Donald Edward Miller Jr. admits to driving the car that killed a 79-year-old couple and then hiding it, police say.
By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published November 16, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - Authorities found the car and suspect Saturday that they had been seeking in the hit-and-run deaths of a couple crossing a Brooksville street Monday.
Donald Edward Miller Jr., 23, of 8301 Weeping Willow St. in Brooksville, turned himself in after police contacted him Saturday.
He acknowledged driving the car that killed a veteran and his wife who had just finished dinner at the Golden Corral.
Miller told police that he kept driving because he had no insurance or registration. He also said he had a 4-year-old in his car. Police gave no details about the young passenger.
Miller was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and tampering with evidence Saturday night, after investigators found his white 1989 Chevrolet Celebrity disassembled and hidden in the woods north of Brooksville, on property owned by a distant relative.
Miller was being held at Hernando County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail. Police said that Miller has a prior criminal record but that he had not been convicted of anything like the hit and run.
Miller told police he was sorry about the accident.
Some time after he drove away from the scene, Miller took apart the Chevrolet, removing its windshield, fenders and hood. He threw car parts in a pond close to where he hid the car and buried some other parts, authorities said.
"I asked him, "It doesn't sound like you were going to turn yourself in,"' Brooksville police Chief Ed Tincher said. "But I think it was eating away at him."
On Monday night, Benjamin Szulwach and his wife, Ruth, had just finished eating a complimentary meal in honor of Veterans Day at a packed Golden Corral.
The parking lot was full, so the couple parked across the street. When they stepped into the intersection of Broad Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, they were hit by a car that drove off.
Benjamin Szulwach died at the scene and his wife died after being flown to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa.
The story struck a nerve among law enforcement officials and throughout the county, prompting hundreds of tips throughout the week, up until late Saturday afternoon.
"Everybody was offended that somebody could do this and not stop," Tincher said at a news conference Saturday evening.
By Thursday, police knew they were looking for a white Chevrolet Celebrity.
The final lead came from a tipster in tears who had given information earlier in the investigation, Tincher said.
The tipster was one of two people who had spotted the Celebrity "driving in the same careless fashion" the night of the accident, Tincher said.
About 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Brooksville police found the car parked deep in the woods just north of an old home at 1444 Howell Ave. They worked into the night to remove the car and find evidence, which slowed traffic on Howell Avenue and nearby U.S. 41.
The car was parked on property owned by Sandy Collier, who said only: "I have no idea what's going on."
