2 charged in death of Meigs man found by bus driver
Two people have been charged in the death of a Meigs County, Tennessee, man whose bound body was spotted by a school bus driver last week as he was picking up children for school.
Clifford Eugene Howard, 39, is charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping and theft over $10,000 in the death of 60-year-old Roger Dale Miller, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Stacy Marie Miller, 43, is charged with facilitation of first-degree murder, facilitation of felony murder, facilitation of aggravated robbery, facilitation of
aggravated kidnapping and theft over $10,000.
“During the course of the investigation, agents developed information that identified Clifford Howard as the individual responsible for the death of Roger Miller, and Stacy Miller, the victim’s ex-wife, as an individual who facilitated,” TBI spokeswoman Susan Niland said in a news release.
Miller’s body was identified the day after it was discovered through a preliminary forensic examination. No cause of death has been released.
Eaves Ferry Road is a road less than a mile long that runs parallel to Decatur’s northern city limits. That’s where the school bus driver spotted Miller’s body around 7:30 a.m. on May 15. Authorities said children were on the bus at the time.
Meigs County schools posted a statement that morning on the system’s Facebook page regarding the bus driver’s discovery, saying the driver alerted police and continued to school with the children. Counselors were made available for students, and parents of the students on board the bus were contacted, officials said.
Police departments in Decatur and Sweetwater, and sheriffs’ offices in Meigs, McMinn and Monroe counties, worked with the TBI on the joint investigation.
Niland said Howard was charged on warrants served on him at the Monroe County Jail in Madisonville where he was being held on unrelated charges. No bond is listed for him. Stacy Miller was taken into custody in McMinn County after a short foot pursuit, Niland said. Howard is held at the Meigs County Jail on $375,000 bond.
Officials in Meigs County Circuit Court on Wednesday were unable to say when either defendant had a court date.