Soldier accused in Douglas grad's death

Associated Press

TACOMA - A Fort Lewis, Wash., soldier who allegedly killed a Douglas High School graduate and his wife appeared in court on Monday.

Former Gardnerville resident Timothy Miller, 27, and his wife, Randi Miller, 25, both Army medics, were killed Saturday. Timothy Miller was apparently shot in a bathtub at the couple's suburban Parkland, Wash., home, while Randi Miller was shot on a bed and then moved to the bathtub, prosecutor Ed Murphy wrote in a court declaration.

Spc. Ivette Gonzalez Davila is accused of taking the couple's 6-month-old daughter. The 22-year-old was ordered held without bond for investigation of aggravated first-degree murder and kidnapping.

The baby's grandparents, Randy and Tami Gray, were on their way from Gardnerville to Tacoma on Monday to pick up their granddaughter.

Family friends Heather and Brian Keene said the family was devastated. They did not know the suspect, nor could they imagine a motive.

"Tim and Randi both were in the military, served our country, then got murdered," Heather Keene said. "If the military personnel had come and said they both got killed in Iraq, you could understand that."

The young couple had been married for five years. They both served as medics in the Army and had served in Iraq.

Timothy Miller, 27, had been in the military for 10 years, Keene said.

"Tim was such a great father," Heather Keene said. "He really loved his baby."

Friends of the family learned of the murders when they saw television news accounts Monday morning.

"One of their close friends had just been up visiting. She saw it on the news and recognized a playpen she bought for the baby, and saw two numbers of their home address. She knew it was them," Keene said.

Pierce County prosecutors allege Davila bought muriatic acid from a home-improvement store and poured it on the bodies.

Murphy wrote that Davila showed up at her barracks on Sunday afternoon with the baby and initially told a fellow soldier that she was baby-sitting. Eventually, she confessed to the soldier that she had killed the baby's parents the night before, Murphy wrote.

The soldier reported what Davila had said to military police, who arrested her and turned her over to Pierce County authorities.

According to the declaration, Davila took the baby to a Home Depot after the killings, bought muriatic acid, returned to the home and poured it on the bodies in the bathtub.

The baby was not harmed and is now in the care of the state's Child Protective Services.

Davila told the soldier that "Randi Miller was in a relationship with Davila's ex-boyfriend," Murphy said in his declaration.

Murphy said investigators had found a Home Depot receipt for the acid, a pistol and Randi Miller's purse in a search of the barracks.

Michael Kawamura, the county's chief public defender, argued unsuccessfully that the news media should not photograph his client in court, but he offered no other comment during the brief hearing, The News Tribune reported.