Family connection in triple murder
Six Nations of the Grand River members found on same road one year apart
One of three people from Six Nations found murdered in a pickup truck abandoned in a field off a country road in Middlesex County was the common law partner of another Six Nations man found murdered on the same road last year.
On Nov. 4, shortly before 10 a.m., OPP were called to the field off Bodkin Rd. and Jones Dr., south of London, Ont., near Oneida Nation of the Thames First Nation, after someone spotted an abandoned grey 2006 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.
Inside police found the bodies of 37-year-old Melissa Trudy Miller, 33-year-old Alan Grant Porter and 32-year-old Michael Shane Jamieson — all of Six Nations of the Grand River, more than 100 kilometres away, near Brantford.
In August 2017, the body of Douglas Hill was found several kilometres down Bodkin Rd. in Oneida Nation of the Thames territory. The 48-year-old Brantford man, also from Six Nations, had been reported missing in June.
According to their obituaries Hill was in a relationship with Miller before his death. One person who knew them described them as being “very much in love.”
So how did she end up dead in a car with two other men on the same stretch of road so far from home?
OPP has said investigators are aware of similarities in the cases, but the triple homicide is being investigated separately. Middlesex OPP say a news conference with the case manager Det. Insp. Pete Liptrott of the OPP criminal investigation branch is being planned for later this week.
Over the weekend, OPP and Six Nations police released a poster with the images of all three recent victims and a grey 2006, Chevrolet Silverado, with a plea to help catch their killer.
In Hill’s death, Six Nations Police and OPP had been searching for a dark-coloured SUV with tinted windows and possible front-end damage that was seen on the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, also south of London, and possibly Oneida Nation of the Thames.
The families of Miller, Porter and Jamieson thanked the community for the outpouring of support and sympathy in a statement released through Six Nations Indigenous Victims Services.
“We know that our families are not alone in our sadness as the loss of Melissa, Al and Mike has left our community in shock and grief,” they said, asking for patience and privacy at this time.
They called on the public to help police investigating the murders.
According to her obituary Miller was a mother of six and a grandmother.
A funeral was held at Styres Funeral Home in Ohsweken Monday, followed by cremation.
Grant was a father of two. His funeral was held Sunday at Six Nations Pentecostal Church, where he was also buried in the cemetery.