between herhow or where she was staying and then
where her body was found. Now, at the time of your mother's death,
where was she living? Was shestaying with your dad, a boyfriend,
another relative? Can you tell meabout that? So my older sister,
Patricia has a different dad. SoPatricia's dad is Tommy. Me and
(07:28):
my sister Brandy have the same dad, Walter, and then my little brother,
his dad is Robert. At thetime, my mom was involved with
Robert. So on the day thatshe disappeared, did she have plans to
go to the Piggly Wiggly. Isthat what happened? She had either gone
there to shop or was it morelike someone chilled her and then just dumped
(07:53):
her body back there. She waskicked out of my aunt how on April
second, after she was staying withand she was last in April second,
and then she was reported missing onApril twentieth. Well, the missing persons
report was filed on the twentieth.They never stated if it was before that
or not, but the missing person'sreport was closed and never followed up on.
(08:15):
But on April twenty eighth when theyfound her body. So d fact
actually hacked custody of me and mysister. She had lost custody of my
older sister and she had lost custodyof my younger brother d fact, because
my dad was in and out.My mom really didn't want my dad any
of the dads involved, so mydad didn't know that his kids were in
(08:37):
the system. So when my dadfound that out on March tenth, he
went down and filed the cool custody. On March seventeenth, they had a
court date set up for April sixand she never showed. She was in
court on March twenty third for thecustody hearing from my little brother and was
supposed to go back April eighteenth toget custody back. Of course she didn't
(08:58):
show so there was an eyewitness whichI believe he had passed away the thing
with Abrat Miller, that had seenher on April four at the Zippy Mark
by my aunt's house where she waskicked out. So between April four and
April foot when she didn't show upfor court, something happened to her.
We don't know if she was parting, We don't know if she had friends.
(09:22):
The thing is she only got toa gray education. She was effectually
abused. Ifunt tell she the thirteenth, she had been in trouble. I
found out that there's a child crueltycase. She beat my older sister because
my sister trying to push me offthe bed. She went to jail for
it. They put her on probation, but then she got in trouble a
year and a half later for shotwith him from Kmart and she was supposed
(09:45):
to serve time in jail, butnever did. So my mom was in
a little bit of trouble. Shedidn't live a perfect life. She was
epileptic, she was on two differentfeasire medicine. She was very troubled mental
illness. It runs real deep onmy mom out of the family every generation.
The aid thought. She did attemptthrough if out A few times.
She was in a treatment finner afew times in a few different places.
(10:07):
I know Fort Payne, Alabama withone play. The Bradley Finner was another.
She went to the medical thinner.So she did have suicidal tendency.
And I don't know if she wasever medicated for any of that. I
don't know if she ever got theproper help. I don't know if she
ever got the proper help for thesexual assault. So all of this at
a young age developed into problems whenyou're an adult. So her kids ended
(10:31):
up suffering. Not only did wehave different dads, but our dads weren't
allowed to be involved in our livesbecause I'm pretty sure she was scared of
men per se. Didn't stop herfrom being curious and reproducing with people.
But she was nineteen when she hadher fourth kid. Mind you, there
is an extra kid. I havea sister that passed away when she was
(10:52):
born. She was full term,and this was between Brandy and Stephen,
so there was to be a fifthkid, but she died. We don't
know the cause, but I havedone that what kind of set off the
downward spiral. I lost the kidwhen I was sixth month fragmant, and
that's a pain that it's very hardto live with. So along with the
(11:15):
mental health not being taken care of, all the abuse, losing a kid,
getting in trouble for child cruelty.She went to jail for shoplifting.
She was leading this life and introuble, and a lot of it fell
back to Robert Bush. He isStephen's father from the story I've been told,
he actually went to jail for beatingher. Their eyewitnesses to the result
(11:37):
of the beating broke bones in herfaith. He was charged with that and
his last word to my mom beforehe went to jail back to jail was
I will get you be at hThat was his last words to her.
