Shocking development after emotional Alabama man went on TV to plead for help finding missing wife

An Alabama man who was seen emotionally pleading for help to find his missing wife on TV has allegedly admitted to strangling her to death. 

Stephen Miller Sr, 64, reported his wife of 30 years Gloria Miller, 57, missing on February 24, Dothan police said in a press release, then he was arrested the very next day and charged with her murder.

Miller Sr reported that his wife ‘suddenly disappeared’ from their home on February 22 and pleaded on local news for help in finding her. 

He appeared on TV while on the phone in an apparent attempt to track down the woman he’s now said to have admitted killing. 

Miller Sr was joined by her family, who also called for help in finding her. Her brother, Sidney Whitaker told WDHN prior to the alleged confession: ‘This is not normal at all. She hangs around the house, she doesn’t venture away from the home, she pretty [much] hangs around the house all the time.’ 

Miller’s sister said she usually gets a phone call from her every day, which she did on Saturday afternoon, but no one had heard from her since. 

The family furthered that she doesn’t often leave the house, but if she did, she typically drives her car to the store. But her car was still at the home and Miller was nowhere in sight. 

Her phone and wallet were found around five miles from the couple’s home outside of Porter Square Mall. 

As the investigation into her disappearance began, however, it was revealed that Miller Sr had been the one to place those items outside of the mall before it was turned into one of the local businesses. 

According to the DPD, early on in the investigation several indicators of foul play were discovered. 

Eventually during the investigation, Miller Sr allegedly admitted that on the day of her disappearance the two had a physical altercation which ended in his strangling her until she was lifeless. 

According to Dothan Police Lieutenant Ronald Hall, Miller Sr 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 Miller’s admission came as ‘his facts were not adding up, and he basically knew that he had no choice,’ Law & Crime reported. 

Her body was found underneath a bridge in a dry creek bed in Geneva County at around 7.30pm on Tuesday, and Miller Sr was charged with one count of murder. 

‘There’s a monster underneath him and I didn’t realize that monster was in him,’ Whitaker said after learning of his sister’s death. 

‘For him to come over to my place, after he had already committed this crime and me having no knowledge of it, he was very deceptive,’ Whitaker added. 

‘There was no other reason he would have took her personal items up to Porter Square Mall and dropped them off to make it appear that she lost them there or had been abducted from here.’ 

But the couple’s violence, however, was not completely out of the blue. In January, Miller Sr had filed a protection order against his wife and claimed she had pushed him, gotten into his face, and threatened to ‘destroy him.’ 

Miller Sr said his wife had a history of ‘mental abuse’ and had been placed in a mental hospital. 

His protection order was dismissed upon his request once he had written to the judge claiming they had decided to get counseling and go to a doctor for her medication. 

In July of last year, he filed a similar protection order after he claimed Miller had threatened to kill him, their son, and their son’s ex-wife. This order was also dismissed upon Miller Sr’s request. 

Miller’s family have said that their toxic relationship is what resulted in her death. 

‘I told them, you just have to separate. One go one way and the other go the other way,’ Miller’s sister, Debra Whitaker, told WDHN. 

Lieutenant Hall said: ‘There is a history of domestic violence between them. I don’t know exactly how many reports. But there are reports that have been filed by each of them claiming allegations against each other.’ 

Miller’s family, however, remain confused as to how the situation could have ended how it did. 

‘Well, if that was even the case, why wouldn’t he just divorce her instead of killing my sister. Just divorce and walkway,’ Sidney Whitaker said. 

Miller’s daughter also attempted to file a restraining order against her, and claimed she had came at her with a knife and harassed her family for years. The order was denied. 

‘All the allegations were completely false. He literally dismissed it and laughed her out of the courtroom,’ Whitaker said. 

However, the family revealed that Miller had been concerned for her life months before her murder. 

According to the family, they always had martial issues, but their concerns grew after she told them she was afraid Miller Sr was going to kill her. 

‘In about the last two to three months she started telling me “I’m afraid he’s trying to kill me,”‘ Debra Whitaker said. 

The family said that long before she feared for her life, they had encouraged her to file for divorce. 

Miller’s brother said he talked to her about it, but felt she stayed with Miller Sr over money. 

‘Any of the assets, he didn’t want her to have any of them,’ he said. 

Miller Sr is being held in Houston County Jail. He was originally placed on a $1.5 million bond, according to DPD. Jail records show he is now being held with no bond.