You've Been Warned

Content Warning: this story contains physical violence or abuse, discussions of homophobia, and substance abuse themes

INTERVIEW OF DAVID MILLER COMPLETED BY DETECTIVE VICTORIE JACKSON AND DETECTIVE ERIC KOLBEL

LOCATION: VERDANT HILLS POLICE DEPARTMENT

DATE: 15 February 2021

DETECTIVE VICTORIE JACKSON (DVJ): Let the record show that Detective Victorie Jackson is in the room as well as Detective Eric Kolbel (DEK) , and it is currently 1:27am, I am starting the interview with David Miller. Mr. Miller, please state your name for the record, date of Birth, and your connection to DOROTHY LUMMOND (DL).

DAVID MILLER (DM): Vick, come on, really? Do I really need to do this?

DVJ: Mr. Miller, I will ask you again, please state your name for the record, date of birth and your connection to Dot, this is for the transcriber and video documentation.

DM: Fine, even now with the badge on you're insufferable and a suck up. I’m David, D-A-V-I-D, Miller, M-I-L-L-E-R, I was born December 28th, 1987. Dot is my girlfriend. And you know that, Vick.

DEK: Why are you being such an ass-

DVJ: Thank you for your response. We have a few questions for you, Mr. Miller, and this is regarding Dot. When was the last time that you had contact with her?

DM: Why are you saying that? Call me David, just do that. I know Dot says you call me Deadbeat David, but at least in polite company you can call me David. Mr. Miller sounds like my dad, and we all know that he’s not someone I want to be connected to. Eric, why are we doing this? I don’t –

DEK: Please, just answer the questions we have, Dave. It’s important that we know what’s going on.

DM: ...Fine. I’ll do my best, sir. Dot and I have been good. We’ve been talking on the phone quite a bit, mostly through a text message or voice message. She said she wanted some space, and moved out, but, as I said, we were fixing it. She told me we’d get an apartment all settled in a couple months when her 6-month lease was up. I told her she could just cancel it and we’d eat the costs and get back to the usual.

DVJ: David, you just said you were good, but also said that she moved out. That doesn’t sound like things are good. Can you explain to us what the issue was that made her move out of your residence?

DM: God, Vick, you’ve been to our place a dozen times. Why are you acting like this? Just say what you want to say… Jesus, fine. We’ve been having some issues in the relationship. It's not like anyone here in town doesn’t know that it’s been rocky for a few months. She thinks I was having an affair. I told her I wasn’t, and that she was crazy and that she was overreacting to my friendship with Emma. She–

DVJ: Can you use Emma’s full name, please, with spelling.

DM: Yeah, it’s Emma Stutton. E-M-M-A. S-T-U-T-T-O-N. Dot told me I was “gaslighting” her about our friendship, and that we were acting strange and that she was tired of it. Emma is a friend from work, I got a little drunk over at The Black Cat, and she let me stay on the couch so I wouldn’t drive drunk. See, I was trying to be an upstanding citizen. Didn’t want to get pulled over by Detective Jackson, or hear her later as she scolded me at a game night or something if I didn't get stopped. I know you would... hover.

DVJ: …This is exhibit A. Would you please look at this, describe what it is, and then read aloud what is on the page? (pages rustle)

DM: (silence) Vick, what the fuck? This isn’t for anyone to talk about! (silence) Fine. This is a text message conversation between Dot and I.

Exhibit A: (DM reading)

Dorothy: I know you’ve been fucking her.

David: I already told you, I haven’t done this. Why are you acting so crazy? Emma’s so much calmer about all of this, especially since you keep telling her to back off. She’s just my coworker. I thought you were chill about other women being around. I don't get why you're so jealous! I’m fine with Vick, right? I don’t do weird things with her, so why would I do that with Emma?

Dorothy: I know you are, because you’re sloppy. You can’t even log out of my computer after you use it. It’s easy for me to know when I get on that laptop and get bombarded by messages, including Emma’s nude photos. You can’t even make sure her underwear isn’t in my car either.