He was in jail from February twentyfifth until April four. She was last
seeing April four. According to Danica, one of Teresa's exes threatened to harm
(12:00):
her before he was incarcerated. Theirrelationship involved domestic violence. We will take
a brief break in return with Dannika'sthoughts on what happened to her mother after
she disappeared on April fourth, nineteenninety four. And what can you tell
(12:31):
me about Robert, her ex,the one she was involved with the domestic
abuse relationship? Is he still alivetoday? He is, and he lived
close to me. Have you evercontacted him or does your brother keep in
touch with his dad? I hadnever nobody has ever had any contact with
(12:54):
him after my mom went missing andthen when they found her body. But
Stephen quote mom that adopted him,that was who had custody of them at
a time because she kept custody aftermy mama found So Stephen had his set
of parents. My dad got us, and then my grandmother ended up getting
my oldest sister, Patricia, andwe kind of lived separately except for me
(13:16):
and Brandy. We will all liveseparately. So we didn't know each other
until we got older. So Iwant to say between thirteen and fifteen,
Tricia became a part of our life, and then it wasn't until my brother
was twenty three twenty four when hebecame a consistent part of my life.
So we were all grown or gettinggrown before we actually got to know each
(13:39):
other. Me and Brandy grew uptogether, so that was the only sibling
I ever had grown up. Ofcourse, my dad had a son with
another woman. Are you when yourthree siblings close today? We are.
We grew apart. We didn't reallyget along so much when we were growing
up. But that's my sister.I'll go to bat four any day.
(14:00):
And now, your mom, shewas threatened before she was found dead,
isn't that correct? I mean she'sthreatened and then she turns up dead shortly
after. Yeah, so what isyour mother's official cause of death? What
did the coroner rule? There isno cause of death. It's listed as
(14:20):
undetermined circumstances. I read the coroner'sreport. She was decapitated. Her head
was not attached to her body.She was missing her shoulder on the left
side down, her whole armor gone. There was thirty two and a half
pounds of her left when they foundher. That's how long she was out
there. The corner's report says fourto sixth leaks. She was out in
(14:41):
the woods and eating upon by animalsand decomposed. And all of this I've
done read at all. I don'thave a picture of them on painted anymore.
There's all just facts. So you'retelling me that you don't know if
her killer actually decapitated her or ifher head was removed because of animal activity.
(15:03):
I guess you really don't know,do you, And neither does the
coroner. Nope. They seem tothink that maybe somebody slid her throat and
that's where the animals started. Theycan't prove that because she was out there
for so long. But of coursea body out in the wood, especially
with a changing seasons, it's notgoing to take much time at offer.
Animals to be at tried to smellwhatever it is. So we don't exactly
(15:28):
know how long she was out there. The corners of for it says four
to six weeks, but I alsoread a little investigator notice it said a
week. So we're looking at oneweek versus four to six. But that's
a huge gap. Yeah, thatis most certainly a large gap in time,
and it doesn't make any sense.And I can never understand how you
(15:50):
can say one week and then yousay four to six. It has to
be one or the other. There'sa different, a huge difference in one
of the other Absolutely at Lee andwho reported her missing, they will not
give me a copy of the missingperson's report. But if I'm not mistaken,
my aunt Melissa is the one thatreported her missing. She was supposed
to come get her stuff because MattMissa kicked her out. I don't know
(16:12):
why she was kicked out, butshe was supposed to come to get from
her stuff and she never did it, just sat on most of the front
port. And after a few weekswent by, is when they knew something
was wrong. And when she didn'tshow up report for her kid, that's
when they knew if something was wrong. And your aunt Melissa the one you
(16:33):
were able to lean on. She'snow deceased. Is that correct? Yeah,
she passed away a few years ago. Okay, And what kind of
a relationship did you have with youraunt Melissa? Sounds like you had a
great relationship with her too for clothes. As soon as she was able to
get into my life, I clungon to her like there was no other
(16:55):
person. She was the closest thingI had to my mom. That was
the closest connection. I'm not closeto my grandmother. I really prefer not
to call her my grandmother. Hername is Diane. But my Analyssa was
a saint. She was just anupbeat, bright person. And I'm sure
that you probably had a lot ofquestions about your mom. For your aunt,
(17:17):
Melissa, based on your aunt's thoughtsabout your mom, how did she
describe her mom? Tell me aboutthat fearless, She loved life, she
loved her kids. She wasn't theperfect person. She never painted a picture
of her mom being perfect. Butshe did say that my mom made mistake
but she did love her kids,She loved life, she was adventurous,
(17:40):
she had a big heart. Imean, just a lot of good things.
