Murderer of Gail Miller dies at 65 behind bars
MILGAARD CASE: Innocent man spent 23 years in jail in his place
A serial rapist who saw an innocent man spend more than two decades in jail in his place has died in prison.
Larry Earl Fisher died Tuesday at the age of 65 while jailed in Abbotsford’s Pacific Institution.
Fisher had been serving a life sentence since Jan. 4, 2000, for rape and non-capital murder of a 20-year-old nursing aide in the late 1960s.
In 1969, 20-year-old Gail Miller was found raped and murdered in Saskatoon, Sask.
Police focused their efforts on David Milgaard, a 16-year-old “hippie” who was passing through town the morning Miller’s body was discovered.
Milgaard was convicted after his three travelling companions testified against him. Years later, one admitted he gave false evidence because he feared he would be blamed himself. Another said she couldn’t remember what happened, and a third said he suffered a mental breakdown during the investigation.
Milgaard was then sent to prison, but released in 1992 after his conviction was quashed by the Supreme Court of Canada. By then he’d already served 23 years in jail.
In 1997, more advanced DNA testing produced new information that exonerated Milgaard and implicated Fisher, who had been previously identified as a possible suspect.
Fisher was arrested just one week after the new DNA results were announced.
Prior to Fisher’s arrest for Miller’s rape and murder, he had already served 23 years in prison for several sex attacks in the Saskatoon area.
In 1999, Fisher was convicted by jury and even years later during an inquiry into Milgaard’s wrongful conviction, Fisher continued to deny killing Miller.