Beth Miller

* Living photo
* Age progressed

**Elizabeth Ann "Beth" Miller** was a teenager who went missing in 1983. She was declared legally dead 1994 and is believed to be a victim of foul play.

## Background

Beth Miller lived Idaho Springs, Colorado with her family. She had seven siblings and was a freshman at Clear Creek Secondary School. She would babysit to earn spending money and was a basketball player at the time of her disappearance. To stay fit she would jog regularly.

A few days before Miller vanished, her sister says she saw a man in a pickup truck flirting with her. The truck was red with a white bumper shell, out of state license plates and a brown stripe on the sides. The man was pale with light brown collar-length hair that parted to one side and appeared 'neat'. He wore prescription glasses with blue tinted photo-grade lenses. He became angry when Miller refused to have a conversation with him. He said his name was 'Claude'.

## Case

Miller was last seen jogging on August 16, 1983 at a park near her family home. She did not take any money or personal possessions with her and did not leave a note for her family which she would usually do if she was going to leave for any length of time. Despite a massive search, no trace of her has ever been found.

Investigators believe that a man seen in the park at the time of Miller's disappearance may have been seen speaking to her. He drove a small red 1975 or 1976 pickup truck with a red bumper and out of state license plates. No connection has even been established between this man and Miller's disappearance, however the police are interested in identifying and questioning him.

An Ohio man whose identity has not been released to the public has been under investigation in relation to the case for several years. Authorities believe that he may be involved in Miller's disappearance but he has never been charged.

Edward Apodaca, a deceased New Mexico man, is also considered a suspect in the case. Two independent witnesses reported seeing Apodaca talking to Miller three days prior to her disappearance while the two where sitting in a pickup truck together. A license plate with some numbers matching the ones the witnesses described the truck having was later found on Apodaca's property.

A former girlfriend of Apodaca came forward claiming that she had helped him bury Miller in the mountains near Idaho Springs. Three cadaver dogs indicated that they had smelled human remains in the place the girlfriend claimed they had buried Miller. However, police excavations failed to find any evidence in the area.

Possible evidence was uncovered in 1994 when bone fragments, a piece of fabric similar to a canvas and a single blond hair where found in Empire, Colorado. They had been buried near interstate 70 and the fabric was very degraded and is believed to have been buried for years. The bone fragments have never even been conclusively been ruled as human, but in 2004 the police sent the hair to the FBI for mitochondrial DNA testing. They hope this can conclusively link the hair to Miller's case.

In 1995, two new avenues of investigation surfaced when a Mississippi serial killer claimed to have killed Miller and a woman police picked up in Tampa, Florida claimed that she was Miller. Miller's parents few to Florida flew to meet the woman but she was revealed to be someone else. While not completely ruled, out police do not believe the serial killer's confession to be credible.

In 2007, a grand jury investigated the disappearance but eventually disbanded without any indictments being handed down. Miller's case remains open and unsolved.

## Characteristics

* Blonde hair.
* Blue eyes.
* A mole above her right eyebrow.

## Clothing and accessories

* White jogging shorts.
* A faded blue T-shirt.
* Running shoes.

## Sources

* Beth Miller at the *Doe Network*
* Beth Miller at *NamUs*
* Beth Miller at *NCMEC*
* Beth Miller at the *Charley Project*