Poisoning Victim's Family Begin Battle To Seek Custody Of Daughter
tiny dancer
POSTED: 8:28 pm EST March 20, 2006
UPDATED: 10:00 pm EST March 20, 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. -- In December 2000, Doris and Verus Miller lost their only
son, Eric Miller, when he unexpectedly died.
Last November, Eric Miller's widow, Ann Miller Kontz, pleaded guilty to
second-degree murder charges in connection with his arsenic poisoning death,
avoiding a possible life sentence.
Now, the Millers are trying not to lose Eric's daughter, Clare -- their
granddaughter -- who recently turned 6 years old.
"She has that special smile that her father had," remembers a tearful Doris
Miller. "Yes, she's all we have left of Eric."
The Millers visit with Clare every few months, and have been doing so since
she was born. In fact, they recently returned from a weekend visit with her.
When Miller Kontz was indicted and put in prison in September 2004, she gave
custody of her daughter to her sister, Danielle Wilson, of Wilmington.
Although the Millers don't dispute that the child is well cared for by
Wilson and her husband, they want Eric Miller's sister, Pam Baltzell, and
her husband to have custody.
"We just want what's best for our grandchild, and we want her to know her
father," said Doris Miller.
At issue will be whether to disrupt the consistency of a home where the
child has been living for more than a year.
But the court battle could be traumatic for a couple who has already
suffered so much in the loss of their son and a five-year wait for justice.
"Sometimes, you just have to do what's right, not what's easy," Verus Miller
said.
The family will appear in front of Judge Phyllis Gorham Wednesday morning in
New Hanover County to ask if they are allowed to intervene in the case. This
means the judge will have to decide whether or not they have legal standing
to ask for custody.
"We believe in the legal system and we believe what is right will happen,"
Doris Miller said.
http://www.wral.com/news/8150263/detail.html
Thinker
dead husband.
However, either one of the families could take care of the girl just as
well as the other, in this case, so the court might give the mother's
wishes, even though she killed her husband, greater weight.
The grandparents COULD argue, that the mother's sister might brainwash
this child into thinking that her mother was falsely convicted (and
even though the mother plead guilty, that is still possible!), and that
arguement might get them custody.
The judge would probably be best suited to split the difference, and
award custody to the grandparents, but require them to move so that
they would be in close proximity to the mother's family, in case they
wanted to visit.
JonesieCat
"tiny dancer" <tinydanc...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:QDKTf.694$KC3...@bignews2.bellsouth.net...
Gee, so sad. I feel for the grandparents big time. But if the child is in a
good home now, where she is genuinely loved and looked after, I don't know
why a judge would see moving her as in her best interests - all things being
equal of course. JC
tiny dancer
"JonesieCat" <Long Ago & Far Away> wrote in message
news:442319dc$0$10677$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
I would like to see Eric's grandparents/sister get custody of this child.
As they said, she's all they have left of Eric. And locally, we've seen
these poor grandparents travel back and forth to our state in an effort to
keep touch with Claire. In all that time, they never once had anything
negative to say about Anne Miller personally. They seemed like truely very
nice people. Eric was their only son. And Anne Miller was such a snotty
bitch throughout. I'd just like to see them get Claire.
td
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JonesieCat
It would be lovely for them to get Claire. But would it be as beneficial to
Claire? Is there much info out about the family she's with now? the sort of
people they are, etc? I'm just thinking if the mother's sister is actually a
good person - maybe similar to her sister, Claire's mother in only GOOD
respects - maybe Claire has already bonded with her in a maternal fashion?
If so, would be awful for that child to have a mother-figure lost to her
again, not to mention the possibility of the father-figure also in her life
now since the loss of her own. Is there much known about these people?
JC
tiny dancer
"JonesieCat" <Long Ago & Far Away> wrote in message
I've never really seen any reference to Anne Millers family until she put
Claire with her sister prior to being arrested. I don't recall seeing
anything about Millers own parent/s or any of her immediate family. In fact
I often wondered if she had any family. And how they felt about the crime
she committed. I'd have to guess the prosecution had her dead to nuts or
she wouldn't have copped a plea that gave her 25 years. I'd also heard
there was more information that Derrick Willards attorney had, but he was
only required to give that one bit of information from his files after the
State Supreme Court ruled it was not covered by attorney client priviledge.
td
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Chris
I don't see why the murderer should have any say at all in where her murder
victim's child lives.
Chris
JonesieCat
Hope I didn't miss other posts - I think my ISP must be working on their
news servers or something. A bunch showed up this afternoon, all out of
order, which I thought I must have missed when I was out of town for a few
days.
Anyway, be interesting to see where the child winds up. Sometimes it seems
it takes so long for the courts to decide, the child is nearly grown by then
anyway.
JC