Umm. there are a lot of photos here, do I need to really explain what they are?

DVJ: Yes.

DM: It’s 15 photos, the first (pause) seven are nude photos, another five are lingerie photos with Emma’s face, and the last three are photos of underwear and earrings in a car. Dot’s car. She sent them to me in the message, and are a part of the papers you showed me.

DEK: So, you lied, both to Dot, and to us. Right here in the police department. You’ve been having an affair, and Dot must've left after she was able to confirm that this had happened. How long were you having the affair?

DM: Come on! An affair isn’t something that lands me in jail or gets me arrested. Yeah, I had an affair. Dot was boring, she let herself go, so focused on everything else, never me. She wouldn’t go to the gym or get dressed up. All I’d hear was how messy and boring I was. Emma never said any of those things. She was impressed with my work ethic and my drive. We started flirting at the Christmas party in ‘19. Dot refused to go after we’d had a fight. Emma and I decided to try out a casual relationship in the spring of that year. We’d gone to a conference together for the office.

DVJ: Our records show that these messages between you and Dot were sent on August 20th, 2020. Dot left your residence and moved into an apartment in September 2020. From her tenant agreement, it was the 4th.

DM: Yeah. She left and stayed at your place, if I remember, Vick.

DVJ: That is correct. That’s in Exhibit B:

EXHIBIT B: (Read by DVJ)

Dorothy: Vick, it's bad, and I need a place to stay. Would you and Chelsea hate it if I stayed on your couch until the apartment I want is ready?

Victorie: Girl, what happened? You know the answer’s yes. And you can stay in the guest room. No couch sleep needed. Bring your stuff, you, and Grover (DL's dog). Do I need to stop by and help with boxes?

Dorothy: Long story short, he cheated. I knew something was wrong, and he kept telling me I was reading into everything. He called me crazy! It's the lies and the gaslighting. I’ve got a place lined up, but I just can’t be in this studio with him. He’s insufferable and even with all the evidence I found he’s telling me I’m seeing things. I showed him everything I found and he had the gall to ask for me to get over it and that we should have an open relationship!

Victorie: I’m on my way. Chelsea’s coming and we’ll help you get your stuff out of his place. Be there soon.

Here is the document, David, you can read it yourself (papers rustle).

DM: (Pause) Yeah, that’s correct.

DEK: Fantastic. David. Can you tell us about the incident on July 4th, 2016?

DM: How is this relevant?

DEK: It is. It’s very important. I have the file here, but would rather have you discuss it in your own words.

DM: It was a misunderstanding. I wasn’t charged or anything. I went out to a couple celebrations. It was me and a few friends. We decided to do a bar crawl. It was fun. We–

DEK: You walked into COVE?

DM: (long pause) Yes. We didn’t realize that it was a, well it was a type of bar. We didn’t know that it was for a specific clientele, and I attacked a guy there. He hit on me, and wouldn’t stop, I was very drunk.

DEK: The victim says you said some things I won’t repeat here. This could have turned into a hate crime case.

DM: I didn’t and other patrons can confirm I didn’t. I was drunk. It wasn’t a good choice, but I’m not a homophobe. Vick knows that.

DVJ: David, we found 3 other files with your name in similar situations from 2015 to 2018. Drunken brawls with other people. Maybe not at a gay bar, but assaults you committed while intoxicated. It seems like you’ve been better since 2018, there’s no other instances, but this type of behavior is alarming. For the record, I’m adding all the previous files to the evidence.

DM: God. Vick, what are you doing? I know you don't like me me. You took Dot's side in everything. This is just insane. You sound insane. Do you have some sort of vendetta against me? This has to be a prank. Did Dot put you up to this? Did she ask you to haul me in and scare me? Rattle me so that she feels better? She scared the cheating dick, she won! You got me! I bet that’s what she wanted, right?

DEK: David, have you met Angela Valdez?