But she did make sure to embedin my head that she did make
mistakes. She was human and shewasn't perfect, and she did learn from
a lot of her mistakes. Youknowing, It just doesn't only sound like
your mother really had much of anopportunity to really live. She was only
(18:04):
twenty one when she died, correct, I mean twenty one. That's fairly
young. One twenty one. Thatmeans that her life was essentially over before
it even began. I wouldn't evenreally call it much of a life,
would you. Nope. You know, here's something that I've learned about life.
(18:27):
When you're young, you make alot of mistakes we all do,
but fortunately for a lot of us, like me, for example, I
was able to somehow survive a lotof stupidity. I did a lot of
stupid things in my past, andI look back and sometimes I wonder how
(18:48):
the hell I'm even alive today.I mean, I've said that to my
best friend. He and I usedto do really stupid stuff when we were
youngsters, and we're both in ourfifties now, and we've both somehow made
it. I have no idea howwe were able to overcome being such idiots
back in the day, but wesomehow managed, because I can honestly say
(19:11):
I've really done some stupid, recklessthings in the past where I could have
easily gotten killed, but somehow,by the grace of God, I'm still
here. Yeah. You know,it's always been said that to grow old
and wise, you have to beyoung and stupid, and that's true because
(19:33):
you learn from your mistakes. AndI realize that your mother, she did
make some mistakes when she was young. But what makes me feel bad about
her story is that she never gotan opportunity to overcome them. She didn't
get the opportunity to learn and getwise from her mistakes and then straighten them
(19:56):
out, and had she overcome herissues, that she would have had an
opportunity to get to know her fourchildren and get to know her grandchildren.
But she was denied that chance becauseof someone else's selfishness in taking her life.
I find that truly sad and troubling. Oh yeah, By this time,
(20:18):
you've heard Dannika discuss the hardships thather mother experienced during her youth.
She was sexually abused and gave birthto her first child at fifteen years old.
She had also gotten into trouble forabusing one of her children and for
shoplifting. We will take a finalbreak and return with Danica's final thoughts about
(20:41):
her mother for this episode. So, listening to you describe your mother's story,
it sounds like she really had atraumatic life. She was sexually abused,
(21:03):
she got pregnant at a very earlyage. She had her first child
when she was fifteen, and thenby the time she was twenty one,
she already had four children. Andthat can be really rough on someone.
I mean, being so young andhaving to take her four children. So
(21:25):
she really had a whole lot ofthings going on in her young life,
and it sounds like she really didn'tget a chance to really get a taste
of life. No, she hadher first kid fifteen, so she didn't
even get to go through her teenageyears. Really, I mean, she
(21:45):
didn't get a chance to grow up. She was forced because of the fixture
abuse up until the ague was thirteenand she started acting out. She dropped
by to school in eighth grade.She had her first kid fifteen, so
that's the beginning of her life rightnow. Wait a minute, I just
thought of something. You said thatshe had her first child when she was
fifteen. That means she was pregnantmost likely when she was fourteen. Is
(22:11):
that right? Yes, she hadturned fifteen dot October and my sister was
born in December. Okay, Sohowell was the dad? Was this consensual?
Was he also a teenager? Wasthis statutory rape or what was the
situation at the time. I amnot one hundred percent sure how old he
(22:34):
is, but I know it wasconsensual. I know they were actually a
couple like together, and he didshe did love Tricia's dad. Still,
even if it's consensual, a childcan't give consent. Oh I know,
Yeah, I live in Ohio,where the consensual age is sixteen, and
I imagine that's probably what it isin a lot of other states. Same
(22:57):
here. Well, my mom wassixteen when my dad was with her,
so I mean that me and mysister, she was over fifteen whenever she
had me and my sister. Butat getting pregnant at fourteen and having a
kid at fifteen, like, itmakes you wonder, It really does,
but that's the life that she wasused to. Well, yeah, and
(23:18):
I can remember growing up back inthe day when I was pretty young at
the time, I had a coupleof friends that were I believe we're probably
both about fifteen, and I thinkshe got pregnant around that time and may
have had her first child when shewas fifteen or sixteen, but they were
both under age. They were bothteenagers, so there was never any issue
(23:41):
with that, and they got married. It just got me thinking when you
told me that your mom had herfirst baby at fifteen, and that tells
me that she was probably pregnant atfourteen, So I was wondering if this
was something that would have been legallyconsidered statutory rape. But then I don't
know how old the father was.But you said, it was something that
(24:03):
she was used to, and ifshe was being sexually abused at an early
age, maybe this was something thatshe had accepted as a fact of life
or a fact of her life.But it was just something that I was
just really curious about. It wasnever reported as inappropriate or rape or anything
(24:26):
like that. What I'm hearing orwhat I've heard, it was her doing.
