circumstantial evidence. In addition, investigators discovered that at the time Eric was killed there was no routine inventory taken, nor was there a system to monitor who was taking what from the lab.
All three of the men who attended the bowling outings were colleagues of Ann’s from Glaxo Wellcome. Very quickly investigators were able to catch up with two of them and interview them. Randy Bledsoe and Tom Councilor talked to the police; only Derril Willard proved elusive. To be honest, though, police were not exactly chasing Willard down. A month after Eric’s death, Sergeant Fluck told Morgan they were still trying to set up an interview with Willard and had left messages at his office, but hadn’t done anything else to pursue a face-to-face meeting. Morgan was astounded that they had not tried harder to pin Willard down.
“In my way of thinking, it was a mistake,” Morgan says. “I would have been sitting with my fat butt on Willard’s car every day.” And he means it.
Not unlike the way he got to know his victims, Morgan wanted to learn everything he could about Derril Willard so that he might understand how the man was caught up in Ann Miller’s complicated web of deceit. In his gut he suspected that Willard might be a victim as well, a victim of Ann Miller’s charm and powers of seduction, an unwitting partner in a plot to kill a good man. Morgan needed Willard’s help to unravel the web.
THE TURNING POINT
In late January, the men in charge of the investigation, Sergeant Jeff Fluck and Lieutenant Gerald Britt, were out of town. Captain Donald Overman was left to tend to the case in their absence. After meeting with Eric Miller’s family on January 19, 2001, Morgan said Overman became concerned that the investigation was lagging— that Derril Willard could be holding the key to the entire case, yet no one had made any real effort to get him to talk.
Morgan reasons that Fluck probably didn’t want to push Willard because he might have gotten scared and “lawyered up,” an expression for hiring a lawyer and shutting out the police. But still, it was clear to Morgan that without Willard the case could not move forward. Yet he knew that Fluck was right; Willard was a bright scientist, and chances were he was smart enough to know that his relationship with Ann had gotten him into real trouble.
“We got to get a statement from this guy, even if he lies,” Morgan said. “You have to expect that he’s going to lie, but you have to nail him down and stake him out.”
Again, it still wasn’t officially Morgan’s case. But as luck would have it, he was on duty that week, and Captain Overman needed a supervisor to oversee a search of Willard’s home. This is how Morgan says he got “pulled into the investigation through no fault of his own.” But it wasn’t like he put up a fight.
Detective Randy Miller drew up a search warrant in order to obtain legal probable cause from a judge to enter Willard’s home. At the same time, Morgan was strategizing about how to approach Willard. Even more of a concern was knowing that as soon as the search warrant was returned to the Wake County Magistrate’s Office, the media would get a hold of it. Key details of the case that investigators had been keeping under wraps for several weeks would suddenly become part of the public record.
This thought would stick with Morgan for years like gum that he couldn’t scrape off the bottom of his shoe. He knew that a talented local newspaper reporter for the News and Observer , Oren Dorell, was a well-known “search-warrant grazer,” who would find the information and put it on the front page of the newspaper above the fold for everyone to see.
The search warrant contained information about the bowling outing, what was thought to be arsenic in the beer, and the romantic relationship between Ann and Willard. Specifically, it stated that the two other men at the bowling alley that night saw Willard purchase the beer and
All three of the men who attended the bowling outings were colleagues of Ann’s from Glaxo Wellcome. Very quickly investigators were able to catch up with two of them and interview them. Randy Bledsoe and Tom Councilor talked to the police; only Derril Willard proved elusive. To be honest, though, police were not exactly chasing Willard down. A month after Eric’s death, Sergeant Fluck told Morgan they were still trying to set up an interview with Willard and had left messages at his office, but hadn’t done anything else to pursue a face-to-face meeting. Morgan was astounded that they had not tried harder to pin Willard down.
“In my way of thinking, it was a mistake,” Morgan says. “I would have been sitting with my fat butt on Willard’s car every day.” And he means it.
Not unlike the way he got to know his victims, Morgan wanted to learn everything he could about Derril Willard so that he might understand how the man was caught up in Ann Miller’s complicated web of deceit. In his gut he suspected that Willard might be a victim as well, a victim of Ann Miller’s charm and powers of seduction, an unwitting partner in a plot to kill a good man. Morgan needed Willard’s help to unravel the web.
THE TURNING POINT
In late January, the men in charge of the investigation, Sergeant Jeff Fluck and Lieutenant Gerald Britt, were out of town. Captain Donald Overman was left to tend to the case in their absence. After meeting with Eric Miller’s family on January 19, 2001, Morgan said Overman became concerned that the investigation was lagging— that Derril Willard could be holding the key to the entire case, yet no one had made any real effort to get him to talk.
Morgan reasons that Fluck probably didn’t want to push Willard because he might have gotten scared and “lawyered up,” an expression for hiring a lawyer and shutting out the police. But still, it was clear to Morgan that without Willard the case could not move forward. Yet he knew that Fluck was right; Willard was a bright scientist, and chances were he was smart enough to know that his relationship with Ann had gotten him into real trouble.
“We got to get a statement from this guy, even if he lies,” Morgan said. “You have to expect that he’s going to lie, but you have to nail him down and stake him out.”
Again, it still wasn’t officially Morgan’s case. But as luck would have it, he was on duty that week, and Captain Overman needed a supervisor to oversee a search of Willard’s home. This is how Morgan says he got “pulled into the investigation through no fault of his own.” But it wasn’t like he put up a fight.
Detective Randy Miller drew up a search warrant in order to obtain legal probable cause from a judge to enter Willard’s home. At the same time, Morgan was strategizing about how to approach Willard. Even more of a concern was knowing that as soon as the search warrant was returned to the Wake County Magistrate’s Office, the media would get a hold of it. Key details of the case that investigators had been keeping under wraps for several weeks would suddenly become part of the public record.
This thought would stick with Morgan for years like gum that he couldn’t scrape off the bottom of his shoe. He knew that a talented local newspaper reporter for the News and Observer , Oren Dorell, was a well-known “search-warrant grazer,” who would find the information and put it on the front page of the newspaper above the fold for everyone to see.
The search warrant contained information about the bowling outing, what was thought to be arsenic in the beer, and the romantic relationship between Ann and Willard. Specifically, it stated that the two other men at the bowling alley that night saw Willard purchase the beer and
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