Garland Milam

Case details

Garland Milam was a drifter who lived in the woods behind a strip mall. He was 40 during the events described.

Timeline

• January 24, 2007 — Milam pleaded guilty and received two 51-year sentences.
• August 16, 2005 — Metro police and the court described a preliminary hearing at which Milam’s confessions to two killings were discussed.
• December (year not specified) — Milam arrived in Nashville.
• July (year not specified) — The killings were described as having occurred “last summer.”
• About age 10 (year not specified) — Milam began killing animals.
• 1995 — Milam’s younger brother Tom Johnston found him a job in Florida and tried to help him turn his life around.
• A day after (date not specified) — Milam described killing Johnny Paul Davis as occurring “a day after” Tim McCoy.

The offence

Milam confessed to strangling two homeless men.

Milam described killing Tim McCoy, including strangling him with a belt and then burning his body. He also described a second killing, in which he told the other man what he had done to Tim McCoy and that he was going to kill him after giving him a “five minute head start” to escape from Milam’s camp.

Milam told police he “got addicted to sucking the souls out of the people” he was killing and that he was going to do it again unless he received the death penalty.

During discussions of the murders, police said Milam killed the unidentified men after arguing about money and food. Police described the killings as occurring near woods in Antioch, with the men murdered near some woods in Antioch.

Milam also described another killing outside Tennessee, stating that he had killed and dismembered a man in Tucson, Ariz., using a machete.

Investigation

Police said Milam killed two homeless men near woods in Antioch.

Metro detective Roy Dunaway testified that Milam led police to the body of 48-year-old Johnny Paul Davis after walking into a grocery store and telling an employee that he wanted to turn himself in for murder.

Milam’s case drew local media attention after he told a night court commissioner that he wanted to be executed, and he repeated that he was addicted to sucking the souls out of the people he was killing.

Metro police contacted authorities in other states where Milam had lived to see if he might be connected to similar cases. Public records indicated Milam had lived in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Utah.

During the hearing, Dunaway testified that he had met Milam the day before the man’s confession.

Police found the charred remains of Tim McCoy, 48, in what was left of a tent behind the Antioch store near a homeless camp behind the Media Play store on Bell Forge Lane.

Police said Milam had been considered a witness in the Tim McCoy case after telling investigators he had been with the slain man the night before and then discovered the body still on fire the next morning.

After confessing to the Davis killing, Milam admitted strangling McCoy with a money belt and setting him on fire with a cigarette lighter, according to testimony.

Metro General Sessions Judge Mike Mondelli found probable cause to bind the case over to the Davidson County grand jury.

Milam was held in the Metro Jail in lieu of $700,000 bail.

Arrest / surrender / custody

Metro police described Milam walking into a grocery store and telling an employee that he wanted to turn himself in for murder.

Milam said to the court commissioner that he wanted the death penalty and indicated he would continue killing if he did not receive it.

Milam said he arrived in Nashville by accident while trying to hitchhike from Albuquerque, N.M., to Maine.

Trial

Milam addressed the court before he received two life sentences for killing two homeless men, and he pleaded guilty and waived his rights to a trial.

Milam told the judge details of how he strangled Tim McCoy and burned the man’s body, and then provided details of the second killing.

During court proceedings, Milam made statements about killing Tim McCoy and the meaning of killing, including describing himself as feeling “sorry” for the second victim in the course of killing him.

Milam said:

"I purposely told him what it was that I had done to Tim McCoy. I told him how I killed Tim McCoy and he said, 'Why did you tell me this?' I said, 'Well, because now I have to kill you. I am going to give you a five minute head start to get out of my camp before I kill you.' I gave him a head start, but he was so drunk, he kept falling down and couldn't go anywhere. I actually felt sorry for him. I told him as I'm killing him, 'I'm doing this to put you out of your misery,'"

Milam pleaded guilty and waived his rights to a trial.

Milam also told police after his arrest:

“I got addicted to sucking the souls out of people that I was killing. And I’m going to do it again, if I don’t get the death penalty,”

At a preliminary hearing, Milam said:

"I want the death penalty," Milam said. "I know that I'm a monster. I got addicted to sucking the souls out of the people I was killing. And I'm going to do it again if I don't get the death penalty."

Milam told police after his arrest he did not receive the death penalty.

Sentencing

Milam received two 51-year sentences on January 24, 2007.

The sentences were described as life sentences.

The two sentences were described as running consecutively.

Appeals

No appeals were described.

Outcome

Milam pleaded guilty and received two 51-year sentences for killing two homeless men after waiving his rights to a trial.

Aftermath

Milam said he would “never be a free man again.”

Milam told police and others about his lack of remorse, and he described his actions as making a “game.”

In a jailhouse interview described after his arrest, Milam said:

"I wasn't angry when I killed them," he said in a jailhouse interview last week. "I just killed them to kill them. I made a game out of it."