You know, all the relationships werethrough her brother except for my dad.
She met every man that she hadbeen with through my uncle, which
has messed up. All these menwere older than her. She was born
in seventy two, my dad wasborn in sixty nine, so they're not
too far apart in age. Butthe only person that my mom didn't meet
(24:51):
through her brother was my dad.My dad was the only outside person and
didn't associate with anybody, didn't associatewith Kenneth or Robert, nobody, So
it was kind of weird. Sotell me about I know your brother and
your sisters probably have conversations about yourmom, and I would guess that you
(25:12):
all probably have a general idea ofwho may have killed her. Have you
all come to a consensus on this? Is there somebody that you all think
may have harmed your mother. Afterasking Danica about a potential suspect being involved
and killing her mother, she toldme that her and her siblings have an
(25:33):
idea that they know who did this. However, the police have never officially
named anyone as a suspect, soI have bleeped out the name for privacy
reasons. Yes, the people thatI talked to, close family, people
that knew her, every single personbelieved it was that killed her end up
(25:55):
her body. She was killed ata residence and her body was dumbed.
And at this point, I don'tcare who hears this. Well, it's
a known fact that whenever someone getsmurdered, most of the time it's not
by a stranger. It's often aboyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or some
type of significant other that committed thecrime. I mean that during investigation,
(26:21):
I know that law enforcement usually startswith the family and then works its way
outward. What I find interesting isthat I have spoken to so many different
people. I mean easily over ahundred people that I've interviewed, and a
(26:41):
lot of times when I talk tothem after I'm done with the recording.
I'll talk to people after we're donerecording because I don't want to put those
private thoughts on the podcast. Thoseare just something that I share with that
individual. And one of the questionsthat I'll ask is does the family have
an idea of who committed this crime? In a lot of times, the
(27:03):
family will most of the time,you know, unless it's a hit and
run or something along those lines,the family will basically just say, yeah,
we know who did it, andthe cops know who did it.
The only problem is we can't proveit. Otherwise that person would be in
prison right now. So I findit more surprising when a family tells me
(27:23):
that they don't know who did itthan when they tell me they do know
who did it. Oh really.The messed up part is so she was
found and closed. She didn't haveany hand towear on. She had a
braw a T shirt and panton.She was wrapped in a blanket and that
with a jacket that was located nearher but wasn't like on her person.
(27:45):
Before the full Corners report came back, before the toxological report came back,
before that even came back, theyhad sent all the evidence with her body
to the funeral home, and then't home disposed of it because it was
biohazard. So they don't even haveany evidence to test for DNA anymore because
(28:07):
they got rid of it before thecase was even closed. Well now it's
pending. They can't give me astraight answer if it's open, closed or
pending. I've gotten three different answersfrom three different people. That must have
been a major blow to the case. And there's a high probability that there
was DNA or fingerprints or some typeof genetic evidence on your mom's body or
(28:33):
the clothing. And without those piecesof evidence, then it definitely would have
hindered the police's investigation. And hadthey stored it properly and kept it,
they could have tested that. Withthe way technology have come now, they
could have taken that out of evidenceand test it to see if there was
DNA on it. But now theycan't. And I didn't know that.
(28:56):
I just found that out. Ithought they had this evidence walked away somewhere
and we could pull it out andI know it might take some time,
but get them to retest it.And then I find out. I read
the report and everything was signed overto the funeral home. So I called
McMullan, which is a local funeralhome here. I called them to see
if they could pull the report becauseit said that if the clothes were sent
(29:18):
with her in the body bag,that it would have been buried with her.