DM: Oh, the new… bartender. She moved here a couple years ago. I think I’ve talked to her a couple of times.

DEK: Do you know that Angela and Dot were in a relationship?

DM: I had heard rumors, but that it wasn’t serious. Anyway, Dot and I were talking about getting back together.

DVJ: For the record, we are adding Exhibit G to the information, and showing this to David Miller. The document explains that we both have witnesses that can corroborate and video evidence of him walking into The Black Cat, and confronting Angela Valdez regarding the new relationship Dorothy Lummond and Angela were having. David Miller stated to the victim “Bitch, you need to leave my girlfriend alone. If you don’t you’ll regret moving to this town. I know where you live.” Angela tried to deescalate with her statement, “David, please don’t hurt Dottie more, she’s told you she’s done, and this won’t help.” And then David Miller replied “Get out of this town, and don’t return.”

DEK: David, another lie! At this point, we have you lying to us multiple times about your behavior, harassing a woman at her place of work, and assaulting random people when drunk.

DM: That’s me being an asshole, maybe, but I’ve done nothing wrong. There’s nothing to arrest me for, okay? I’ll apologize to the bartender.

(Silence)

DM: What? I’ll go over to see her for the next shift. I’ll go and say sorry, we can put it all behind us. I’ll chat with Dot later and see if she’s still serious about us fixing things. See, you scared me, Vick? Aren’t you happy?

DVJ: [unintelligible, then deep breath] David, Angela Valdez and Dorothy Lummond are dead. We found them at 10:07pm yesterday. Dorothy died on the way to the emergency room, while Angela was dead at the scene. Dot called my own line at 9:53pm in need of help, and… and I didn’t get to answer it. I have the voicemail recording of the call. Play Exhibit H:

EXHIBIT H: VOICEMAIL FROM DOROTHY LUMMOND

DL: Hey Vick, it’s me. Something’s strange. Angie and I are here at my place and I keep hearing screaming. It’s been almost 30 minutes of yelling. It started out about a block away, but now I can tell it’s right outside our complex. Do you think you can get someone to come b–. Wait, I think that’s Dav–. (Two gunshots, a man yelling in the background, a woman screams). VICK! VICK! Something’s wrong! Please hurry! Please! (Screaming, more gunshots, the line becomes silent.)

(Silence)

DM: No, that’s. This is a lie. You-you're lying.

DEK: Can you please add EXHIBIT I through M to the record. David, We have a video recording of you at The Black Cat with Emma. We also have Emma’s statement. Emma notified us that she officially ended her sexual relationship with you today, after work around 5:15pm during what appears to be a long conversation. You then drank multiple alcoholic beverages over the hours of 5:43pm to 9:05pm. You were yelling about someone you called “the Bitch." You then left the bar, driving in your white Tahoe. We have multiple instances of you committing violence while intoxicated, including messages from Dot to several of her friends about how violent you got when drunk, to the point she was afraid you would hurt her during a drinking incident. You have a motive, as we have a messages from Dot that she sent to you for months including the message from last week again stating she was not planning on returning to the relationship you had with her. We have multiple messages with her friends about her seeing your car at her apartment as if you were following her. You threatened Dot right after she rebuffed you last with a “you’ll get what’s coming to you” as well as the threats to Angela at the bar.

DVJ: It’s simple. You managed to buy a gun, I assume illegally because we have no gun records connected to your name. Then you got rejected by both your affair partner and your ex-partner, and while intoxicated decided to drive over to her residence and attack her. Maybe just to scare her, but it turned into violence and both her and Angela’s death. We have a warrant to search your home, truck, and office for any guns, and are officially arresting you for the murders of Dorothy Lummond and Angela Valdez. We are ending the record for this interrogation at 2:20am.

DM: Vick! This is your fault! Why didn’t you answer her call?! I bet you and Chelsea were fighting, you never stop fighting! You turned Dot into a bitch just like you and now she’s gone! Stop! There must b–.

END OF INTERVIEW