Milam also described telling a grieving friend of Tim McCoy not to worry about the victim’s soul. Jane DeLoache’s comments were also included.

Milam said:

"Tell her not to worry about his soul, because his soul is safe with me. "I had my belt, I had it around his neck and I pulled until he quit moving. Now, he kicked me a good one — almost broke my leg," he said with a chuckle. "He quit moving and his soul rode the last breath out of his body and I — fffffppp — inhaled it."

Jane DeLoache said:

"That's really gross," she said after hearing Milam's description of ingesting McCoy's soul. "Tim's soul is with God or with Jesus and with me and his family — with everyone that knows and loves him. He got the body, but not the soul."

Milam explained his “soul” consumption as similar to getting high. He said:

"It's better than crystal meth," he said. "It's a body rush. You get a tingling sensation along the outside of your skin down to your toes. The rush can be almost so much that it will make you lose control of your bowels. Did I? Yeah."

Milam said he believed he failed to suck up the soul of Johnny Paul Davis because he did not get the same buzz:

"I think I missed it," he said. "I think I missed it," he said.

Milam said confinement “doesn’t bother” him:

"Maybe I'll learn a trade, keep my mind busy by reading books, do some leather work."

Other details

Victims

• Tim McCoy (48) — Milam strangled him with a belt and then burned his body; police found his charred remains in what was left of a tent behind the Antioch store.
• Johnny Paul Davis (48) — Milam led police to his body after telling an employee he wanted to turn himself in; Milam described killing him a day after killing Tim McCoy.

Additional confession involving dismemberment

Milam said in an interview that he also killed and dismembered a man in Tucson, Ariz., using a machete.

Prior upbringing and mental health statements

Milam described childhood abuse and said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder while living in Tucson, Ariz., which he believed was caused by childhood abuse.

Milam’s aunt, Jo Johnston, said:

"I didn't know how to respond to that."

Jo Johnston also said:

"The way I see it, he was just an uncontrollable child," she said. "Now it sounds like he's blaming everything on everybody but himself."

Milam’s older sister Annette wrote by email:

"Where does the violence stem from?" she wrote. "Part heredity, part childhood experiences. It could be me sitting in prison as well. We all have the memories. We all have a monster inside of us to some extent. Some just know how to control it."

Early killing of animals

Milam said that at about age 10 he began killing animals, including twisting kittens’ necks until they broke and smothering puppies until they were dead. He said:

"While I was living with my aunt, I was taking a lot of the rage and anger that I had out on small animals, small puppies, kittens. "The kittens, I would twist their necks until they broke. The puppies I smothered until they were dead. It was just something I desired to do," he said.

Milam said that while living with a man who raised goats, when word came he was being laid off he killed baby goats with a garbage bag tied over their heads. He said:

"When I kept myself busy working, I didn't have that urge," he said. But when word came that he was being laid off, "I kind of went into a little bit of a rage. There were some baby goats that had just been born. I killed them with a garbage bag — tied it over their heads and tied a knot in it so they couldn't get it off."

Drugs and self-medication

Milam described “self-medicating” with street drugs including crack cocaine and marijuana, and he said his mother introduced him to crystal meth and drinking. He said:

"My own mother, before she died, introduced me to crystal meth and drinking," he said. "She was a Cherokee woman. She used to be a topless dancer and she used to be a biker."

Milam said:

"I left because I didn't want to kill Tommy," he said. "I started having feelings like I wanted to kill Tommy. I tried to stop it by way of smoking crack, keeping my mind numb. It didn't work, it made it worse ... So I left."

Movement and hitchhiking

Milam described wandering, traveling, and hitchhiking as helping him evade his desire to kill. He said:

"The wandering and the traveling and the hitchhiking — as long as I was constantly moving, it seemed like I evaded that desire to kill."

Tattoos and comments about them

Since his arrival in Music City in December, Milam was described as having decorated himself with several new tattoos, including clusters of eyeballs on either side of his skull. He said:

"These was actually a joke," he said, pointing to them.

He also said:

"A friend, who was a tattoo artist, told Milam that it was too easy to sneak up on him. "'You need eyes in the back of your head,' he said. So I said, 'What if I had eyes all around my head?' " he said. "The artist that did it couldn't quite draw a good eyeball. I'm gong to have them redone once I get into the penitentiary."

Desire to kill and remarks on remorse

Milam described not being angry when he killed the victims and said he killed “to kill them” and made a “game out of it.”

Milam said about his desire and courage:

"The desire has always been there, it's just the courage had never been there," he said. "Maybe when I just was old enough, I finally realized, 'I really don't have anything to lose, so why not?' "

Other statement about a homeless camp altercation

Metro detective testimony also described a separate account in which a homeless man told police that he strangled a drinking buddy with a dog leash because the friend refused to chip in on some beer, during a preliminary hearing for Milam.