I was going to pay to gether body exumed, to get that
stuff out of there and to getit tested. Yeah, I was going
to ask you about getting her exumed. So maybe there is some type of
evidence that remained behind, or doyou think there's a chance that there's anything
(29:40):
that could be useful. It wouldn'thelp her. There wasn't enough of her
left to get a rape kid orI mean, there wasn't enough of her,
And that's the messed up part.I think that's really a shame.
But I think back in ninety fourthat DNA was still in the stages of
early development, So I'm not thinkingthat a lot of police departments were thinking
(30:07):
about storing things and instead they justfound it easier to just dispose of evidence.
I don't really know how it worksout with different police departments, but
I've heard stories that some kept itemseven back from the eighties because they figured
there might be some type of advancesand technology, while others just went ahead
(30:30):
disposed of the items. I don'tthink there was a set standard among every
police department in the country, asyou know. I don't think there ever
has been. I think they justall do whatever it is they do.
Yeah, but if you're going tosay you're investigating something of a murder,
common sense would tell you we needto hang on to this because this case
(30:51):
is a murder investigation, not asuicide or an accident. Why keep it
open all these years? Well,you'd be surprised how uncommon common senses these
days, not with just law enforcement, but just people in general. You
ain't never lied. And where areyour mom's remains today? You said she's
(31:12):
buried. Do you live near thearea where she was buried? So the
state paid for her burial. Sheis buried in town. I have not
been to her grave have a markeron it. It doesn't have a headstone
or anything. I wouldn't see thepoint if those things were buried with her,
I would seriously look into getting herbody boomed and getting that evident out
(31:36):
of there. But since they disposedof it, there's no point. I'm
not going to disturb what left ofher to try to prove a point when
it's not going to do many good. Now, how did you find out
about the evidence being disposed of?Did law enforcement tell you this or did
you learn this from the funeral home? The police report that I read stated
(31:59):
that they signed it over and thenI called McMullin. They poured her file
and it says that they disposed ofher stuff because it was considered a biohazard.
So to me, it really soundslike you're truly stuck behind the proverbial
eight paul in your mother's case becauseyou don't have any evidence. You don't
have anything, so you really don'thave a good starting place to find out
(32:22):
what happened to your mother. ButI would suggest that even though you don't
have that much to go on,that you still keep up with the police
and see which you can find outon your own. I can tell you
one of the very first interviews thatI ever did when I first started this
podcast several years ago, the younglady I interviewed was trying to get justice
(32:45):
for her brother because her brother's deathwas ruled an accident, if I recall,
and she told me several years ago, I'm not gonna let this go
until I find out what happened tomy brother and his killer goes to prison
while low and behold. She justput up a recent post that the person
(33:07):
who shot her brother to death hasbeen arrested and charged with the murder of
her brother. So she's never letgo, and she told me several years
ago she's going to keep going tillshe gets justice. So it's taken her
while to have this success because it'staken her years because her brother's been de
ceased for a while. So ifyou're really determined to find out what happened
(33:31):
to your mother, then I thinkit's just something that you're gonna have to
stick it out no matter how longit takes, because it could be a
very lengthy process for you to everfind out what truly happened to her.
But she was your mother, andI'm sure to you it's worth it to
wait. Whatever time you spend andtrying to find out what happened to her,
(33:55):
it will all come down to beingworth it if you're able to get
the truth. That's them me.For the past three weeks, I had
an appointment with the sheriff over MurphallCounty, which is in Alabama where her
death happened, and I sat downwith the guy from the DA's office,
and I was explaining to them myquestions, my concerned dates that didn't match
(34:22):
up. So there's one piece ofevidence less somewhere unless it's been crushed or
disposed of whatever. But there's acar out there somewhere that was reported that
was driving and could have possibly beeninvolved with her murder. And I actually
(34:43):
had to get with my sister tofind this car because nothing would come back
on the VEN number. And mysister actually found the rest of the VIN
number that the police couldn't find.And when I went and had this meeting
with the sheriff and the guy fromthe d office, I said, y'all
are missing a number on this then, which is why nothing ever came back
(35:04):
on it. And I told himI was black. There should be a
four at the end of that.And both of them looked at me,
like, what are you talking about. I said that then number that y'all
are trying to search for the carthat y'all are trying to find. I
said, y'all have the wrong VENnumber. I said, you'll have all
of it but one number, whichis why it's coming back invalid or not
registered. And they wrote down theflour on both of their papers, like
something that is that's simple that y'allmissed. But I'm thirty two years old.
