Toxic

A Brilliant Scientist Turns Up Dead... Medical Mystery Or Murder?

(CBS)  Lieutenant Chris Morgan couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before. In the case file was a transcript from a police interview with Yvette Willard that could crack the case wide open.

She told investigators that days before her husband, Derril, committed suicide, his attorney, Rick Gammon, warned him that he could be charged with attempted murder in the Eric Miller case.

"Why is Rick Gammon telling Derril that he could be charged with attempted murder? Well it's got to be that Derril has told Rick Gammon something," states Morgan. "I said, 'Rick, let me ask you this, when are you gonna tell us what Derril Willard told you?'"

"And my response to Chris was, 'Chris, you know I can’t do that unless I was ordered to do that by a judge,'" Gammon tells Troy Roberts. "I told Derril Willard over and over and over again that any and every thing that he told me was confidential."

They say dead men don't tell tales, but Morgan was banking his case on changing that. Getting Gammon to break attorney-client privilege was Morgan's only hope. "That’s going to be the key to this case," he says.

District Attorney Colon Willoughby took up the cause.

"The privileges between lawyers and their clients and priests and their parishioners are probably the two most sacred. And those are probably the most difficult to go after," he explains.

Despite the pressure, Gammon refused to break his silence. "I don't want to see anyone who's committed murder to go free, even though I'm a defense attorney. But on the other hand, you know the attorney-client privilege is so important."

As the case dragged on in the courts, questions about Ann and her relationship with Derril Willard lingered.

Desperate, Eric's sister, Pam, phoned Ann and secretly recorded the conversation:

Pam: "It's out in the newspapers that you called Willard, like, I don't know how many times… What is that all about? I mean, you said this guy was stalking you."
Ann: "Obsessed might have been a good word… But you know, I don't - I don't know what you want me to say."
Pam: "I wanted you to tell us what happened. What this is all about."
Ann: "Would it make any difference? Would anybody listen to me?"
Pam: "Yes we're listening."
Ann: "No, I don't think so. I really don't think anybody would listen to me."

Three years after Eric's murder, Ann wed her musician boyfriend, Paul Kontz, and Morgan approached retirement age.

"A lot of people said I had been so obsessed with [the case] that I paid no attention to my career," Morgan says. "The only thing I cared about, it would seem to the outsider, was Ann Miller going to jail."

Then, in spring of 2004, the North Carolina Supreme Court made a startling decision, ruling that Gammon must reveal what Derril Willard told him about Ann Miller's role in Eric's murder.

Read Gammon's Statement

"He told me that he met Ann one day in a parking lot... Ann was crying. And that she admitted to him that while Eric was in the hospital she took a syringe that contained a substance and injected it into his IV," Gammon explains. "Derril asked her, 'Why did you do this?' And she said 'I just, I don’t know why I did it."

The D.A. could now put the arsenic that killed Eric Miller in Ann's hands. As for Derril Willard, the judge revealed that Derril told his attorney that he never tried to kill Eric.

That was vindication for Derril's widow. "I felt that he at last, got to speak up and defend himself," says Yvette.

Ann was ordered to surrender and was charged with Eric's murder.

The district attorney was worried though about Gammon's statement being used at trial. Even if a judge allowed it into evidence, any conviction would be subject to appeal. What's more, the D.A. thought Ann might charm a jury.

The Millers wanted to protect their granddaughter. "We need to take Ann out of her life, at least until Clare is an adult," says Doris.

The D.A. wasn't willing to gamble and neither were the Millers. A plea was offered: 25 years in prison for Eric's murder and Ann takes the deal.

So in 2005, five years after their son's murder, the Millers finally hear their daughter-in-law accept guilt. Ann's family was also in the courtroom when in a small, barely audible voice, Ann admitted killing Eric.

Judge: "Miss Kontz did you with malice unlawfully and intentionally, participate in causing the death of Eric Miller?"
Ann: "Yes, sir."

The Miller family wanted answers. Eric's sisters confronted Ann in court, their emotions raw. Said Pam, "Ann why don't you look at me? Why can't you look at me? Why did you brutally murder my brother Eric? Poisoning him? Watching him suffer?"

"I think sometimes that you just can't explain it," Pam tells Roberts. "There's pure evil in the world and I think she falls into that category, of pure evil."

"I don't believe that you, Ann, truly love your daughter,' Leeann said in court. "How could you when you have taken away one of the most precious gifts that she will ever have, her father? I will never understand, Ann, why you just didn't divorce him."

"She can't divorce him," Morgan explains, "because that, in Ann's world, amounts to admitting that she’s not perfect."

"So instead of shattering this image of the perfect couple, you're saying that Ann Miller decided to kill Eric?" Roberts asks Morgan. "Exactly," he replies. "From Ann's point of view, she would be looked at by her friends as this total victim."

