Joanna R. Miller moved in with her aging parents in East Pennsboro more than a year ago to help care for them.
Her 65-year-old stepmother used a wheelchair. Her father was 78-years-old.
She balanced those family duties while working an administrative job at Pennsylvania State Police headquarters in Harrisburg, according to prosecutors.
Her devotion to her parents, however, ended up putting her in the crosshairs of a tragic domestic violence incident. Her father John A. Miller now stands accused of fatally shooting her and nearly killing her stepmom just before 7 p.m. on April 10 at their home in the first block of Greenmont Drive.
Many details remain unknown, like what sparked the deadly dispute.
Police had been called to the home shortly before the killing because John Miller was trying to kick his 51-year-old daughter out of the house. It’s unclear why he wanted her to move.
Either way, they could not intervene at that time, according to the police chief, because it was a civil matter. There are steps laid out in state law before a resident can be evicted from a home.
“Police can’t kick you out just because you are having a verbal argument,” East Pennsboro Police Chief Mark Green said. “Police have no power to kick one party out of the residence.”
Officers said they saw a purely verbal argument between family members, no weapons, no assaults, no threats. So they left.
A few hours later, police said John Miller started firing his gun, police say. Then he picked up the phone and dialed 911, according to court documents.
John Miller told the dispatcher that he shot and killed his wife and daughter, according to court documents. He said they were beyond help, and he had used a 38-mm handgun, which was now on the table, charging documents state.
When police arrived for the second time that day, officers found Joanna Miller dead on the kitchen floor with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Police found Melissa Hinton-Miller conscious and breathing in a small bedroom with at least one gunshot wound, according to court records.
Police originally thought she had been shot twice in the head, but upon medical examination it appeared to be a single wound, prosecutors said.
Hinton-Miller remains in the hospital with critical injuries.
Joanna Miller was living there as a caretaker, said Michelle H. Sibert, first assistant district attorney in Cumberland County. Her exact role was not yet known, whether it was to run errands or provide medical-related care, since the investigation is still in the beginning stages, said Sibert.
But acting as a caretaker was a familiar role for Joanna Miller as she also took care of her mother before her mom died of breast cancer in 2008. An obituary for Catherine Miller said she died at her daughter’s home.
Joanna Miller leaves behind two adult daughters, according to said Sibert. Joanna also had two siblings.
Joanna Miller was employed with the state police for nearly 20 years. She was a legal assistant 2 within the Bureau of Records and Identification, under the Criminal Records Section. She was a part of the access and review section that ensured a request for a criminal record was accurate and complete.
“Joanna was a great person who loved her family, friends and Pennsylvania State Police co-workers,” said Major Mark Shaver, director of the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Records and Identification. “She touched the lives of many people while working with PSP. Her smile, good nature and friendship will be greatly missed by our personnel.”
John Miller remanis in prison without bond. He has been charged with criminal homicide, attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
He originally had a preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday April 19, but it has been continued to a future date.
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