(35:29):
I don't have any experience in this. And me and my sister put
turns you together and found the lastVIN number on a car that y'all should
have been searching for thirty years ago. So tell me more about this car.
What's the significance of it? Soit's the card that owned when my
mom went missing, and when shewas found dead, he was driving this
(35:50):
car. It is believed to bethe card that she was transported in when
she was killed. The way thatshe was wrapped in the blanket, it
had a hole in it and partof the it was a twin five blanket,
and the blanket had a hole init, and part of the blanket
would poured through that hole. Likeit was used to tote her in from
one location to another. It wasn'tlike she was wrapped in it and Toby
just dumped her. This was likeused as a support thing to tote her
(36:15):
body. And they believed the DodgeDaytona was used to transport her body from
wherever she was killed to wherever shewas dumped and law enforcement has been looking
for the car supposedly. Supposedly,yes, until I gaped him the last
number on the vent. So Idon't know where the car is now.
(36:35):
It's not registered, but I don'tknow if it's been crushed or if at
the junkyard or whatever. But thatwould be our last piece, because you
can clean a car and you canget the blood stain out, but she'll
never get rid of the trace ofthe blood. Well, and this one
nineteen ninety four, So if thebody was transported in this car, then
I'm sure the person who was doingit was really thinking about cleaning the car.
(37:01):
I mean, I'm sure the personwill think about cleaning it, but
knowing that there's DNA, people tryto be a lot more careful about not
leaving trace evidence behind. Yeah.Well, if I'm not mistaken, cars
from the eighties and nineties had velvetin a lot of their cars anyways,
(37:22):
And I'm pretty sure it was likea burgundy dark red velvet or carpet whatever
it was. But I'm pretty surethe color kind of blended with the blood.
So even if you were to tryto spot clean it or to clean
it real quick. Yeah, Soin other words, you're not going to
get all of the blood out becausethe blood's actually going to leave a stain
(37:43):
that you can't remove. Yeah,but that's the last piece of evidence that
would connect him to the murder.And we don't know where it's at.
I'm at the sheriff wanted to look. I'm sure they could locate it,
but as near the pavilion, wecan't locate it. And I'm guessing that
if whoever possibly killed your mother andtransported her, if it was done with
(38:07):
a car, I'm sure that ifthis person got rid of the car,
he probably didn't go too far awayto get rid of it. If he
didn't sell to someone, he probablyjust got rid of it somewhere local,
a local junkyard or scrapyard, I'msure. And this concludes the first half
of Teresa's story. Please listen tothe conclusion next week. Who killed Teresa
(38:30):
Lynn Miller? Nearly thirty years ago, she never had a chance to truly
be a mother or create any memorieswith her children. She had the first
of her four children at fifteen.She would eventually be found dead behind a
Piggy Wiggly store in Ladonia, Alabama, on April twenty eighth, nineteen ninety
(38:50):
four. Unfortunately, her four childrenhave no memories of their mother. Teresa's
daughter, Dannikahove, has stepped updecided that she wants to find out who
killed her mother and why. Therewas biological evidence left behind at one time
most likely, but it wasn't maintainedand eventually discarded. Danica faces an uphill
(39:14):
battle in her quest. There isno evidence, as she has said that
law enforcement won't provide her with anyuseful information. Do you know who killed
this young mother of four back innineteen ninety four? If you have any
information about this unsolved thomicide, pleasecontact the Russell County Sheriff's Apartment in Phoenix
(39:36):
City, Alabama at three three fourtwo nine eight six five three five.
I will also be sure to providethis information in the case story notes.
And if you are a parent,law enforcement official, friend, or relative
seeking justice for an unsolved thomicide case, please visit my website and complete the
contact form. You can also contactme through Facebook. Thank you for listening.
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