With Ann Miller's sentencing, Chris Morgan retired from the police force. "The main question I'd like to ask her is, 'Why did you think you'd be able to get away with this?'"

And while the case that consumed him for nearly five years is finally over, to this day, Morgan feels little satisfaction.

"What in the hell have I got to be happy about? Two good men are dead. Two little girls will never know their fathers," Morgan says. "I'm not happy about any of this. My job was to get justice for Eric Miller. Justice has been done."

A judge ruled Ann Miller cannot see her daughter, Clare. Clare lives with Ann's sister; Eric's family shares custody.

Ann Miller is scheduled to be released in 2029. She'll be 59 years old.

[csi-lover]

sassalin31,

Thanks for the kind words. Besides CSI, I do enjoy watching 48 hours, NCIS, Dateline, etc.

Do read the book.

CSI-Lover

[sassalin31]

csi-lover,

Good points. I may have to read the book. You should watch all the other crime shows on TV. CSI is so inacurate but sometimes does have good plots.

[csi-lover]

For anyone interested in knowing what my 5 star word is which was deleted, it starts with a "W" and refers to a profession for women in Las Vegas who perform sex for money.

[csi-lover]

I read Amanda Lambs book 'Deadly Doses' cover to cover in one day. My eyes were tired and seeing stars, but it really was worth it. I saw the 48 hours special on this, so I could relate to the story. Here's the deal; Ann Miller is basically a ***** and an extremely sel-centered, selfish person. Of course she took the plea bargain, what a deal for someone who has no remorse, or a psycopath as referred to by Morgan. Any one who hasn't read the book will find more details about this case and Ann Miller than 48 hours had in its broadcast. Here's what struck me the most; prior to being with Eric, a former boyfriend went parachuting in front of her and hit the ground without his parachute opening. Yes, he died. And what about her neighbor who died from an alledged poisoning? Since we know she was a serial adulterer, how about a serial killer too? Even worse (this is why I call her a *****), she was having sex with a man in San Francisco when she was pregnant with Clare from Eric in her first trimester. Eric even asked her to stop seeing this guy and she said "We are just friends. Don't worry, I just love you". Heard that line before? And yes, she was having sex with Derril as well after Clare was born. Couldn't get enough Ann? Or is she a sexual predator? But the best part of all is seeing her without her makeup on, so you can see who she really is; quite plain to be nice to her. And the evil in her is more evident to see, especially in her eyes. The makeup helped to create a mirage, or a fake persona, making her someone she really wasn't. But certainly something to hide behind. The only redeeming quality for this woman is she did ask for forgiveness when she was sentenced by way of her attorney. However, we will never know why she did it. Morgan tells us this unfortunate fact in the book; it's up to her to do that. From what I hear, Ann Miller is still denying she had anything to do with Eric's murder accept pleading guilty to the crime so she could save her ass from the death penalty. Did Derril have more to do with this than just putting arsenic in his beer once at the bowling alley? According to Morgan, this isn't the case. Therefore, until she comes clean and out of denial, we'll probably never know. For true crime lovers, see the movie Fractured starring Anthony Hopkins. If there's anyway to keep this psycopath, Ann Miller, away from society, this might be our only chance.

[geena5]

especially the New Testament

[geena5]

lostreef, she could have believed being a widow was more respectful than being a divorcee. that's the main connection I was making with the catholic church, it is one of their teachings and ann miller was even teaching a class with them so she probably was thoroughly indoctrinated. it is too bad she used her talent as a scientist for such evil. and it is better to read the bible than go to church, especially bad ones, I highly recommend

[problem09]

im glad this has ended in this woman going to jail. she has no right to be free in this world. i think that she has no respect for her religon or any concept of the 10 commandments which the cathloc religion holds so high. even when she gets out of prison she will have nothing, her daughter will be brought up knowing what happened and most likely not want anything to do with her. i hope that she rots in her cell while thinking about why she is in there.

[cliffps]

She is ONE.... SCARY..... WOMAN!

[48hrzfanz]

Has anyone ever watched those 1940's classic NOIR movies? The women in those films are cold and heartless, yet come on nice and sweet. Ann Miller is those women. Evil to the core. I'd call her a Black Widow. Ann poisoned her husband long before he drank that glass of beer.
I guess the Mystery here is why? I don't believe the Perfect Life scenario. I don't believe her Catholic belief had anything to do with it either. She had no Faith what so ever. I think she was just a cold blooded killer who thought she could get a way with murder. Ann Miller almost did.

[desertpro]

rnbwprsm01:

It's time to take your meds dear. As to the article it is well done. Hopefully this evil person will never get out to darken the lives of those she betrayed so.